I signed up to be a Daring Baker one day too late to join in on the December challenge – bummed. Needless to say, I was impatiently waiting for the January challenge to be released.
This month’s challenge was to make Canadian Nanaimo Bars, hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen.
Here's a peek at my finished Nanaimos:
The bottom layer is a little like a Bounty bar, only 100x better. It's crunchy, chocolatey and full of shaved coconut and chopped almonds. The middle layer is a sort of buttery custard/icing sugar. This is topped off by a rich chocolate layer. The whole thing is full of buttery goodness. And no, you probably don't want to know how many calories are in each mouthful. Anyway, these bars looked and sounded delicious and I couldn’t wait to get started!
First, we were asked to make own graham crackers to mix into the base layer. (Note: these are fairly similar to the British ‘digestive biscuits,’ only much crunchier.) I tried to stay as faithful to the recipe given as possible. There was no way I was going to risk failing my first challenge. Baby steps! Creativity will come later... I hope.
I made only very slight changes. I chose to use all purpose flour rather than sticking with the gluten-free version. I added an extra layer of chocolate on top. No surprise there. It just seemed a little too thin before. I also halved the sugar in the middle layer after reading it was a tad sweet, and instead added extra vanilla and, my favourite, cinnamon. Next time I'd like to try adding some ground coffee or Kahlua.
When I thought that the actual Nanaimo Bar part would be the most challenging, I was very wrong. The graham crackers gave me one hell of a time. So I ate a lot of dough to compensate for it – and boy, was it good. The dough was incredibly sticky and uncooperative. But many handfuls of flour later, the whole thing was used up and in the oven.
I rolled my dough on parchment paper. This ended up being a very, very good thing. Rather than having to wrestle with the sticky dough to get the squares neatly onto a baking tray, I could just cut around the squares and lift the parchment paper onto a baking sheet!
I didn’t roll the graham cracker dough thin enough, so my first few are lacking the signature graham crunch. They have a slight cakey texture. In fact, they taste a lot like digestives. They’re also pretty ugly. But don’t judge them by their looks – these graham ‘cakers’ are still totally yummy and with so many left over, a perfect accompaniment to coffee!
Now for the Nanaimo bars. The whole process went smoothly. Initially I was worried about getting that big bulk out of the pan, but it ended up popping out quite easily.
The result? Om nom nom. My whole family loved them. The base is especially scrumptious. I’ve fallen in love with the chopped, baked almonds, coconut, butter and chocolate – an incredible mix!
A plus? Because these bars are so rich, you're less likely to eat five in a row. I.e. this is not so in the case of, for example, cookies.
The only downside is that in Singapore’s tropical weather, because these Nanaimo bars are so buttery, they begin to melt before your very eyes once out of the fridge! Bringing them to the office to feed (and potentially fatten up) workmates at my internship took a lot of effort. I had to meticulously pack them in a container with icepacks on the outside covering every spare centimetre. But, mission accomplished: thankfully they arrived safely.
I was asked what was in the middle layer. You should have seen the looks I got when I said it was mostly sugar and butter. No matter! I assure you that after taking a bite, they were all smiles.
Similarly, my sister's reaction to the amount of butter used was: "gross." Ironically, she ended up devouring most of the batch. Lesson: Never underestimate the power of butter!
In any case, I had a lot of fun making these, and am relieved that I didn’t fail my first challenge. Even if I did make graham ‘cakers’. Bring on next month’s!
Thanks for this challenge - I'm thinking it's time to visit Canada. And thank you for moving me into starting a blog! I look forward to seeing where this takes me…
Ciao,
Sophie
[Scroll down for the recipe!]
Quick notes on the recipe:
- If using all purpose flour, simply use the same amount of flour as you would the three gluten flours. I.e. 2 1/2 Cups + 2 Tbsp.
- Non-gluten graham crackers can take about 12 minutes to bake. So keep an eye on them!
- You will have a LOT of graham crackers left over (youpeedou!)
The challenge host, Lauren, adpated the recipe to be gluten-free.
Recipe Source: Graham Wafers — 101 Cookbooks (http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/000126.html)
Nanaimo Bars — City of Nanaimo (http://www.nanaimo.ca/EN/main/visitors/NanaimoBars.html)
Preparation time:
• Graham Wafers: 30 to 45 minutes total active prep, 2 ½ hours to overnight and 45 minutes inactive prep.
• Nanaimo Bars: 30 minutes.
Equipment required:
• Food Processor
• Bowls
• Parchment paper or silpats
• Cookie sheets
• Double boiler or pot and heatproof bowl
• 8 by 8 inch square pan
• Hand mixer or stand mixer (You may use a wooden spoon, but this makes it much easier!)
• Saucepan
For Gluten-Free Graham Wafers
Ingredients
1 cup (138 g) (4.9 ounces) Sweet rice flour (also known as glutinous rice flour)
3/4 cup (100 g) (3.5 ounces) Tapioca Starch/Flour
1/2 cup (65 g) (2.3 ounces) Sorghum Flour
1 cup (200 g) (7.1 ounces) Dark Brown Sugar, Lightly packed
1 teaspoon (5 mL) Baking soda
3/4 teaspoon (4 mL ) Kosher Salt
7 tablespoons (100 g) (3 ½ ounces) Unsalted Butter (Cut into 1-inch cubes and frozen)
1/3 cup (80 mL) Honey, Mild-flavoured such as clover.
5 tablespoons (75 mL) Whole Milk
2 tablespoons (30 mL) Pure Vanilla Extract
Directions:
1. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade, combine the flours, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt. Pulse on low to incorporate. Add the butter and pulse on and off, until the mixture is the consistency of a coarse meal. If making by hand, combine aforementioned dry ingredients with a whisk, then cut in butter until you have a coarse meal. No chunks of butter should be visible.
2. In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the honey, milk and vanilla. Add to the flour mixture until the dough barely comes together. It will be very soft and sticky.
3. Turn the dough onto a surface well-floured with sweet rice flour and pat the dough into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Wrap in plastic and chill until firm, about 2 hours, or overnight.
4. Divide the dough in half and return one half to the refrigerator. Sift an even layer of sweet rice flour onto the work surface and roll the dough into a long rectangle, about 1/8 inch thick. The dough will be quite sticky, so flour as necessary. Cut into 4 by 4 inch squares. Gather the scraps together and set aside. Place wafers on one or two parchment-lined baking sheets. Chill until firm, about 30 to 45 minutes. Repeat with the second batch of dough.
5. Adjust the rack to the upper and lower positions and preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius).
6. Gather the scraps together into a ball, chill until firm, and reroll. Dust the surface with more sweet rice flour and roll out the dough to get a couple more wafers.
7. Prick the wafers with toothpick or fork, not all the way through, in two or more rows.
8. Bake for 25 minutes, until browned and slightly firm to the touch, rotating sheets halfway through to ensure even baking. Might take less, and the starting location of each sheet may determine its required time. The ones that started on the bottom browned faster.
9. When cooled completely, place enough wafers in food processor to make 1 ¼ cups (300 mL) of crumbs. Another way to do this is to place in a large ziplock bag, force all air out and smash with a rolling pin until wafers are crumbs.
Nanaimo Bars
Ingredients:
For Nanaimo Bars — Bottom Layer
1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
1/4 cup (50 g) (1.8 ounces) Granulated Sugar
5 tablespoons (75 mL) Unsweetened Cocoa
1 Large Egg, Beaten
1 1/4 cups (300 mL) (160 g) (5.6 ounces) Gluten Free Graham Wafer Crumbs (See previous recipe)
1/2 cup (55 g) (1.9 ounces) Almonds (Any type, Finely chopped)
1 cup (130 g) (4.5 ounces) Coconut (Shredded, sweetened or unsweetened)
For Nanaimo Bars — Middle Layer
1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons (40 mL) Heavy Cream
2 tablespoons (30 mL) Vanilla Custard Powder (Such as Bird’s. Vanilla pudding mix may be substituted.)
2 cups (254 g) (8.9 ounces) Icing Sugar
For Nanaimo Bars — Top Layer
4 ounces (115 g) Semi-sweet chocolate
2 tablespoons (28 g) (1 ounce) Unsalted Butter
Directions:
1. For bottom Layer: Melt unsalted butter, sugar and cocoa in top of a double boiler. Add egg and stir to cook and thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in crumbs, nuts and coconut. Press firmly into an ungreased 8 by 8 inch pan.
2. For Middle Layer: Cream butter, cream, custard powder, and icing sugar together well. Beat until light in colour. Spread over bottom layer.
3. For Top Layer: Melt chocolate and unsalted butter over low heat. Cool. Once cool, pour over middle layer and chill.
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Additional Information:
These bars freeze very well, so don’t be afraid to pop some into the freezer.
The graham wafers may be kept in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. Mine lasted about that long.
If making the graham crackers with wheat, replace the gluten-free flours (tapioca starch, sweet rice flour, and sorghum flour) with 2 ½ cups plus 2 tbsp of all-purpose wheat flour, or wheat pastry flour. Watch the wheat-based graham wafers very closely in the oven, as they bake faster than the gluten-free ones, sometimes only 12 minutes.
For the Nanaimo Bars, if making with wheat, replace the gluten-free graham wafer crumbs with equal parts wheat graham wafer crumbs!
~Enjoy :)
