Nanaimo Bars
The Nanaimo bar—an intensely sweet 1950s-era refrigerator confection—takes its name from a city on Vancouver Island in Canada, even though it was quite possibly created in the nearby town of Ladysmith (which receives the consolation prize of being Pamela Anderson's birthplace). Some might call it Canada's national dessert, as its popularity has since spread far beyond British Columbia. The no-bake square consists of a chocolate-, almond-, and coconut-enriched graham crust supporting a dense layer of buttercream, topped with a slick of semisweet chocolate. The tricky part is eating one cleanly. The heat from one's fingers begins the Nanaimo bar's descent into deliciously melting chaos. It's best held delicately on the sides, between thumb and index finger, minimizing surface contact so each bite possesses the sugary interplay of cool chocolate, soft icing, and chewy base. —David Sax, SAVEUR contributing editor
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Credit: Penny de los Santos
INGREDIENTS
20 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened5 tbsp. Dutch-process cocoa powder
¼ cup sugar
1 ¼ cups graham cracker crumbs
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
½ cup ground almonds
1 egg
2 cups confectioners' sugar
3 tbsp. heavy cream
2 tbsp. powdered milk
2 tsp. vanilla extract
8 oz. bittersweet chocolate
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Heat 8 tbsp. butter, cocoa, and sugar in a 2-qt. saucepan over medium heat until melted and smooth; stir in crumbs, coconut, almonds, and egg. Transfer to a parchment paper—lined 8"x 8" baking pan and press evenly into bottom; set aside.2. Beat 8 tbsp. butter, confectioners' sugar, cream, powdered milk, and vanilla in a bowl on medium speed of a hand mixer until smooth and fluffy; spread over chocolate layer.
3. Melt remaining butter and chocolate in a 2-qt. saucepan over medium-low heat; spread over vanilla layer. Chill until set, at least 4 hours. Cut into squares to serve.
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Nanaimo Bar is and the answer will always be Yellow. This is because it is made with Bird's Eye Custard Powder.. There have certainly been variations that came after such as mint or cappuccino but the real McCoy has Bird's Eye Custard. Pretty big oversight in my mind, akin to Pecan pie without the pecans.
First, the taste of the powdered milk comes through pretty strong, not conducive to enhancing the flavor at all, makes it taste cheap.
Second, if you make the top layer of chocolate like they say, it will be too hot and melt right through the cream layer, making it impossible to spread evenly.
Lastly, after chilling, that top layer will be hard as a brick and make it impossible to cut these into any kind of regular shaped piece without mashing the cream filling all over.
The crust is very good, but I can't serve these to the public due to the mess and the prominent powdered milk flavor. Shoulda read these reviews first I guess.