a good friend of mine sent me the recipe for these nanaimo bars so i could make them this past canada day. being away from home, there are some things i miss, and nanaimo bars are definitely one of them! we used to be able to buy them from a local store, and i’m telling you – they’re addictive! even my american husband converted 😉 i’m so glad i now know how to make this amazingly delicious canadian treat! and you can, too….
Homemade Nanaimo Bars
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 10 1x
Description
Homemade nanaimo bars – a Canadian classic.
Ingredients
Scale
- BASE:
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 5 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
- 1 cup shredded coconut
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
- FILLING:
- 1/3 cup butter, softened
- 3 tablespoons custard powder (or vanilla jello pudding powder)
- 1/4 cup milk
- 3 cups icing sugar, sifted
- TOPPING:
- 8 ounces semisweet chocolate
- 2 tablespoons butter
Instructions
- BASE: melt butter in a medium saucepan. add sugar and cocoa and stir until smooth. whisk egg with vanilla and stir into butter mixture. remove from heat – no scrambled eggs here! stir in graham cracker crumbs, coconut, and nuts. press evenly over bottom of a greased 9×9″ square pan. chill until set, at least 20 minutes.
- FILLING: beat butter with wooden spoon until light. beat in custard powder (or pudding powder) and milk. gradually beat in sugar. spread over chilled base and let set in fridge.
- TOPPING: melt together chocolate and butter; stir until smooth. spread in an even layer over chilled filling. store in fridge until chocolate topping begins to harden, about 10 minutes. score topping into bars – cut into small 1-inch squares before totally solid. if needed, use a hot knife and wipe clean between cuts – otherwise the chocolate will start to crack. store in fridge or freeze for up to 2 months. enjoy!
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Category: Dessert
So true north!!
You did a great job!!
thank ya 🙂
Why have I not thought to make these before?! I’m so excited to try. It’ll be bring back memories, I”m sure. 🙂
Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you and God bless you! I’m a Canadian in the US, too, and miss these soooo much at times. Will definitely make these for parties!!
Yay! So fun to meet a fellow Canuck 😉
Do you usually use salted butter for this recipe?
i usually use unsalted butter. but i’m sure it would be fine if salted butter is all you had on hand 🙂
Sounds wonderful! Love chocolate — maybe too much, but I’ve loved it for decades!
Question — would it “ruin” the texture if I used an electric mixture rather than mixing
it with a wooden spoon? Thank you for posting this. One of our family ties to
Canada would be through my grandmother’s family who came from Canada down to
Kansas. We’ve visited Canada several times and enjoyed each visit. I’ll think about those
good memories while I enjoy this treat. 🙂
I’m sure you could use an electric mixer and it would be just fine! How fun to have those memories!! 🙂