A TWIST ON A CLASSIC – NANAIMO BARS

Tonight I decided I would attempt to make a dessert that many of my friends – mostly from CANADA – have been talking about for a long time…and for good reason too. They are NANAIMO bars. They are named for a city in British Columbia where – in the 1950s – Mabel Jenkins, a housewife created and submitted the recipe for a local cookbook. And it was ultimately a hit.

I’m sure there are many recipes for nanaimo bars, but I kept it simple in my search for one…and chose the first one that popped up on google.com. However, the recipe I had called for things I did not have in my pantry or didn’t want to use, so as always I improvised. (I mean, what is cooking without a little improvisation, right?

So here is my take on NANAIMO bars.

BOTTOM LAYER                     SECOND LAYER                             THIRD LAYER

½ C unsalted butter              ½ C unsalted butter                      4 oz semi sweet chocolate
¼ C sugar                                   2 T & 2 t cream                                2 T unsalted butter
5 T dark cocoa                         2 T vanilla custard powder
1 egg, beaten                            2 C icing sugar
1 ¾ C Ritz Crackers
1 C coconut

Line 8X8 pan with wax paper

BOTTOM LAYER: Melt butter, sugar, and cocoa in double boiler. When melted, add egg. Remove from heat. Add ritz crackers (crumbled) and coconut. Press into 8X8 pan.

SECOND LAYER. Cream butter, cream, custard powder, and icing sugar until light and fluffy. Spread over BOTTOM LAYER.

THIRD LAYER. Melt chocolate and butter in double boiler – until shiny and smooth. Pour over SECOND LAYER.

Use microplane to dust top of chocolate with nutmeg. Refrigerate as needed to get allow the chocolate to set. Enjoy!

Having never had any other nanaimo bar before, I can’t say these are the best ever, but my husband enjoyed them and that is what matters, right? Would love to hear how you make nanaimo bars!!! What’s your secret ingredient???