Daring Bakers Challenge: O Canada! How I Love Nanaimo Bars!

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca.

Check this out: I made gluten-free Nanaimo bars!  This was my first attempt at gluten-free baking, and I’m very pleased with the results.  So pleased that I ate the whole batch (with a little help, of course).

I had never even heard of Nanaimo bars, but now I’m a huge fan.  Curious about these unique dessert bars?  Read on.

Canada is hosting the Olympics in just a couple of weeks, so the Daring Bakers were challenged to make this traditional Canadian dessert to celebrate.  I always love to sample a new regional food.  Since I’m a cartographer, I always begin by locating the area on a map.

Then I read up on the history a bit.  According to the city of Nanaimo, a local woman submitted her dessert bar recipe to a magazine contest.  She called the recipe “Nanaimo bars”.  The recipe won, making the city as popular as the bars.

I made a few adjustments to the recipe that was given.  Since these bars come from Canada, I just couldn’t resist adding pure maple syrup to the middle layer (and a maple sugar candy on top!).  I also couldn’t find the custard powder that is called for in the middle layer, so I substituted cornstarch.

We were able to choose whether to make the graham crackers gluten-free.  I took the challenge because I had never baked gluten-free before.  I couldn’t find the sorghum flour but I did find brown rice flour, which Lauren had listed as a substitution.  The crackers came out delicious!  I’m now in love with sweet rice flour.  It has such a smooth, silky feel when using it to shape the dough.  The flours that I used are shown below.

Blending the butter in by hand is tough but rewarding work!  Who needs a food processor when you’ve got a pastry blender?

I used local orange blossom honey to sweeten the graham crackers.

Rolling out the graham crackers was no problem at all with a lot of sweet rice flour and some parchment paper!

The graham crackers came out sweet and crunchy.  Just perfect for crumbling!  Or for eating right away.  I was so happy to have lots of leftovers after making the Nanaimo bars!

I was too busy worrying about the chocolate and egg in the double boiler (see my notes in the recipe below) that I didn’t get any photos of the process, but you can see the finished bars below.

So rich and chocolatey!  I’m ready to take a trip to Nanaimo to try the original!

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca.

Gluten-Free Graham Wafers

1 cup sweet rice flour (also known as glutinous rice flour)
3/4 cup tapioca starch/flour
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1 inch cubes, cold
1/3 cup honey
5 tablespoons heavy cream
2 tablespoons vanilla extract

In a large bowl, combine the flours, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt.  Using a pastry blender, cut in the cold butter until the mixture resembles a coarse meal.  You should not be able to see any butter chunks.

In a small bowl, whisk together the honey, cream, and vanilla extract.  Pour into the flour mixture and stir gently until the mixture comes together.  It will be very sticky.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface floured generously with sweet rice flour.  Pat the dough into a rectangle about 1 inch thick.  Wrap well with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm (3 hours to overnight).

Divide the dough in half, and keep one half wrapped up and refrigerated.  Roll the first half between two pieces of floured parchment paper, until it is approximately 1/8 inch thick.  Cut into squares and transfer dough, still in parchment, to a baking sheet.  Refrigerate for 30-45 minutes, until firm.  Repeat with the second half of dough.

Preheat the oven to 350° with the rack on the upper position.  Remove the dough from the refrigerator, and peel off the top sheet of parchment.  Prick the wafers lightly with a fork in two or three rows.  Bake the dough for 25 minutes or until the edges start to brown.  Place the baking sheet on a cooling rack to cool completely.

To make crumbs for Nanaimo bars, crush about 1/3 of the wafers.  Use a food processor, or place wafers in a large ziploc bag and smash with a rolling pin (the latter method is more fun, in my opinion!).

Nanaimo Bars

Bottom Layer:

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup granulated sugar
5 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 egg, beaten
1 1/4 cup graham wafer crumbs, recipe above
1/2 cup almonds, finely chopped
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

Prepare an 8 inch x 8 inch pan by lining with two 8 inch wide strips of waxed paper in opposite directions, making sure that the paper reaches over the top edge of the pan.

Using a double boiler or a heatproof bowl placed over a saucepan of water, melt the butter, sugar, and cocoa powder over low heat.  Add the egg and stir until thickened (see note below).  Remove from heat and stir in graham wafer crumbs, almonds, and coconut.  Press mixture firmly into pan, and place in the refrigerator to chill while you prepare the middle layer.

A note about the egg: when I added the egg to the heated mixture, it separated and started to curdle.  I am assuming that this happened because the mixture was too hot, or the egg was too cold when I added it.  I removed the mixture from the heat at this point and stirred it, hoping that it would come together.  It didn’t, but I soldiered on.  The bars still turned out delicious.

Middle Layer:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tablespoons heavy cream
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 cups powdered sugar

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter until soft.  Add the cream, maple syrup, and vanilla and beat until combined.  With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the cornstarch and powdered sugar.  Beat for about 5 minutes, or until smooth.  Remove the pan from the fridge, spread maple mixture evenly over the bottom layer, and return to fridge to chill while you prepare the top layer.

Top Layer:

4 ounces semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Using a double boiler or a heatproof bowl placed over a saucepan of water, melt the chocolate and butter over low heat.  Cool the mixture, then pour over the middle layer and spread to coat.

Chill the bars overnight before slicing.  To facilitate clean slices, use a knife dipped in hot water and dried off to cut the bars.