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

As a resident of British Columbia Canada I was excited to see a dessert that is not only a Canadian favourite but also a very BC oriented dessert.  Nanaimo bars are not something that I had heard of prior to moving to Canada, and even the first time I tried them I wasn’t all that impressed.

Not only was I new to nanaimo bars but also to gluten free baking, something that was a great element to this months challenge.  Lauren did a great job of finding a recipe that would challenge many of us to try a form of baking we hadn’t tried before.

Making our own graham crackers but gluten free was my favourite part of this months challenge.  I was happy to find all of the flours needed and was pleasantly surprised to find that the graham crackers were sooo yummy.  Gluten free baking tastes just as great, if not better, than regular baking.  After making the graham crackers I found myself sneaking bites because they were seriously that good.

Who knew?!?

As I was putting together the custard middle layer I thought I would try and make it even more ‘Canadian’ by making the middle layer a maple custard.  Something I have learned since moving to Canada is that people here are serious about their maple syrup.  And rightly so, it is really rather good.

This was truly a challenge this month as half way through the custard layer I realized that I was out of powdered sugar.  After a bit of researching on the internet I found that I could simply put regular sugar in my cuisinart and pulse it until it became powder.  How exciting!  If I was do make my own powdered sugar again I would make sure to pulse it longer as my sugar was still a bit granular.

A big thank you to Lauren for creating such a great challenge I really felt like my baking was challenged this month.  For the first month since starting Daring Baker’s I made them within the first week of the challenged being posted.  I was just so excited to try something new and exciting.

Gluten Free Graham Crackers

1 cup Sweet rice flour (also known as glutinous rice flour)

3/4 cup Tapioca Starch/Flour

1/2 cup Sorghum Flour

1 cup Dark Brown Sugar, Lightly packed

1 teaspoon Baking soda

3/4 teaspoon Kosher Salt

7 tablespoons Unsalted Butter (Cut into 1-inch cubes and frozen)

1/3 cup Honey, Mild-flavoured such as clover.

5 tablespoons Whole Milk

2 tablespoons Pure Vanilla Extract

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.

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.

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.

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.

Adjust the rack to the upper and lower positions and preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius).

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.

Prick the wafers with toothpick or fork, not all the way through, in two or more rows.  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.

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

Bottom Layer

1/2 cup Unsalted Butter

1/4 cup Granulated Sugar

5 tablespoons Unsweetened Cocoa

1 Large Egg, Beaten

1 1/4 cups Gluten Free Graham Wafer Crumbs (See previous recipe)

1/2 cup Almonds (Any type, Finely chopped)

1 cup Coconut (Shredded, sweetened or unsweetened)

Middle Layer

1/2 cup Unsalted Butter

2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons Heavy Cream

2 tablespoons Vanilla Custard Powder

2 cups Icing Sugar

Top Layer

4 ounces Semi-sweet chocolate

2 tablespoons Unsalted Butter

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.

For Middle Layer: Cream butter, cream, custard powder, and icing sugar together well. Beat until light in colour. Spread over bottom layer.

For Top Layer: Melt chocolate and unsalted butter over low heat. Cool. Once cool, pour over middle layer and chill.