I’d like to announce that this will be the second Nanaimo Bar entry on this blog. I don’t have many recipes since I don’t blog as often as I wish I could, but yet I have TWO Nanaimo Bar entries. I’m not Canadian, and in fact, had never even had a Nanaimo Bar prior to blogging. Well, as many of you could guess, both entries were challenges..the first, a ‘Sweet Canada’ Sugar High Fridays, when I was just a blogging sprout, the second..this month’s Daring Bakers challenge.
The first time I made them, for the SHF challenge, I concocted this white maple mousse filling, which was pretty tasty, but damn, I went way overboard with the white and dark chocolate ‘polka dots’ inide and out, rendering them a bit too rich for an already too rich bar. OH and the photos..AY YI YI! I actually thought they were quite good when I took them. Hey, I didn’t know squat about photography, what can I say? Still sort of don’t – just got a better camera.
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.
Initially, when I saw this month’s challenge, my first thought was; ‘Welllll..I already have a Nanaimo Bar post, and they are rather rich, so what to do, what to do….’ Remember, I don’t have a lot of people to feed, so lots of food gets thrown out quite often. However, I adore Lauren, a total sweetheart of a girl, so there was no way I wasn’t going to take part in her challenge. It was a matter of getting creative and taking these bars somewhere other than Canada.
First let me start by saying that this challenge had a hook, and a great one I might add. We got to make our own graham crackers. We were also given the choice of going gluten-free..meaning there were some flours we would have to use that most of us do not have on hand. Eyeing my barely used sack of spelt flour from the Daring Cooks Indian Dosa challenge, it was a pretty easy decision..Umm…NO. Granted, I would have loved to have done these gluten-free, but the flours we needed would eventually join the spelt in perpetual limbo..wallflowerdom forever. It was going to be whole wheat flour or bust. Well, in this case, KA white whole wheat flour, which was what I happened to have on hand.
That being said, I was not going to make these into big, honking bars. I feel Nanaimo Bars need to whittled down a bit. This way, you don’t waste a bar with one or two bites due to the richness. Granted, many love a sinfully rich bar of heart attack, but I’m not one of them.
I decided to go tropical. What an oxymoron - tropical Nanaimo bars. From the rugged chill of Canada to the soft breeze and sunburn of Key West and Hawaii. My reasoning wasn’t out of any kind of rebellion, juxtaposition or fusion, but simply due to the fact that I felt the juice and zest of a lime or key lime would cut the sweet richness of these bars. Since I was taking the key limey highway, what better than macadamia nuts in lieu of the almonds (Can you hear the surf and ukulele?) ? The coconut was already at the party, so it all fit together like Heidi Montag and (insert any plastic surgery procedure). I also felt a very thin layer of white chocolate ganache would be better suited to the tangy lime. Finally, I nixed the dark cocoa in the graham cracker crust, and instead used sweet ground white chocolate powder, reducing the sugar in both the filling and crust.
Having said all that, (I have a lot more to say this time, huh?) due to my prior Nanaimo sugar shock, gut bomb, ‘I feel the diabetes lurking’ experience, I didn’t think the bars needed to be as thick as they usually are, so I used a 10-inch square pan instead of an 8-inch, to insure slimmer layers, layers that don’t make your teeth want to sink back into your gums with each bite. I also cut them into very small squares, bite-sized (the last photo is just for show, those were miniaturized after I snapped), unless your mouth is the size of a thimble. This resulted in a much more pleasurable Nanaimo experience, minus leftover bars with one or two bites out of them.
If you’d like the recipe for Nanaimo Bars, click HERE. To make myversion, simply add the juice and zest of one key lime or half a regular lime to the filling and use melted white chocolate plus a little heavy cream for the topping. Be sure to check out the Daring Bakers Blogroll for more Nanaimo Bars and takes on the Nanaimo Bar. Well worth the click.
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