Foodie - Rachel's yummy Nanaimo Bars

Rachel Russel is my new friend from Umdloti, she comes from Toronto Canada and she is super cool in the kitchen and on the golf course as well.

Rachel discovered the Nanaimo bars recipe (or as our mutual friend Jan likes to call them Crack Cakes) when asked by a South African friends to bring a typically Canadian dessert Rachel had to Google to find this recipe and it has become everyone's favourite.

No one is sure exactly how, when, or by whom the Nanaimo bar was created. There are all these other mysterious stories that Nanaimo bars came from here, there, and everywhere, but there's absolutely no evidence of that.

The dessert is clearly a product of its time; when commercial ingredients came on the market, there was a move away from formal sit-down dinners in favour of cocktail parties with finger foods such as the Nanaimo bar, and women had more leisure time.

The Nanaimo bar—an intensely sweet 1950s-era refrigerator confection—takes its name from a city on Vancouver Island in Canada, even though it was quite possibly created in the nearby town of Ladysmith. Some might call it Canada's national dessert, as its popularity has since spread far beyond British Columbia. The no-bake square consists of a chocolate-, almond-, and coconut-enriched graham crust supporting a dense layer of buttercream, topped with a slick of dark chocolate.

Ingredients:

Bottom layer:

1/2 cup of salted butter, diced into pieces (approx 115g)

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

3 TBSP cocoa powder

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (I used tea biscuits crushed)

1 cup shredded coconut

1/2 cup of finely chopped almonds

Filling:

1/3 cup salted butter, softened

1/4 cup heavy cream

2 TBSP custard powder

2 cups powdered sugar (icing sugar)

Top layer:

4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chopped (I used 70% cocoa chocolate)

2 TBSP salted butter

Directions:

Bottom layer:

Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat, add in brown sugar and cocoa powder and whisk until well combined. While whisking vigorously, slowly pour in beaten egg. Return mixture to heat and cook 1-2 minutes until mixture has thickened. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla. Add in crushed biscuits, coconut and chopped almonds and toss until evenly coated (may need to use hands). Press mixture into a buttered dish (I use a square 8x8 inch glass dish). Cover with plastic wrap and place in freezer for 20 min or refrigerate for 40.

Middle layer:

In a mixing bowl, using electric hand mixture (medium speed), whip together butter, have cream and custard powder until smooth and fluffy (approx 2 min). Stir in powdered sugar and blend until mixture is smooth and creamy (approx 1 min). Mixture may seem like there is a lot of powdered sugar, but will come together when continue mixing. Spread mixture into even layer over chilled bottom layer. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for 15 min or refridgerated for 30 min.

Top layer:

Melt semi-sweet chocolate along with butter in a heat proof bowl, heat bowl of butter over simmering water. Spread mixture into even layer over filling layer and cover with plastic wrap. Chill in refrigerator for 10 min or until chocolate layer has set. Cut into squares and store in airtight container.