Canada Day is coming up on July 1st. Nainamo Bars would most definitely be a good treat to serve.

Nanaimo, BC’s history indicates that these no-cook, sweet bars originated as a little something made for miners by their families to brighten up their day.

I’ve been thinking about them ever since my friend, FiL, wrote on Facebook once that his children had just had their first Nanaimo Bars of the season on the ferry to Mayne Island. Let me tell you, FiL knows food. Good food. So, Nanaimo went on the ‘MUST Make THIS’ list. (I’ve got one of those on Pinterest now. That site might just be the death of my allotted internet minutes. And that’s A LOT of minutes).

Back to the Nanaimo bars. A chocolate, walnut, coconut and graham layer topped with a creamy, butter custard and then more chocolate over the top. Now we’re talking.

Another friend, who is from Saskatoon, tried a bar I made and said that this Nanaimo version was pretty authentic. You can bet it will be high on my list of things to try when I make it out to British Columbia again.

Here is an early wish to my Canadian friends and readers (well, if you read this you can most certainly know that I count you as a friend!!) for a very Happy Canada Day.

Nanaimo Bars

Ingredients for the base:

1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup sugar
5 Tbs cocoa powder
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

Ingredients for the filling:

1/3 cup butter, softened
3 Tbs custard powder (I used Bird’s)
1/4 cup milk
3 cups confectioners’ sugar

Ingredients for the topping:

8 ounces semisweet chocolate
2 Tbs butter

Directions for the base:

1. Melt the butter in a sauce pan.

2. Stir in the sugar and cocoa powder until smooth.

3. Whisk in the egg and vanilla extract and remove from heat.

4. Stir in the graham cracker crumbs, coconut and walnuts.

5. Press into a greased, 8 inch square pan. Chill in the fridge for 20 minutes.

Directions for the filling:

1. Cream the butter with an electric mixer.

2. Beat in the custard powder and milk.

3. Slowly beat in the sugar.

4. Spread filling over the the base layer and chill in the fridge until it sets.

Directions for the topping:

1. Melt the chocolate and butter. Stir until smooth.

2. Spread over the filling layer and chill until the chocolate begins to harden.

3. Score the chocolate where you will cut it into bars and chill in the fridge.

4. Before the chocolate hardens, cut into bars. (Use an hot knife and wipe clean after each cut.)

Recipe from Closet Cooking

Looks like some of my favorite Canadian bands would work very well here.
Islands-Rough Gem

You can read more about Islands and buy their music on their website, which is very cool I might add.

I’ve already written about one my favorite Woodpigeon songs here. This song is pretty sweet, too.
Woodpigeon-I Live A Lot Of Places

Go check out Woodpigeon. Another very visually appealing website. There’s plenty to listen to there. You’ll love all of their stuff.

Cheers!!