We first made these bars several weeks ago, using a 9×13 pan (which the recipe called for).  But the bars were too thin, and since the layers were so thin, it was hard to spread them.

We double checked to make sure we were using the right pan, and we were, but our bars did NOT look like the ones in the original picture.  So, we made them again, using an 8×8 pan instead.  The ones pictured above are from the 8×8 pan and the ones below are from the 9×13 pan.

I thought the 8×8 bars were better because they were thicker and they didn’t fall apart as easily.  So, use an 8×8 pan!

I haven’t ever had a Mounds bar, but my mom has, and she said these didn’t taste a lot like Mounds, except for the fact that they have coconut in them.  But they are really good and really rich.

To make the crust, mix together graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter, and then press the mixture into the pan.  Bake at 350° for 10 minutes.

While the crust is baking, mix together the coconut and the condensed milk.  When the crust is finished baking, spread the coconut mixture over the crust.  Bake for another 15 minutes.

Take the pan out of the oven and let the bars cool completely.

In the microwave, melt 6 ounces of chocolate chips and 1/2 tablespoon of butter together, and then spread that over the cooled bars.

Put the bars in the fridge until the chocolate is firm.  You don’t have to store the bars in the fridge unless your house is really warm (if your house is too warm, the chocolate will be very soft.)

Better-Than-Mounds Bars

Printable Better Than Mounds Bars recipe

Makes one 8×8″ pan

Crust:

1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs
½ cup melted butter
1/4 cup sugar

Filling:

1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
1 package (7 ounces) shredded coconut

Topping:

6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 tablespoon butter

For the crust:

Mix together the butter, sugar, and graham crackers. Press into an 8×8 inch baking pan.  Bake at 350° for 10 minutes.

For the filling:

Combine the coconut and condensed milk. Spread over the hot crust and bake for another 15 minutes. Cool completely.

For the topping:

Microwave the chocolate chips and butter until melted. Spread evenly over cooled bars.  Refrigerate until chocolate is set.

Recipe modified from original posted on Money Saving Mom.

My mom picked this recipe because she saw it on the Cook’s Country website, which is affiliated with Cook’s Illustrated (I just call it all Christopher Kimball’s stuff!)

A Dutch Baby is kind of like the Apple Pfannekuchen my mom has posted before, except it has lemon and powdered sugar instead of apples and cinnamon.  It’s also a lot taller!

Here’s a little more about the background of Dutch Babies, in case you were wondering why this dish has such an odd name.

Basically it’s like a really big popover.

To make one, first heat the oven to 450°.  Then brush two tablespoons of oil all over a 12-inch ovenproof skillet. Put the skillet in the oven until the oil is shimmering, which should take about 10 minutes.

While it’s heating, mix up the batter. In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, cornstarch, lemon zest, and salt.

In another bowl, whisk the eggs for about one minute, or until they’re frothy and light.

Whisk in milk, butter, and vanilla. (The recipe says that skim milk will give you the highest rise, but we used 2%, since that’s what we had.)

Add about a third of the milk mixture into the flour mixture and mix until it’s smooth.  Then add in the rest of the milk mixture, and mix it until there are no lumps.

Take the skillet out of the oven (remember to use a potholder on the hot handle!) and quickly pour the batter into the pan.  Place it back in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes, or until the edges are deep golden brown.

It will puff up and get really tall in the oven, but it will deflate some when you take it out.

Take the Dutch Baby out of the oven, place the skillet on a wire rack, and sprinkle lemon juice and powdered sugar on it.  Slice it into wedges and eat it right away!

While this is baking, it will make your kitchen smell like funnel cakes.  I really liked the lemon flavor, and my favorite part was the soft inside (my mom loves the crispy outside part the best!)

Dutch Baby

Printable Dutch Baby recipe
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons juice from one lemon (reserved for sprinkling on baked Dutch Baby)
1 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1 1/4 cups skim milk
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar

Put the oven rack in the middle position and heat the oven to 450°.  Brush the inside of an ovenproof 12 inch skillet with 2 tablespoons vegetable oil.  Place pan in oven and heat until oil is shimmering (10 minutes).

While the pan heats, make the batter.  In a bowl, combine the flour, cornstarch, lemon zest, and salt.  In another bowl, whisk the eggs until they’re light and frothy.  Whisk in the milk, butter, and vanilla.

Add 1/3 of the milk to the flour mixture and mix until the lumps are gone.  Add the rest of the milk and stir until the batter is smooth.

Pour the batter into the hot skillet and bake for 20 minutes, or until the edges are puffed and golden brown.  Remove the skillet from the oven and place on a wire rack.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar and lemon juice.  Slice into wedges and serve immediately.

Yesterday, my mom told me that Pi Day (3.14) was coming up, and she thought we should make a pie (pi?) for my blog.  We decided to make something nice and easy, because it was last minute.

Pie crust isn’t my favorite thing in the world and my mom doesn’t really love it either, so we made a pie that doesn’t have a crust.  This is like a really big chocolate chip cookie, so if you like chocolate chip cookies and you don’t like pie, this is perfect for you.

To make this, first preheat your oven to 350° F.  Then mix together the flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl.

Next, in a mixer bowl, combine the butter and brown sugar.

Then add in the egg and the vanilla extract.

Stir in the flour mixture, and then stir in the chocolate chips.

The original recipe called for 1/2 cup chocolate chips and 1/2 cup toffee bits, but we had no toffee bits.  So, we used a cup of chocolate chips.

Spray a pie plate with nonstick cooking spray and then spread the dough evenly in the pan with a spatula or knife.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  We baked ours for closer to 30 minutes, but I’d do 25 minutes next time because our outer edge was a little bit crunchy!

Let the pie cool for a little while and then cut it into slices to serve.

Happy Pi Day!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

(printable version is over at the blog where we found the recipe)

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup toffee bits or chopped up Heath bars

Heat oven to 350° F. Spray a pie plate with nonstick cooking spray.

Mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl.

Then, in a mixer, combine the butter and brown sugar and beat until smooth. Add the egg and vanilla and mix until blended.  Stir in the dry ingredients and then mix in the chocolate chips. Spread in the greased pie plate.

Bake for 25-30 minutes.

Valentine’s Day is coming up, so we wanted to make something heart-shaped to share with you. We thought about making this one, but we had no maraschino cherries. Boo.

So, we decided to make a cinnamon sugar heart-shaped coffeecake instead. I don’t usually like nuts in my coffeecakes, so we made one with just cinnamon and sugar in it and one with cinnamon, sugar, and almonds.

This was really delicious, especially when it was fresh from the oven!

To make your own heart-shaped coffeecakes, sprinkle the yeast into 1/4 cup of warm water.

Then add the milk, butter, eggs, sugar, salt, and 2 cups of the flour.

Mix it together and beat for 3 minutes.

Add enough of the remaining flour to make a soft dough.  We ended up needing a little more flour than the recipe called for, which might have been because we substituted three egg yolks for one of the eggs.

(My mom had them in the fridge leftover from a recipe that needed three egg whites.)

Dump the dough out onto a floured surface, and knead it for 3-5 minutes.

It should look like this.

Put the dough back into the mixing bowl, cover it with a wet tea towel, and let it rise for an hour.

To make the filling, chop up almonds and mix them with cinnamon and sugar.

Since we were making one with nuts and one without nuts, we made two separate filling mixtures.

When the dough is risen, divide it in half and roll each half into a 15×10 inch rectangle.  Brush with melted butter.

And then sprinkle the filling evenly over the two rectangles.

Roll them up, starting with the long end.

This is where we ran into trouble.  The directions were a little vague, and we did one coffeecake totally wrong.  We figured it out the second time, though!

This is almost right…you put the dough onto a baking sheet, seam side up, and then fold it in half, leaving one side a little longer than the other side.

Then we realized that this was upside down-the longer part should be on top, like the next picture shows.  Then you need to cut down the middle, starting from the folded end and stopping before you get to the open end of the roll, like this:

Then you can spread out the cut parts to make a heart shape, like this:

Would you like to see our very wrong coffeecake??

Here you go:

That does not look like a heart.

And after it baked it still didn’t look like a heart.

But it tasted good!

Oh, we forgot to give you baking directions.  After you shape your coffeecakes the right way, cover them with a wet tea towel and let them rise until they’re doubled, about 30-45 minutes.  Bake them in a preheated 350° F oven for 15-20 minutes, or until they’re nicely browned.

(Kristen’s note: I wouldn’t try to bake these at the same time, because most ovens won’t have enough air circulation to properly brown two baking sheets at once.  Bake one and then put the other one in the oven.)

Cool the coffeecakes on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, and then put them on a cooling rack.

Mix the frosting ingredients together and drizzle the frosting over the coffeecake.  The frosting will work better if the coffeecakes are cool, but if you’re too anxious to eat the coffeecakes, you can frost them while they’re warm.

Cinnamon Heart Coffeecake

(printable version can be found at Taste of Home)
1 package (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (110° to 115°)
1 cup warm milk (110° to 115°)
3/4 cup butter, melted, divided
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3-1/2 to 4 cups all-purpose flour

FILLING:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

ICING:
2 tablespoons butter, softened
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 to 6 tablespoons milk

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine yeast and warm water.  Let stand for a few minutes.  Stir in milk, 1/2 cup of the melted butter, eggs, sugar, salt, and 2 cups of flour.  Beat on low speed to combine, then beat on high speed for 3 minutes.  Add enough additional flour to make a soft dough.  Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead 3-5 minutes, or until dough is smooth and elastic.  Place dough in bowl, cover with a wet tea towel, and let rise in a warm place for one hour, or until double.

Punch dough down, divide in half, and roll each half into a 15×10 inch rectangle.  Brush with 1/4 cup melted butter. Combine filling ingredients and sprinkle evenly over each dough rectangle.  Roll up jelly-role style, starting with a long side.  Pinch seams to seal, and place each roll onto a greased baking sheet, seam-side up.

Fold each roll in half, seams together, with the top half of the roll extending 1 1/2 inches beyond the bottom half.  Using a kitchen scissors, cut down the middle of the dough, started from the folded end and stopping 1 inch before reaching the open ends of the roll.  Spread cut sections open to make a heart shape.

Cover dough with a wet tea towel and let rise 30-45 minutes, or until doubled in size.  Bake in a preheated 350° oven for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown.  Let cool on pan for 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool.

Combine frosting ingredients and drizzle over top of cooled coffeecakes.

When I heard that there was such a thing as pumpkin pancakes, I decided I really wanted to make them because they sounded really good! I like all kinds of different pumpkin spice things, so I was pretty sure I would like these.

When my mom makes pumpkin muffins, she adds chocolate chips to them, so even though the recipe didn’t call for it, we added chocolate chips to some of our pancakes. They were good without the chocolate chips, but I liked them better with the chocolate.

These pancakes were just as good as I hoped they’d be, and I think you will like them too!

To make the pancakes, first mix together the dry ingredients with a whisk.

Then whisk together the milk, pumpkin, eggs, and oil.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.

Gently mix together. My mom says there should still be a few lumps.

Heat your griddle or frying pan over medium heat. When it’s ready, a water drop will sizzle.  If your pan isn’t nonstick, you’ll probably need to grease it before you cook your pancakes.

Using 1/4 cup measuring cup, scoop the batter and drop it onto the griddle.

When the pancakes are bubbly on top, flip them over and cook until they’re browned on the underside (it takes about 2 minutes on each side.)

I’d never flipped pancakes before, so it was a little hard at first.

If you want to add chocolate chips, you can stir them into the batter, or you can sprinkle them on top of the pancakes before you flip them.

When your pancakes are done, eat them with butter and syrup.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Printable Recipe

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cup milk
1 cup canned pumpkin
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons oil
1/2-3/4 cup mini chocolate chips, optional

In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. In another bowl, mix together the milk, canned pumpkin, eggs, and oil. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Mix until there are only a few lumps in the mixture. Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, pour onto a hot griddle. Flip when the bottoms are browned and the tops are bubbly, about two minutes.  Cook two minutes more, or until underside of pancake is browned.

Recipe is originally from Sunset’s Breads cookbook.

The last lemon bar recipe that we tried was a bit too lemony for my taste.  So, this time we picked a lemon bar recipe that was a little bit less lemony, and I liked it better.  It’s also a bit easier to make because you don’t have to cook the filling before you pour it onto the crust.

But if you really love lemon, then you should probably make the lemon bars we shared last time.

Before you start, heat the oven to 350° F.

To make the crust, mix together the butter, sugar, and flour.

Press this into an ungreased 8×8 inch baking pan.

Bake for 15 minutes.  The edges of the crust should be slightly brown.

While the crust is baking, make the filling.  In a mixer bowl, beat the eggs, sugar, flour, lemon peel, lemon juice, and baking powder together for two minutes.

We were almost completely out of sugar, so we had to use a bit of brown sugar.  We’re happy to tell you that it worked just fine.

When the crust is done baking, pour the filling over the hot crust.

Put the pan back into the oven and bake for 20 more minutes.  It should be a little bit brown around the edges.

Cool the bars on a wire rack.  When they’re completely cool, sprinkle powdered sugar over them.

And then cut them into bars.

Simple Lemon Bars

1/3 cup butter (5 1/3 tablespoons)
1 cup sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 eggs
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons finely shredded lemon peel
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
powdered sugar for topping

Crust:

Heat oven to 350° F.  For 30 seconds, mix the butter on medium to high speed.  Add 1/4 cup of sugar, and mix until combined. Add in the 1 cup of flour until a crumbly mixture forms. Press into an 8×8 inch ungreased pan. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes or til the edges are brown.

Filling:

While the crust is baking, mix the eggs, 2 tbs. flour, lemon peel, lemon juice, remaining 3/4 cup sugar, and baking powder.  Beat for two minutes. Pour over the warm crust. Put it back in the 350 degree oven and bake for about 20 minutes or until browned on the edges and the center is not jiggly.

Cool the bars on a baking rack.  When they are cool, sift the powdered sugar over the bars. You don’t have to, though.

Makes 20.

My mom has made lemon bars before, and I remembered liking them. So, I asked if we could make a pan of them.

We decided to try the recipe in my mom’s Baking Illustrated cookbook because we wanted to see how it compared to the lemon bars we usually have.

These lemon bars are definitely different-they have a crispier crust and they have a lot more lemon filling on them.  My mom’s mom said she thought they were a lot like lemon meringue pie, except without the meringue.

I personally felt they were a bit too lemony, but if you really like lemon or if you really like lemon meringue pie, you would probably enjoy making (and eating!) these.

(Kristen’s note: I thought the crust on these bars was REALLY good….kind of shortbread-like. And at first, I agreed with Lisey and thought the lemon filling was a little much.  But after I ate a few, I changed my mind, and decided I liked them.)

Next week, we’ll make our other lemon bar recipe, which is not quite so lemony, and then we’ll share that recipe with you too (and we’ll tell you which one we think is better!)

First, combine flour, confectioner’s sugar, and salt in a food processor.  Then add the butter and process it until it looks like this:

Press into a greased 8×8 inch pan.

Refrigerate 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350° F. Then bake the crust for 20 minutes.

While the crust is baking, make the filling.

In a medium bowl, whisk egg yolks and whole eggs.  This takes a lot of eggs!

Whisk in the granulated sugar, and then the lemon juice, lemon zest, and salt.

Then pour the whole mixture into a saucepan and add 4 tablespoons of butter, cut into pieces.  Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the curd is 170° F and thickens a bit.

Set a mesh strainer over a bowl and pour the lemon curd through so that the lemon zest and any cooked egg bits are strained out.  Our curd got kinda thick, so we had to use a spoon to push it through.

Stir in 3 tablespoons of heavy cream.

Then take the crust out of the oven (it should be ready by now) and pour the hot filling over the hot crust.  Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the middle part of the filling wiggles just a little when you shake the pan.

Take the bars out of the oven and let them cool on a wire rack for 45 minutes.  When they’re completely cool, sift powdered sugar over the top of the bars.  This is optional, but I think you should do it because it makes the bars not so tart and because it makes the bars look delectable!

Be warned, though…after a day or two, the powdered sugar melts into the bars, so then they don’t look quite as nice.

Let us know what you think of these if you try them!

Lemon Bars

Printable Lemon Bar Recipe

For the crust

1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened but still cool, cut into 1-inch pieces

For the lemon filling

7 large egg yolks, plus 2 large eggs
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2/3 cup lemon juice (from 4 or 5 medium lemons), plus 1/4 cup finely grated zest (we used 1/8 cup of zest)
Pinch of salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
3 tablespoons heavy cream
Confectioners’ sugar, optional

In a food processor, combine the flour, sugar, and salt; pulse to combine.  Add the butter, and pulse until the mixture is light yellow and looks like coarse meal.  Press into a greased 8×8 inch square baking pan.  Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350° F.  Bake crust for 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

While the crust is baking, make the filling.  In a non-reactive bowl, whisk egg yolks and eggs together.  Whisk in sugar, then whisk in lemon juice, zest, and salt.

Pour into a non-reactive saucepan and add the butter.  Cook over medium low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until mixture reaches 170° F and thickens slightly.  Pour through a fine-mesh sieve to remove zest and any cooked egg bits.

Pour hot filling over hot crust (it should be done baking by now).  Bake bars for 10-15 minutes, or until center of bars barely jiggles when pan is shaken.  Cool bars on wire rack for 45 minutes.

Optional: When bars are completely cool, sift powdered sugar over the top.

I first had this cake when we stayed at my Bestemor’s* house last year, and I thought it was delicious.  So did Joshua and Sonia and Zoe!  Since then, my Bestemor has made this cake almost every time we kids have stayed at her house, and that makes us really happy.

*My mom’s mom comes from a Norwegian family, so we use the Norwegian word for grandmother.

So, we asked her for the recipe so we could make a Lazy Daisy cake here at home.

The coconut/brown sugar frosting is the very best part of this cake…it’s SO yummy!

Here’s how to make it.

First, beat the eggs.

Then add 2 cups sugar and mix again.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour and baking powder together.

In a measuring cup, microwave a cup of milk and two tablespoons of butter until the butter melts. Add this to your batter and mix until it’s all combined.

Pour into a greased 9×13 inch baking pan (it needs to be broiler-safe).

Bake for 40 minutes.

While it’s baking, make the frosting. In a saucepan, combine butter, brown sugar, coconut, and milk (we used half and half.)

Bring this to a boil right before the cake is done.  Once the cake is done, take it out of the oven and pour the hot frosting over the cake.

Place the cake under the broiler, and broil for two or three minutes, or until the frosting is bubbly all over and has browned.

Take it out of the oven and let it cool before you try to cut it.

Once it’s cool, cut into squares, and enjoy!

Lazy Daisy Cake

printable version (ack! the pdf has 1/2 teaspoon of salt in it…it should be 1/4 teaspoon.)

4 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt (you can leave this out if you want)
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons butter

Frosting
2/3 cup melted butter
1 1/3 cups brown sugar
1 cup coconut
6 tablespoons half and half

Heat oven to 325°.  Grease a broiler-safe 9×13 inch baking pan.

In a large bowl, beat eggs with a rotary beater.  Add 2 cups sugar, and beat again.

In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt.  Add to sugar/egg mixture, and stir gently just to combine.

Heat 1 cup milk and 2 tablespoons butter together until butter melts.  Gently stir into cake batter.

Pour batter into prepared pan, and bake cake for 40-45 minutes.

While cake bakes, prepare frosting.  In a saucepan, combine all frosting ingredients and bring to a boil.  Boil for 2 minutes, then pour over hot cake.

Place frosted cake under broiler and broil for 2-3 minutes, or until frosting is bubbly all over and browned.  Remove from oven and cool cake in pan on a wire rack before serving.

If you need a quick dessert, this is the way to go!  These bars don’t have very many ingredients and they taste delicious.  Even someone who doesn’t have a lot of baking experience could make these.

The crackers and chocolate toffee layers make a really yummy sweet and salty treat.

Here’s all you need.

(But before you start, turn your oven on to 350° F.)

Some recipes call for saltines, but we didn’t have enough.  So we used club crackers from Aldi.

(Kristen’s note: the recipe is made for a jelly roll pan, but we have half sheet pans and those are bigger.  So, our crackers didn’t fill up the whole pan.)

In a saucepan, bring the butter and brown sugar to a boil.  Boil and stir it for 3 minutes.  This smelled delicious and I could hardly wait for the bars to be done!

Pour the toffee over the crackers.

Spread evenly.  We started out with a spatula but switched to a knife because the spatula wasn’t very easy.

The toffee will start to get harder pretty fast, so spread it quickly.

Bake the bars for 6-8 minutes, or until the toffee is bubbly.

Like this:

Sprinkle the chocolate chips evenly over the toffee.

Let the bars sit for 2-3 minutes, or until the chocolate chips are soft. Then spread the melted chocolate chips evenly over the toffee.

Put the pan in the freezer or the refrigerator until the chocolate is hardened.

When the chocolate is hard, cut the bars into rectangles, or you can break them into chunks.

If your house is warm, you might want to keep these in the refrigerator so that the chocolate won’t get too soft. Or if you want to save them for later, you can store them in the freezer.

Chocolate Toffee Cracker Bars

printable version

12 whole Club crackers (each with four sections)
1 stick butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350 °.

Place crackers onto a rimmed baking sheet.

In a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter and brown sugar. Stir and bring to boil; boil for 3 minutes.

Pour over crackers; quickly spread evenly. Bake for 6-8 minutes, or until toffee is bubbly.

Remove from oven; sprinkle chocolate chips evenly over toffee. Let stand for 2-3 minutes, or until chocolate chips are softened. Spread chocolate chips evenly over toffee layer.

Place bars in the freezer or refrigerator to harden chocolate. Once chocolate is hardened, cut into bars, or break into irregular chunks.

Store in an airtight container.  Refrigerate during warm weather or freeze in an airtight bag for later use.

We’re studying world geography this year in school, and we’re studying Canada first.  The book we were reading mentioned Nanaimo Bars, so we decided to try them (we’re going to try to cook a recipe from each country that we study).  We searched for a recipe on the internet and decided to try the one from this blog.

We thought these were delicious!  They’re creamy and crunchy and chocolaty all at the same time.  Because they’re pretty rich, a small square makes a good dessert.

It wasn’t hard to make these, but it does take a while because there are three layers.

For the first layer, melt butter, sugar and cocoa powder together in a double boiler (we use a glass bowl on top of a pot because we don’t have a double boiler!)

Let that cool a bit while you beat an egg in another bowl.

Whisk the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture gradually.  We mixed in about 1/4 cup first, and then mixed in the rest.  Be careful to keep mixing it, or the hot chocolate mixture will curdle the egg.

Stir in the graham cracker crumbs, chopped almonds, and coconut.  Press this into an ungreased 8×8 inch baking dish.

For the middle layer, beat together butter, cream, vanilla pudding powder, and powdered sugar.

(Kristen’s note: authentic Nanaimo Bar recipes call for vanilla custard powder, but I didn’t want to buy a whole container just to make these bars, and besides, the blogger whose recipe we followed successfully used instant vanilla pudding powder.)

Spread over the chocolate crust.

Put the pan in the refrigerator until the middle layer is firm.

For the chocolate topping, melt chocolate and butter together (we used chocolate chips.)

Let it cool a bit, then carefully spread it over the middle layer.

You want to cool the chocolate first because otherwise it will melt the middle layer.

Refrigerate the bars until the frosting is firm.

Cut into small bars to serve. And you should store your bars in the refrigerator to keep the chocolate firm.

Nanaimo Bars

If you need a printable version, you can use the one on this blog.

Layer 1
½ cup butter at room temperature
¼ cup sugar
5 tbsp cocoa powder
1 egg
1 ¼ cups graham cracker crumbs
½ cup finely chopped almonds
1 cup coconut

In a double boiler, combine the butter, sugar, and cocoa powder.  Cook and stir until melted.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg.  Slowly stir a bit of the hot chocolate mixture into the egg, and then gradually stir in the rest.  Stir in the graham cracker crumbs, the almonds, and the coconut.

Layer 2
½ cup  butter at room temperature
3 tbsp whipping cream
2 tbsp vanilla pudding powder (we used instant vanilla pudding powder)
2 cups powdered sugar

Beat together the butter, cream, pudding powder, and powdered sugar.  Spread evenly over bottom layer.  Refrigerate.

Layer 3
4 oz semi-sweet chocolate
2 tbsp unsalted butter

In a bowl, melt the chocolate and the butter (we used our microwave).  Let it cool a bit and then spread it on the middle layer.  Refrigerate until firm.  Cut into small squares to serve.  Store leftover bars in the refrigerator.