🇨🇦 CanadaCatalog recipe
No-bake bars layered with a coconut-crumb base, custard-yellow buttercream and a thin dark chocolate shell, cut small because they're almost too rich for big pieces.
For 20 servings.
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Melt 125g of the butter with the sugar and cocoa powder in a saucepan; whisk in the beaten egg and stir over low heat 2 minutes until thickened like a loose custard — do not let it boil.
💡 The egg will scramble above a bare simmer; keep the heat low and keep whisking.
Off the heat, stir in the graham crumbs, coconut and walnuts; press firmly into a lined 20 cm square pan.
Beat the remaining 60g butter with powdered sugar, custard powder and milk into a smooth, spreadable buttercream.
Spread the buttercream evenly over the base and chill until firm, about 30 minutes.
Melt the dark chocolate with the last 15g of butter, then pour over the chilled buttercream layer and tilt the pan to coat it evenly.
Chill again until the chocolate is fully set, at least 1 hour, before slicing into small squares.
💡 Warm the knife under hot water and wipe it between cuts for clean layers.
Named for the Vancouver Island city where a home cook's recipe won a 1950s newspaper baking contest, the Nanaimo bar spread through British Columbia bake sales before becoming a fixture nationally. Its three fixed layers — a graham and coconut base, a vanilla-custard buttercream, and a chocolate cap — are rarely improvised on, unlike almost every other Canadian dessert.
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