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Why You’ll Love My Recipe
This buttercream custard-filled bar is a dessert lover’s dream and a staple of Canadian desserts. Build up a stockpile in your freezer for the holiday season, or just for a quick sweet treat.
Except perhaps for the butter tart, there is nothing quite as famous as a Nanaimo bar when it comes to Canadian dessert cuisine. Why not pair yours with an Espresso Martini or a Classic Rum Runner Cocktail?
Reader Review
Hi Karlynn
Thank you so much for this recipe.
I have never made Nanaimo Bars before…
And I wanted to make some for Christmas
Love Nanaimo Bars… but I find the store bought ones are Sooo Sweet!
I have had homemade ones… and they was so good… of course way better!
I made your recipe…. and they are Absolutely Delicious!
Thank you 🙏🙏
Karlynn’s Recipe Notes
- Skill Level: This recipe is very easy.
- Total Time: Making these Nanaimo bars will take you approximately 3 hours, depending on how long you chill them for. The actual work of preparing and assembling them only take 15 minutes or so.
- Variations: Nanaimo bars are so basic that they don’t really do well with changes. You can try different sort of chocolate chips for the top layer though. Try some dark chocolate to cut the sweetness, or use milk chocolate for a creamier flavour. Remove the coconut or walnuts from the base layer if you need to, but be sure to find a substitution that will add crunch and chewiness.
- Tools Needed: For this recipe, you’ll need a hand mixer, a whisk, a large pot, a glass measuring cup, a 9×9 baking pan, a sharp knife, and some parchment paper.
What You’ll Need For Ingredients
Bottom: This chewy crust is a yummy combination of ingredients that you likely have in your pantry. If you are allergic to coconut or walnuts, you can omit them, but you may want to find alternatives to keep the chewy and crunchyb texture.
Middle: This fluffy, and vibrant middle layer is made from icing sugar (aka powdered sugar), butter, heavy cream, and custard powder. Look for custard powder in the baking section of your grocery store. If it isn’t near the flour and sugar, it may be by the pudding mixes and gelatin. The most commonly available brand here in Canada is Bird’s Custard Powder, but depending on your store you may have more options.
Top: The delicious top layer of Nanaimo bars is a simple mixture of chocolate chips and butter, melted and spread across the top of the chilled custard layer.
How To Make Nanaimo Bars
This is a brief overview of the recipe. The full list of ingredients and step-by-step instructions are in the recipe card below.
- Line 9×9 pan with parchment paper, leaving some paper overhanging the edges.
- In a large pot over medium heat, melt the butter, sugar, and cocoa. Mix together until smooth. Remove from heat. Mix a small amount of the hot mixture with the beaten egg, whisking quickly to avoid lumps. Whisk the tempered egg into the the hot mixture.
- Add the graham cracker crumbs, coconut, and walnuts. Press the mixture into the bottom of the pan and put in the fridge to chill.
- Cream the icing sugar, butter, cream, and custard powder with a hand mixer. Spread onto the chilled bottom layer in the pan.
- Melt chocolate chips and butter and pour over middle layer. Spread evenly and cool in fridge for a few hours.
- Remove from pan as a slab. Slice and serve while the bars are still cold.
Karlynn’s Tips and Tricks for Making Nanaimo Bars
Custard Alternative: Custard powder is one of the distinctive ingredients in Nanaimo bars, and it’s readily available in the baking aisle of most grocery store. However, if you can’t find custard powder or just really don’t like it, you can use vanilla pudding mix instead. It won’t give you the same bright yellow colour, but otherwise it should turn out almost the same.
Keep it Chill: Nanaimo bars need to be kept cold. If they’re left at room temperature, they soften and start to melt. Keep them in the fridge or freezer until you’re ready to eat them. Keeping them nice and cold also helps make them easier to slice, especially if you heat up your knife before cutting. To keep the chocolate from cracking, be sure to gently score lines in it before it fully hardens. They’ll help guide your knife.
Storage Instructions
Store these in the fridge until just before you plan to eat them, otherwise the chocolate will soften and melt. You can keep them in the fridge in a sealed container for up to 5 days.
Freeze Nanaimo bars in individual bars or as a frozen slab, in a sealed container for up to 3 months.
More Delicious Bar and Square Recipes
Looking for more easy bar recipes to add to snack platters this holiday season?
Try some Pecan Pie Bars or Pumpkin Pie Bars for more seasonal flavours.
How about making Saltine Toffee Squares and Chewy Chocolate Puffed Wheat Squares for some classic childhood snacks?
There you go. Sweet, simple, and easy to freeze for later. Try this classic Canadian recipe and let me know what you think.
Happy Baking!
Karlynn
Nanaimo Bars
Ingredients
Bottom Layer
- ½ cup salted butter
- ⅓ cup sifted cocoa
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, beaten (this can be omitted)
- 1 ¾ cups graham cracker crumbs
- ¾ cup shredded coconut, sweetened
- ½ cup finely chopped walnuts
Middle Layer
- 2 cups icing sugar, (powdered sugar)
- ½ cup salted butter, room temperature
- 3 tablespoons heavy cream
- 3 tablespoons custard powder
Top Layer
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 2 tablespoons salted butter
Instructions
- Line a 9×9 pan with parchment paper, leaving some parchment paper hanging over the edge for handles.
- In a large pot over medium heat, melt the butter, sugar, and cocoa together until it's smooth. Heat until the mixture is steaming hot.
- Temper the egg by adding a large tablespoon of the hot butter mixture into the beaten egg, whisking rapidly. Once you have whisked it in completely, pour the beaten egg into the hot butter and cocoa mixture, whisking rapidly to ensure that there are no lumps. This will cook the egg in the hot mixture.
- Mix in the graham crumbs, coconut, and walnuts. Firmly press into the bottom of the prepared 9×9 pan. Chill in the refrigerator while you get the middle layer ready.
- Get your middle ingredients together.
- Cream the icing, butter, cream, and custard powder together with a hand mixer, then spread onto the bottom layer.
- Melt the cup of chocolate chips and 2 tbsp of butter together in a microwave-safe glass measuring cup, heating on high power in 20-second increments, making sure to stir after heating each time.
- Once the chocolate is smooth, spread the chocolate on top of the middle layer evenly, then cool in the fridge for a few hours. The middle layer will set and the top layer will harden.
- Remove the slab of bars from the pan once chilled by lifting the parchment paper. Slice the bars on the paper and serve.
- Keep the bars refrigerated in a closed container for up to 5 days, or freeze for up to 3 months.
Notes
- This is a very old-fashioned recipe and has a raw egg in the base. For food safety reasons you can temper the egg in step three, and then make sure to cook it in the hot butter and cocoa mixture.
- Try dark, semi-sweet or milk chocolate for the topping!
- If you want to cut the sweetness, you can use unsweetened coconut in the bottom layer.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Sue says
it was actually a recipe contest in the newspaper the Vancouver sun that someone from Nanaimo won the original recipe has almonds not walnut
it is supposed to be unsweetened coconut or its too sweet