Nanaimo Bars

These little delights are a treat that I've enjoyed since I was little.  I can even recall asking my mom to make them instead of a birthday cake.  For the past couple years, Arianna has asked me to do the same.  After I posted pictures on Facebook, I had a couple requests for the recipe so here it is!

Nanaimo Bars

Base:

1/2 cup of butter

1 egg

1/3 cup of sugar 

2 cups of graham wafer crumbs

5 tablespoons of cocoa

1/2 cup of coconut (I do less)

1 tsp of vanilla

Melt butter, sugar, cocoa, vanilla and egg in a double broiler pot.  Remove from heat and add wafers and coconut.  Press well into a greased 9x9 pan.  Let cool.

Center:

1/4 cup of butter

2 tablespoons of custard powder

2 cups of icing sugar

3 tablespoons of milk

Cream butter and add custard and milk.  Blend in the icing sugar, spread over base and let cool.  See note at the bottom.

Topping:

4 squares of semi-sweet chocolate OR 1 cup chocolate chips 

2 tablespoons of margarine or butter (Margarine will keep the chocolate softer while butter will make it hard)

Melt chocolate and butter/margarine and spread over center.  Let cool, cut and eat!

Notes:

*To change the color of the center, add food coloring.  Custard will make it very yellow so if you add red food coloring, you can get an orange/peach or even pink center, depending on how much you add.  At Christmas, I add blue food coloring to get a green center.  The coloring needs to be added during the first mixing of butter and custard so the color is even. 

*If you wish to double the recipe, just use a 9x13 pan.

I just linked this recipe to SWEET AS SUGAR COOKIES!  Lots of wonderful treats there to check out!!