Nanaimo Bars

One of the best bars i have ever made...right here.  Crispy dark chocolaty bottom.  Vanilla creamy dreamy middle and a fudgy, coconuty top.  These bars were easy to make but they took a little time due to chilling the layers.  This is one of those bars that most people would have everything in the pantry...a good go to bar for those days when you have a hankerin' for something chocolaty sweet. 

I doubled the recipe and used a 13x22in. pan, because my sweet tooth was bigger than the 9x9 inch pan called for in the recipe...and it worked out just fine. Note how fine the graham cracker crumbs are.  I put them in my Vitamix blender, but you could crush them in a Ziploc with a rolling pin and get some aggressions out or give'm a whirl in your food processor.  Mine was the texture of sand.

The bottom layer was my favorite part of this bar.  I loved that it was crunchy, chewy and very chocolaty at the same time.  I'll go into my serious loyalty to one cocoa powder in a later post...but i suggest you use the deepest darkest cocoa you can find.  Mine came out almost Oreo dark...and in my book, that's pretty dang good.  Cooking the butter (doesnt have to be room temp), sugar, cocoa powder and egg was not scary at all.  You do need to be very careful not to put the egg in too quick or you will have chocolate flavored scrambled eggs.  Pour them in at a very very slow stream while whisking the mixture.  Yours should come out something like mine below.  YUM

Mix the graham and the coconut into the chocolate.  Ditch the spoon and use your hands if it gets too tough. 

OK, I'm still learning to do this blogging thing, so you will have to forgive the lack of photos.  The next step was to press the chocolate mixture into the prepared pan and refrigerate.

While the bottom layer is chilling, work on the filling.  It's basically a buttercream frosting with added vanilla pudding. 

Dang it, i just realized i didn't double the ingredients in the picture...but trust me, i did in the recipe.  Powdered sugar, room temp butter, vanilla pudding powder (instant), vanilla and heavy cream or whole milk.

Mix all the ingredients together scraping the bowl as needed.  Once you get it all incorporated, my one trick is to let the mixer run for a good 7 or so minutes.  You will find that your buttercream will actually thin out a little and fluff up. 

Spread the buttercream onto the crust and refrigerate again.

Now, i have to admit that i cheated with the next step.  Owning a bakery, i have a wonderful deep chocolate fudge frosting that i just love.  It's so versatile.  It's actually the same fudge found on a certain mega tall cake at a local restaurant.  So i poured the fudge on top and added coconut for that little somethin'.

Try this bar and feel free to play with added ingredients.  It would be great to add pecans, or flavorings, maybe some chopped up cookies on top.  Enjoy!