Home is wherever I am with you. – Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros.
What’s your definition of home? Is it a place or a person for you? Home for us is Thailand and Canada. Well technically, we should throw in Russia and the Philippines in that mix, but we feel like Canadian Thai hybrids these days. It’s not just the place itself, but the people, memories and experiences that make each country home for us. At times we feel the most at home in Thailand with the slow pace of life and the simple life we live here. Other times, we miss our lives in Canada specially the friends and family we’ve left behind. For us, food is a cure for homesickness. When we were back living in Toronto and missed Thai food, we headed over to the nearest Thai restaurant or made our favorite Thai dishes at home. And now, while living in Thailand, when we miss home, we go out to our nearest western restaurant and eat our weight in fries and hamburgers!
One particular day, I was missing Canada so much that I decided to crack open my new cookbook, More Than Poutine – Favourite Foods from My Home and Native Land by Marie Porter and perused through all the familiar dishes like pea soup, seafood chowder, butter tarts, Nanaimo bars, etc. I was curious about Nanaimo bars because all those years growing up in Canada, I’ve never tried one at all even though I’ve seen them served at a lot of get-togethers, picnics, potlucks and even funerals. Well, Marie saved the day for me with her easy to follow Nanaimo bars recipe.
Nanaimo bars are a Canadian specialty hailing from Nanaimo, British Columbia. These bars are packed full of awesome things like chocolate, vanilla custard, coconut flakes and almonds! Oh, I forgot it also has butter and who doesn’t like butter, right? These oh so Canadian bars were a big hit with our Korean, Japanese, Thai, Danish, American and Australian friends here. These bars are excellent dessert/snack to bring for big gatherings because they’re definitely a crowdpleaser. If you’re Canadian and are missing home, we got your back. The recipe is below for you. If you’re not Canadian and would like to learn a little about Canada, try out this recipe and let us know how you like it!
- unsalted butter, ½ cups
- granulated sugar, ¼ cup
- cocoa powder, 6 tbsp
- large egg, beaten, 1
- graham cracker crumbs, 1¼ cup
- sliced almonds, finely chopped, ½ cup
- unsweetened coconut flakes, 1 cup
- unsalted butter, ½ cup
- heavy whipping cream, 3 tbsp
- vanilla pudding powder, 3 tbsp
- icing sugar, 2 cups+
- semi sweet baking chocolate squares, 6 oz
- butter, 3 tbsp
- In a large mixing bowl, add the graham cracker crumbs, chopped sliced almonds and coconut flakes. Set aside.
- Melt butter in a saucepan.
- Add sugar and cocoa powder and mix well.
- Add egg and stir well. The egg will cook and thicken.
- Once the mixture has thickened, remove from heat and pour it into the bowl with graham crackers, sliced almonds and coconut flakes. Mix well.
- Take the mixture and press it firmly and evenly into the bottom of your 8x8 pan. Set aside.
- Cream butter and heavy cream.
- Add pudding powder and beat well.
- Slowly and carefully add the powdered sugar.
- The mixture should be very thick. If not, you can add more powdered sugar a little bit at a time.
- Spread mixture evenly on top of the first layer.
- Melt butter and chocolate over low heat.
- Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
- Once cooled, spread over second layer evenly.
- Chill in the fridge until the top layer has hardened. Then slice into bars.
Nanaimo bars are great for potlucks because a small square can easily satisfy a sweet tooth. If you want to serve it as a dessert to your dinner guests, you can slice them into bigger bars and serve it with a side of raspberry sauce or just fresh raspberries.
Try this Canadian specialty and let us know how you like it!
