Recipes Discovered

Read my review of this recipe.

It’s been awhile since I posted a new recipe, but I have had an extremely busy month. It hasn’t been all fun and games though, and I did use my travels to get ideas for new recipes. Seth and I spent one weekend in Seattle, and had the opportunity to eat at Tom Douglas’s restaurant, Dahlia Lounge. Not only did I have the best crab cakes there, but I also had the most amazing coconut cream pie I’ve ever eaten. Words cannot describe it. If you are ever in Seattle, Dahlia Lounge is a must. Just be sure to make reservations a couple days in advance because it’s a very busy place. Another city we visited was Nanaimo, British Columbia. While we were there, we discovered that Nanaimo is very famous for a dessert appropriately named the nanaimo bar. The nanaimo bar is a no bake dessert that has a chewy chocolate bottom layer with nuts and coconut, a creamy custard filling, and chocolate topping. It’s delicious and easy to find the recipe, so when my family was here this weekend, I treated them to part of our trip. >>
For the bottom layer of the bars, I melted butter, sugar, and cocoa over a double boiler. Once it melted, I whisked in a beaten egg, and at that point, the mixture completely separated. I doubt it was supposed to, but I used it anyway and it tasted fine in the end. To the chocolate mixture, I added graham cracker crumbs, coconut, and pecans. The recipe calls for 2 cups of crushed graham crackers, which turned out to be one pack of graham crackers (10 whole crackers). Once everything was mixed together, I pressed the mixture firmly into a 9×9 dish and placed it in the refrigerator while I made the next layer.
For the filling, I first creamed butter, and then added milk, vanilla extract, instant vanilla pudding mix, and powdered sugar. The original recipe calls for custard powder, an ingredient that is widely used in England. It’s hard to find in the United States though, so instant vanilla pudding is a good substitute. I had to add a little extra milk to get the filling to a spreadable consistency. It needs to be fairly thick though, similar to very thick buttercream icing. After spreading the filling on top of the bottom layer, I put the dish back in the refrigerator while I made the topping.
The topping is just chocolate and butter melted over a double boiler. Once it was melted, I let it cool slightly, and then spread it carefully over the custard filling. The top layer of chocolate is very thin, just enough to cover the top. I again put the dish back in the refrigerator to let the chocolate harden.
Nanaimo bars are best served at room temperature, so I took them out of the refrigerator about an hour before serving. The bars are rich, delicious, and just a little bit different than other desserts. Everyone enjoyed them, and it reminded me of being back in Nanaimo.