Growing up I never realized two very important things about Claudia’s Nanaimo Bars. Number 1 – they are a classic Canadian dessert. Number 2 – they are delicious! Like a spoiled brat child, I didn’t really care for Nanaimo Bars. I’m fairly certain it was the texture of the coconut. I wasn’t a huge fan. Fun fact: to this day I’m still not a fan of Bounty chocolate bars either! However as I got older and my palate became more sophisticated, I learned to love these Nanaimo Bars in all their glory. To this day, Claudia only makes these beauties for Christmas. I think that is part of the appeal. Sweet, creamy and chocolatey rich, they are definitely a once a year treat that everyone should enjoy.

You will need:

For the bars:

1/2 cup butter

5 tbsp cocoa powder

1 cup coconut

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

5 tbsp white sugar

2 cups graham wafer crumbs

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

For the icing:

4 tbsp butter

2 tbsp vanilla custard pudding powder

5 oz. (or approx. 3/4 cup) semi-sweet chocolate, melted

5 tbsp milk

2 cups sifted icing sugar

1 tbsp butter

Mix wafer crumbs, coconut and nuts together in a bowl

Place softened butter, sugar, cocoa vanilla and egg in a saucepan.

Place on stove over medium low heat.

Cook until the mixture is thick like a custard, about 5 minutes or so.

Add your mixed dry ingredients to cocoa mixture

Press mixture onto an ungreased 9×9 inch square pan and set aside.

Now onto the filling and icing!

Cream 4 tbsp butter

Separately combine milk with custard pudding powder

In a bowl, add butter to custard pudding mixture

Mix in sifted icing sugar

Beat until smooth

Spread over chocolate base

Allow layers to harden

In the mean time, make the top chocolate glaze layer

Melt chocolate squares in microwave or double boiler and combine with 1 tbsp butter

Spread evenly on top of the layers

Chocolatey goodness

Allow to set completely or refrigerate if desired

Yummy layers of chocolate, vanilla and coconut

Decadent and rich

How could a kid not fall in love with this dessert?

Enjoy.

by | 19 Comments

19 Comments on Nanaimo Bars

  1. Lisa
    January 20, 2011 at 12:15 AM (14 years ago)

    What delicious looking bars. With chocolate, vanilla, and coconut, I don’t think anyone could resist taking a bite out of this. By the way, I’m starting a new linky party on my blog this Saturday called “Sweets for a Saturday.” If you get a chance, I’d like to invite you to come by then and link these up.

    Reply
  2. Claudia's Cookbook
    January 20, 2011 at 6:42 PM (14 years ago)

    Thanks for your invite and comments Lisa! I’d love to be a part of the linky party for Sweets for a Saturday!

    Reply
  3. Miz Helen
    January 22, 2011 at 2:59 PM (14 years ago)

    Your Nanaimo Bars look amazing, I could almost taste one right now. I would like to invite you to bring a dish to my Full Plate Thursday, the linky will be open all week end. Thank you for sharing and you have a great week end!

    Reply
  4. crustabakes
    January 23, 2011 at 9:22 AM (14 years ago)

    This looks devily delicious! YUM! i hated coconuts too as a kid, but not anymore!

    Reply
    • Claudia's Cookbook
      January 23, 2011 at 4:28 PM (14 years ago)

      Thanks crustabakes! They are delicious – highly recommend you try 🙂

      Reply
  5. Miz Helen
    January 23, 2011 at 3:31 PM (14 years ago)

    I was delighted to see that you brought your wonderful Nanaimo Bars to Full Plate Thursday. Thank you so much for coming today and please come back!

    Reply
    • Claudia's Cookbook
      January 23, 2011 at 4:27 PM (14 years ago)

      You are very welcome Miz Helen! We actually just posted a tribute blog post to you and the other amazing food bloggers who have invited us to participate!

      Reply
  6. Erin @ Making Memories
    January 24, 2011 at 2:11 PM (14 years ago)

    This is one of my favorite cookies but I haven’t made them in so long. Thanks for the reminder of how good they are!!!

    Reply
  7. Lisa
    January 24, 2011 at 2:56 PM (14 years ago)

    Thanks so much for linking this up to Sweets for a Saturday. I really appreciate the support and hope you’ll be able to join in next Saturday. By then I’ll have a cute button that you can grab.

    Reply
  9. LastGirl
    June 12, 2012 at 11:01 PM (12 years ago)

    These bars were featured on an episode of the Canadian sitcom Corner Gas which I watched last year. They looked good so I decided last year that I would make them. I finally made this this year and thought they were way too sweet for my liking. Since I had already told a co-worker I would make them, I took them to work and to my surprise, everyone like them. I was the only one who thought they were too sweet. The only part I liked was the bottom layer.

    Now that I know everyone else loves them, I will probably make them again at least once more according ot the recipe and probably at least once with a different middle layer.

    Reply
    • Claudia's Cookbook
      June 12, 2012 at 11:58 PM (12 years ago)

      Hi LastGirl – Thanks for trying the recipe and for commenting! Nanaimo bars are traditionally a sweeter dessert, so I am not surprised you found them overly sweet where others may not have. That being said, if you are looking at trying a different “middle” layer, I’ve seen some recipes out there that use Nutella that I’ve wanted to try that look absolutely amazing. Maybe give that a try if you find the vanilla is a bit too sweet? Thanks again for visiting the blog!

      Reply
  10. Lorna
    December 8, 2013 at 4:39 PM (11 years ago)

    I might be missing something here but does the base need to be baked since it has raw egg in it?

    Reply
    • Claudia's Cookbook
      December 9, 2013 at 2:15 AM (11 years ago)

      Hi Lorna – yes, you are correct! I realized I accidentally forgot to include to place the cocoa mixture on the stove over medium low heat and stir until it’s thick like a custard. Thank you for pointing that out! The recipe is now fixed on the site.

      Reply
  11. Dianne Dimayuga
    December 19, 2013 at 8:04 AM (11 years ago)

    Hi there! These look amazing! I was wonder though, do you use instant pudding powder or the cook and serve pudding powder?

    Reply
    • Claudia's Cookbook
      December 19, 2013 at 3:10 PM (11 years ago)

      Hi Dianne – We actually use custard powder, which is different than instant or cooked puddings. Typically this is found in the aisle with the puddings at the grocery story. It is more like a cornstarch than a pudding powder. I have never tried it, but from what I hear you can use equal parts cornstarch and vanilla as a substitute.

      Reply
  12. Jennifer
    December 19, 2013 at 6:35 PM (11 years ago)

    I just finished making this recipe but haven’t tasted it yet. I don’t know if it was the kind of chocolate I used, but 5 squares was not enough to cover the top layer. Perhaps the brand I used (Ghirardelli) has smaller squares, but I had to use all 8 squares and really stretched it even then. Perhaps a measurement would help rather than just using the 5 squares description. I can’t wait to taste them.

    Reply
    • Claudia's Cookbook
      December 19, 2013 at 6:41 PM (11 years ago)

      Hi Jennifer, sorry about that. Yes, we used Bakers Chocolate brand, which the squares are a lot bigger and thicker. 5 of those squares equals 5-ounces of chocolate. I will update my recipe. Thanks for your feedback! Let me know how you like them! 🙂 Happy Holidays!

      Reply
      • Jennifer
        December 21, 2013 at 2:27 PM (11 years ago)

        When I tried them the first time, I wasn’t terribly excited. After a day or 2 in the fridge, they were MUCH better. Now, I need to figure out how to make them look neater. Mine were an ugly mess.

        Reply

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