A Daring Bakers' Challenge : Nanaimo Bars

It has been a rather hectic two weeks here in the Little Miss Cupcake kitchen. I have literally been dragging myself out of bed every morning, over to the kitchen, putting in a full day with the kids, school and various other activities, and then working into the wee hours for the next day's prep. I have just a few more days to go at this pace before giving myself a well-deserved day-off on Monday.



I am just getting in by the skin of my teeth on this Daring Bakers challenge. I barely had enough time to let the recipe set before showing it off cause I have a busy night ahead and wanted to get this post up. I sadly didn't have time to make these yesterday as I saw one of my very few Canuck friends here in Paris whose eyes lit up when I mentioned Nanaimo Bars. Chris, if you happen to be in the neighborhood tomorrow, drop on by....

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca. I have to admit I had never heard of Nanaimo bars before (and still can't pronounce it properly. Say it with me "Nah-nye-Moh") but they are pretty darn tasty. It's essentially a triple-layer bar with a creamy custard middle sandwiched between a hardened chocolate crust and a chewy coconut-graham cracker crumb-chocolate base. As an added challenge, Lauren who has been diagnosed with celiac disease, gave us a gluten-free recipe for the graham crackers used in the bottom layer.

I really really enjoyed this challenge and will definitely be making these again. I made mine individually in cupcake wrappers and then threw some Reese's Peanut Butter candies on top of half of mine; they certainly made a yummy addition to the mix!