For Moon Unit’s school project; she wants to take Nanaimo bars to school one day late next week.
Looks like the “official” recipe is here - is this a good one? Anyone have one they like better?
And, what is custard powder? One site suggested using Jello pudding mix if that’s not available - I presume we’d want the instant variety vs. the kind that needs to be cooked.
The recipe on the city of Nanaimo’s site is certainly the version I’m most familiar with. It’s an incredibly rich treat. Pardon, I’m now drooling.
That recipe is the one I use. It’s really good.
The custard powder I use is Birds. I usually buy it when I go to Canada, but I happened to find four cans of it in the discount bin at Safeway today. Knowing some other nearby Canadians that I can share with, I grabbed them. I’ve never tried Jello powder.
amazon.com sells custard powder, oddly enough. Amazon.com : custard powder
Forget those. Have her make Igor bars instead! 
:eek:
I think you broke the link! I tried it and it said “capacity exceeded” :mad: Of course, Typo Knig was able to access it a few minutes before I tried, but he shut down the browser window before I had a chance to look at it :mad: :mad: Bad Typo! No Nanaimo (or Igor) Bars for you!!
Here is a link that ought to work.
Warning: These things are designed for Gamers, and therefore deadly to humans.
:eek:
my teeth hurt
:eek:
(oh, and yum!!!)
:smack:[sup]*[/sup] My taste buds apologize!! :eek:
My last pancreatic cell thanks you. It might survive Girl Scout cookie season now. :dubious: Well, maybe not. 
[sup]*[/sup]I typed “snack” instead of “smack” there at first. To thine Doper Name be true …
For the love of all that is holy:
do not use margerine in your Nanaimo bars.
It just ain’t right, and it’s against the whole spirit of the enterprise.
Most of the supermarkets here (90 km from Nanaimo) carry their own Nanaimo bars, made with marge; just not as good as the homemade.
I wouldn’t dare 
The original recipe calls for unsalted butter, “European style cultured”. Anyone know what that is?
Honestly – the cultured butter won’t make that much difference. It’s basically butter with a slightly stronger flavor. If you have a Whole Foods nearby, they probably have it. It’s sold in the same section as the regular butter, but is called ‘cultured butter’.
Eet ees from Europe and ees zerefore more naturally cultured, you know?
::Smokes cigarette using holder while reading Baudelaire::
IAFN (I am from Nanaimo!) and this sounds like the recipe I was brought up with.
If you can find Bird’s custard, that’s what we used. Regular unsalted butter is fine. We used to put the pan in the fridge between layers for some reason, possibly to cool/firm up the layer before adding the next one.
I haven’t made them in years but may have to now for the nostalgia factor. To be honest, they’re a bit sweet for me but I’d KILL to find the recipe for my mom’s coconut topped strawberry jam bars.
Bird’s Custard. Real butter. Really good dark chocolate. Classic Nanaimo bar.
Jello pudding is not an adequate substitute. Trust me.
Please - in the name of all that is holy and good - do not bastardize this by creating, inter alia , mint Nanaimo bars with green filling, peanut butter Nanaimo bars with chopped peanuts on top, Irish Cream Nanaimo bars or any of the ghastly, arificially-flavoured/coloured weak facsimiles which have been appearing in grocery store bakeries recently.
Real, church bake sale Nanaimo bars - those are a treat.
They also taste good frozen - don’t ask me how I know. Just call me impatient.
Raspberry jam OK? the following is straight from my church ladies’ self-published best seller “Hometown Recipes of Wainwright”.
Part one:
1 cup flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tbsp. milk
1/2 c. butter
1 egg, beaten
Pinch salt
Part two:
1 c. sugar
Butter - size of an egg (about 3 tbsp. if you are really into measuring), melted
2 c. coconut
1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
Mix ingredients for part one "like pie dough; roll to pan size 9x12 inches and spread on thin layer raspberry jam (or strawberry - das G.). Second part: Beat egg with sugar, add other ingredients and spread on top of jam layer. Bake at 350 fo 20-30 minutes.
Enjoy.
No, they’re totally *awesome *frozen!
Freezing Nanaimo bars in order to exert some form of self-control… doesn’t work.
Oh dear me. I think that’s it. It was raspberry jam.
Nanaimo bars frozen? So much for me trying to eat well for the next little while.
Thanks muchos. I owe you one.
If you can’t find Bird’s (it’s red and blue and yellow) then you can use any type of vanilla pudding or custard powder. I think “Royal” makes a custard mix. I luckily can get Bird’s here, and if not I can have Mom mail it to me.
I spent the longest five years of my life in Wainwright one spring break. (Dad was posted there and that’s where he retired).
bashful look I kinda like the mint ones actually, not like the real ones but enough that I won’t turn them down.
We have some bird’s custard at home, we actually use it to make custard more than nanaimo bars (as a kid Mom would always make some and put sprinkles on top before it set so they melted into weird puddles…).
Maybe this weekend I’ll make some bars. I’m reminded I need to get some of Grandma’s recipes for various bars (she makes these awesome ones which are a sweet pastry on the bottom, then this light top almost marshmallow in texture and topped with coconut). I have to try those raspberry ones.