These Nanaimo Bars will remind you of the classic Canadian dessert, but with modern, sophisticated touches.
Nanaimo Bars
~ Adapted from Chewy Gooey Cripsy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies by Alice Medrich
1 cup (125 g) Flourist Whole Grain Spelt Flour
1 cup (115 g) hazelnuts, roughly chopped
1/4 cup (50 g) sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup (30 g) shredded unsweetened coconut
1/2 cup (100 g) butter, melted
Filling
8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup (50 g) sugar
2 tbsp (25 g) brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
Chocolate Ganache
1/2 cup heavy cream
7 oz semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped
2 tbsp (25 g) sugar
Heat oven to 350°F and line a 8x8 inch square pan with parchment paper with a slight overhang on all sides.
In a food processor, pulse together Flourist Whole Grain Spelt Flour, hazelnuts, sugar, baking powder and salt until hazelnuts are finely ground, about 40-60 seconds. Tip the contents into a small mixing bowl, add coconut and melted butter. Stir until completely combined. Press mixture into an even layer at the bottom of the prepared pan. We like to use a plastic dough scraper to firmly press the crust down evenly. Bake for approximately 10-15 minutes or until the edges are starting to turn golden. Allow crust to cool slightly.
In the bowl of a standing mixer or with handheld beaters, beat together cream cheese, sugar and brown sugar until creamy and smooth. Add egg and vanilla and continue mixing until thoroughly combined. Spread filling on top of crust and spread evenly with an offset spatula. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the edges are starting to puff. Allow bars to cool completely and then chill in refrigerator for up to 2 hours.
To make the chocolate ganache, heat about 1 inch of water in a large skillet over medium heat. Place roughly chopped chocolate, sugar and heavy cream in a heat proof bowl and place bowl directly in the skillet of water. Turn off heat and allow mixture to sit for 5 minutes before whisking until smooth.
Pour warm ganache over the bars, spread with an offset spatula until smooth. Chill for an additional 30 minutes before slicing and serving. Wipe knife down in between cuts to keep bar edges clean.
Comments
Hi, this is a response to Donna Holm regarding printing a recipe on this site: For Apple / Mac computers, and you’re using SAFARI as your browser you can use CMD+P to print, or if you have ‘READER’ activated for the website you can click on the lines in the URL area which will switch you to reader view and from there you can then use CMD+P to print or Save to PDF. If you are using PC computer or Mac & Windows (Chrome) as your browser you can use CTL+P to print or Save to PDF. Hope this helps!
Same comment as above. Until you publish a cookbook, which I will immediately buy, I’d like to home print my favourite recipes in a book format but editing is such a pain that I keep postponing the project. Otherwise, your recipes are fabulous!
I sure wish that you would provide a Print Friendly link for your recipes! This one looks great, but I will need to doodle around to print it out. Thank-you.