Nanaimo Bars

Nanaimo bars are classic no bake 3 layered Canadian bar cookies with a crumbly chocolate coconut base, creamy vanilla buttercream centre, and crisp chocolate top. This Canadian classic is popular with everyone!

Jump to:

• What are Nanaimo Bars?
• Why we love this recipe
• Ingredients notes and substitutions
• How to make this Nanaimo Bar recipe from scratch
• FAQs
• My recipe tips
• Storage
• Leftover Ingredients
• More no bake recipes
• Nanaimo Bars

What are Nanaimo Bars?

Nanaimo bars are a Canadian no-bake layered bar cookie named after the city of Nanaimo, British Columbia. There are 3 layers in a Nanaimo Bar: a biscuits/cracker crumb base made with cocoa power, coconut and nuts (similar to the base of chocolate tiffin but with the addition of egg); fluffy vanilla buttercream middle layer; and a bittersweet/dark chocolate topping, which provides a satisfying crunch when you bite into it. Traditional Nanaimo bars are made using custard powder, but here I have given the options for making Nanaimo bars without custard powder as well as with custard powder.

Why we love this recipe

• This Nanaimo bar recipe is one I often made for Mr Jones’s work colleagues when we lived in Canada, and they would always disappear very quickly. However when we moved to Australia, finding Birds custard powder wasn’t easy, so I recreated the Nanaimo bar recipe without custard powder.
• These Nanaimo bars without custard powder are every bit as tasty as those made with custard powder. The custard powder provides a lovely yellow layer, but I have to say I prefer the taste of the vanilla buttercream.
• The contrast in textures of the layers: the crunchy biscuit base with a little chew from the coconut, the soft buttercream layer, and the slightly crunchy melted chocolate top.
• They are a simple no bake treat perfect for bake sales, gifts, and for an impressive but easy Christmas treat.

Ingredients notes and substitutions

Please scroll down to the recipe card at the end of the post for ingredient quantities.

• Butter – you can use unsalted butter or salted butter.
• Granulated sugar – white sugar.
• Cocoa powder – unsweetened cocoa powder, not sweetened.
• Egg – size large.
• Digestive biscuits or graham crackers.
• Desiccated coconut – use unsweetened coconut. If you only have shredded coconut, blend it in a mini blender until fine.
• Almonds – or you can use walnuts or pecans
• Cornstarch/ cornflour – If you are in Australia or the UK you will see it as cornflour, if you are in America I recommend you use cornstarch.
• Vanilla bean paste – or vanilla extract.
• Icing sugar – confectioner’s sugar. Use pure icing sugar, not soft icing sugar / royal icing sugar (this will make the buttercream layer too soft).
• Milk – I prefer to use milk in the buttercream, although many recipes call for cream or whipping cream. 
• Dark chocolate – unsweetened chocolate – use a good quality (70%) dark chocolate. I recommend you don’t use milk chocolate as the Nanaimo bars are a sweet bar with the thick buttercream layer. I like to use bar chocolate and roughly break it into pieces, but dark chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate chips would work just as well.

Making Nanaimo bars with custard powder:

If you want to use custard powder to make your Nanaimo bars: use 2 tablespoons custard powder, and leave out the cornflour and vanilla from the recipe.

How to make this Nanaimo Bar recipe from scratch

Please scroll down to the recipe card at the end of the post for the full recipe.

1. Make the base: Place a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water on a low heat and heat the butter and sugar until the butter has melted.
2. With a balloon whisk, whisk in the cocoa powder. Whilst whisking, slowly pour in the beaten egg a little at a time. TIP: It can look as though it has separated, but its ok! It will come together.

3. Place the bowl back over the pan of water and continue to whisk until thick. Remove from the heat and stir in the biscuit/cookie crumbs, coconut and chopped almonds.
4. Spoon into your lined tin and press down well into an even layer. Place in the fridge to set.

5. To make the buttercream layer: Beat the butter with the cornflour, vanilla and icing sugar until smooth. This can be done either by hand, with a hand mixer or in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Slowly stir in the milk.
6. Spoon this on top of the base and spread into an even layer with a spoon or spatula. Place in the fridge.

7. To make the chocolate topping: Either in the microwave, or in a clean heatproof bowl set on top of a pan of simmering water, place the chopped chocolate and butter and melt gently. TIP: Once melted let it stand for 30 seconds. You want it to still be runny but not quite so hot.
8. Remove the Nanaimo bars from the freezer and carefully spoon on the chocolate, working quickly to lightly spread the chocolate in an even layer over the buttercream.
9. Chill in the fridge until the chocolate has just set (around 10 minutes). With a sharp knife cut through the chocolate layer into 16 squares. Place back in fridge to set properly for another 20 minutes before slicing through the other two layers.

Nanaimo bars are best stored in the fridge.

FAQs

My recipe tips

• Cooking in a bain marie, or double boiler (heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water) helps prevent the egg from cooking in clumps (I cooked it in a saucepan the first time I ever made it and was left with little bits of egg white dotted through the base).
• Chilling the bars before adding the next layer helps keep the layers seperate so you get that lovely contrast when you slice them.
• Chopping almonds – as you can see from the photos and video I have left chunks of almonds, traditional Nanaimo bar recipes have smaller pieces. We enjoy the crunch…
• Placing the bars in the freezer after you have spread the buttercream layer, whilst you melt the chocolate – for around 5 minutes – then quickly pour the chocolate over and spread in an even layer. Just before you start to melt the chocolate place the Nanaimo bar tin in the freezer. This will help prevent the buttercream from mixing with the warm chocolate.
• Adding butter to the chocolate topping not only gives the chocolate a lovely sheen, but makes it easier to cut neatly.
• Make sure the bars are chilled properly before cutting down through the buttercream layer, otherwise and the buttercream can run out of the sides, and it can look messy.

Storage

• Store the Nanaimo bars in an air tight container in the fridge for up to 5 days
• You can freeze nanaimo bars too: wrap them well, then freeze for up to a month. Any longer than this and I find they can take on strong freezer smells like onion nad garlic.

Leftover Ingredients

• Digestive biscuits / graham crackers – use in another no bake slice like chocolate tiffin or hedgehog slice, make into digestive s’mores, or make a cheesecake base.
• Desiccated coconut – chocolate fudge slice, white Christmas slice.
• Corn starch / corn flour – banana self-saucing pudding, Scottish shortbread, Japanese spring rolls,

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