January Baker's Challenge - Nanaimo Bars

Well I got back on the horse & decided to participate in January's Daring Bakers Challenge. Not that we needed the extra calories around, but it looked fairly easy & not as time consuming as the other challenges often are, so I thought I would give it a shot and make them for Small Group.

And oh. my. word. They were insanely good. It's almost a bad thing that they were so easy to make, because now I want to make these OFTEN. Especially since I know you can make them in peanut butter or mint versions as well. The Small Group seemed to enjoy them as well being as how the plate was empty before the last person left last night.

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 however, did not make the homemade gluten free graham crackers, because I simply just did not have the time. But this one is definately going in the recpie box!

The bars consist of three layers, the bottom being a mixture of coconut, cocoa powder, almonds and crushed graham crackers. Then, you make a vanilla buttercream layer for the middle and then finish off with a chocolate ganache layer on top. My top layer was a bit more crunchy since I just melted chocolate chips and poured them on top. But still amazingly delicious and super rich. Pairing them with a rich cup of coffee was pure heaven.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of mine before they were gone, so I grabbed a couple pics online that looked very similar to how mine turned out.

Thank you to Lauren of Celiac Teen for a choosing a great challenge! It was a fantastic way to kick off the company weight loss competition I'll be participating in starting this next Monday!