Vegan, Gluten-Free Triple Chocolate Nanaimo Bars

Is it too late in the year to still be looking back? Because in all the fuss of looking forward and setting goals, I forgot to mention that 2012 was actually pretty sweet. I went to London and Paris, fell in love with Kelowna (twice!) and nerded it up at the Dietitians of Canada conference in Toronto. In the summer I moved in with B. and finally registered my car under my own name and bought my own insurance. In the fall I signed on as an instructor for Start From Scratch, learning as much about cooking as I taught. A couple months ago, I took on a part-time job, which means more time for the blog and for my other job.

But always, always my proudest achievement, in 2012, my little bake sales (with the help of SO MANY of you, of course!) donated $2,000 each to two amazing local charities - Brown Bagging for Calgary's Kids and Meals on Wheels.

I figure I should share the recipe I contributed to the most recent bake sale in December before it's too late.

This recipe comes from my friend Kristi, who is an amazing artist, photographer and cook. It takes one of my favourite desserts - the Nanaimo Bar - and kicks it to the next level by sneaking in a bit of chocolate into every layer.

There is always a demand for vegan, gluten-free goodies at the bake sale that our supply always seems barely able to meet, so I made a few tweaks to the recipe so that people with most food restrictions (I kept the nuts in, and the cookies contain soy - sorry!) would be able to enjoy it. My Start From Scratch students were more than happy to help me make a test batch! :)

First, in all the layers I swapped in the delicious (but expensive!) coconut oil for butter, which complimented well with the coconut that's in the cookie base, and is more natural, and better for you than hydrogenated margarine. (Given my previous bad experiences with icing I wouldn't trust tub margarine for the custard layer!).

For the cookie base - gluten-free chocolate cookie crumbs. I was looking for wafers, but animal crackers were the next best thing.

Waiting for slaughter

These were from Kinnikinnick, an Edmonton-based company.

    

The custard layer didn't need any tweaking - custard powder is already vegan and gluten-free!

For the top chocolate layer, I actually didn't realize how difficult it was to find dairy-free chocolate chips! Most have milk products in them, so make sure you read the label. Calgary Co-op carries some chocolate-flavoured chips made with hydrogenated oils (read: trans fats) which is not ideal. Fortunately I found these Enjoy Life! chocolate chips, which are pure chocolate.

    

Vegan Gluten-Free Triple Chocolate Nanaimo Bars

Adapted from Cakespy via Kristi Millar

Makes an 8" square pan (serves 16)

Bottom layer

• ½ cup (125 mL) coconut oil
  
• ¼ cup (60 mL) brown sugar
  
• 5 tbsp (75 mL) cocoa
  
• 1 cup (250 mL) shredded sweetened coconut
  
• 1½ cups (375 mL) gluten-free chocolate cookie crumbs, about 200 g
  
• ½ cup (125 mL) finely chopped peanuts

Middle layer

• ½ cup (125 mL) coconut oil
  
• 3 tbsp (45 mL) coconut milk
  
• 2 tbsp (30 mL) custard powder
  
• 2 cups (500 mL) icing sugar
  
• 2 tbsp (30 mL) cocoa

Top layer

• 180 g semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (or chocolate chips)
  
• 1½ tbsp (7 mL) coconut oil

1. Line the bottom of an 8” square pan with parchment and leave edges hanging over the rim.
   
2. Melt the coconut oil, sugar and cocoa together in a pan over medium heat. Remove from heat, stir in coconut, cookie crumbs and nuts then press into prepared pan. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to set.
   
3. Cream together coconut oil, coconut milk, custard powder, icing sugar and cocoa until fluffy. Smooth the chocolate custard over the bottom layer and return the pan to the fridge while you prepare the top layer.
   
4. In a microwave-safe bowl or double boiler, melt chocolate. Stir in coconut oil until smooth. Pour over your prepared bottom layers and smooth carefully until even. Return the pan to the fridge until set (about 2 hours).
   
5. Lift parchment paper with bars out of pan and cut into bars with a very sharp knife.

Nutrition info (per 2"-square piece): 408 calories, 24 g fat (18 g saturated, 0 g trans), 27 mg cholesterol, 47 g carbohydrate (2 g fibre, 30 g sugar), 4 g protein, 120 mg sodium. An excellent source of manganese. A good source of magnesium.