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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.

This month’s Daring Bakers challenge was especially exciting as I had never made my own graham crackers before. Part of the challenge was to bake them using Gluten-Free flours. The graham crackers, to me, were much better than store bought!

The second part of the challenge was to make Nanaimo Bars using the graham crackers in the base. I had heard of Nanaimo Bars before, but I had no idea what they were exactly. Boy was I missing out. My goodness, these things are addictive. The bottom layer is made up of coconut, walnuts (or almonds), chocolate and of course, ground graham crackers. The middle layer is what surprised me the most. I was expecting a custard/pudding type filling, not a wonderful vanilla buttercream texture filling. Top it all off with melted chocolate and it just doesn’t get much better that that.

To say the dough was a little sticky would be an understatement. I had flour everywhere when I finished rolling the crackers out. Everywhere.

Now, you can cut out the crackers in any shape you desire, but I was boring and went with round. I tried for some cute fluted edged crackers but those didn’t quite make it. In other words, they were ugly. No worries though, I just made those into the crumbs for the base of the Nanaimo bars.

While I couldn’t find two of the three flours called for, I did find a bag of Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free All Purpose Baking Flour. It seemed to work just as well as the other flours would have.

I’ve posted the recipe below with the adjustment for the flour mix I used. For the recipe using sweet rice flour, tapioca starch and sorghum flour, check out Lauren’s site.

Gluten-Free Graham Wafers
adapted from 101 Cookbooks

2 1/2 cups plus 2 tbsp All Purpose wheat flour (or GF AP Baking Flour Mix)
1 cup (200 g) (7.1 ounces) Dark Brown Sugar, Lightly packed
1 teaspoon (5 mL) Baking soda
3/4 teaspoon (4 mL) Kosher Salt
7 tablespoons (100 g) (3 ½ ounces) Unsalted Butter (Cut into 1-inch cubes and frozen)
1/3 cup (80 mL) Honey, Mild-flavoured such as clover.
5 tablespoons (75 mL) Whole Milk
2 tablespoons (30 mL) Pure Vanilla Extract

Directions:

1. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade, combine the flours, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt. Pulse on low to incorporate. Add the butter and pulse on and off, until the mixture is the consistency of a coarse meal. If making by hand, combine aforementioned dry ingredients with a whisk, then cut in butter until you have a coarse meal. No chunks of butter should be visible.

2. In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the honey, milk and vanilla. Add to the flour mixture until the dough barely comes together. It will be very soft and sticky.

3. Turn the dough onto a surface well-floured with sweet rice flour and pat the dough into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Wrap in plastic and chill until firm, about 2 hours, or overnight.

4. Divide the dough in half and return one half to the refrigerator. Sift an even layer of sweet rice flour onto the work surface and roll the dough into a long rectangle, about 1/8 inch thick. The dough will be quite sticky, so flour as necessary. Cut into 4 by 4 inch squares. Gather the scraps together and set aside. Place wafers on one or two parchment-lined baking sheets. Chill until firm, about 30 to 45 minutes. Repeat with the second batch of dough.

5. Adjust the rack to the upper and lower positions and preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius).

6. Gather the scraps together into a ball, chill until firm, and reroll. Dust the surface with more sweet rice flour and roll out the dough to get a couple more wafers.

7. Prick the wafers with toothpick or fork, not all the way through, in two or more rows.

8. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until browned and slightly firm to the touch, rotating sheets halfway through to ensure even baking. Might take less, and the starting location of each sheet may determine its required time.

9. When cooled completely, place enough wafers in food processor to make 1 ¼ cups (300 mL) of crumbs. Another way to do this is to place in a large ziplock bag, force all air out and smash with a rolling pin until wafers are crumbs.

Have I mentioned these bars can be addictive?!? They are super sweet and a 2″x2″ square was more than enough for me. Luckily they freeze really well and are utterly delicious when they are frozen.

Lauren allowed for any flavor variation but being that I had never tried one before, I opted to stay with the traditional version. After seeing some of the other Daring Bakers outstanding flavor combinations, I will be making these again soon! Take a look at these variations – cappuccino, hazelnut, coconut vanilla bean and cranberry.

Nanaimo Bars
adapted from City of Nanaimo

Bottom Layer:
1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
1/4 cup (50 g) (1.8 ounces) Granulated Sugar
5 tablespoons (75 mL) Unsweetened Cocoa
1 Large Egg, Beaten
1 1/4 cups (300 mL) (160 g) (5.6 ounces) Gluten Free Graham Wafer Crumbs (See recipe above)
1/2 cup (55 g) (1.9 ounces) Walnuts or Almonds (Any type, Finely chopped)
1 cup (130 g) (4.5 ounces) Coconut (Shredded, sweetened or unsweetened)

Middle Layer:
1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons (40 mL) Heavy Cream
2 tablespoons (30 mL) Vanilla Custard Powder (Such as Bird’s. Vanilla pudding mix may be substituted.)
2 cups (254 g) (8.9 ounces) Confectioners’ Sugar

Top Layer:
4 ounces (115 g) Semi-sweet chocolate
2 tablespoons (28 g) (1 ounce) Unsalted Butter

Directions:

1. For bottom Layer: Melt unsalted butter, sugar and cocoa in top of a double boiler. Add egg and stir to cook and thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in crumbs, nuts and coconut. Press firmly into an ungreased 8 by 8 inch pan.
2. For Middle Layer: Cream butter, cream, custard powder, and confectioners’ sugar together well. Beat until light in colour. Spread over bottom layer.
3. For Top Layer: Melt chocolate and unsalted butter over low heat. Cool. Once cool, pour over middle layer and chill.

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