Daring Bakers Challenge: Homemade Graham Crackers and Nanaimo Bars

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.

From the Daring Bakers Website:
The 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver are coming! Being in Canada, I am very thrilled to see them (even just on TV!). In a way to welcome everyone to Canada, we will be making Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars.

Nanaimo Bars are a classic Canadian dessert created in none other than Nanaimo, British Colombia. In case you were wondering, it’s pronounced Nah-nye-Moh. These bars have 3 layers: a base containing graham crackers, cocoa, coconut and nuts, a middle custard layer, and a topping of chocolate. They are extremely rich and available almost everywhere across the country. I used to buy them at the grocery store before going gluten-free.

My Cooking:


I opted to go for a traditional graham cracker for two reasons. First, I didn't want to spend extra money on several flours I would never use again. And second, I've been on the lookout for a good graham cracker recipe.

The dough was fussy and sticky. But not horrendous to work with. I put the crackers into the oven, hoping that they would be worth it. Not so much. They tasted about as good as store bought, but with a chewier texture. My boys begged to try them while they were cooling (they smelled fabulous!), but after each of them took a bite, they handed the graham crackers back. I won't be making them again.


Nanaimo bars were new to me. The ingredient list made me salivate. Chocolate, graham crackers, coconut, almonds, butter, sugar, heavy cream. Yummmmm. After lots of waiting through several chills, I was finally able to try them. One bit and I'd had enough sweets for the next week. Just way too much.