Cherry Nanaimo has not been in our lives long but has quickly become a go to recipe when we want something sweet. Mom had made it for the family when I was just little, but I can’t recall having it until a friend’s going away party six years ago. It hadn’t made much of an impression as a child but it quickly became my favourite version of Nanaimo bar as an adult. The original recipe did come from my friend’s family but over the past 6 years we have adjusted the recipe so now it has become our own. We will forever be grateful for the reintroduction to this tasty treat.
Like the other three Nanaimo bar recipes this too mimics one of my families’ favourite chocolate bars, cherry blossoms. When Mom would take my brother and I to the dollar store as children we would usually get to choose a chocolate bar or candy and Mom would sometimes buy herself a cherry blossom. I remember being fascinated by the square yellow box with a giant chocolate in it and all that pretty ooey goodness that would spill out of the centre. Like the cherry Nanaimo bar I didn’t like the flavour of the cherry blossoms as a child. Now it happens to be one of my favourites. Just goes to show how taste bud’s change. So it really should have come as no surprise that my family would enjoy this type of Nanaimo bar.
As I have mentioned in our other Nanaimo bar recipes the base traditionally calls for walnuts, but it seems like a missed opportunity to use anything other than almonds. Almonds and cherry go hand in hand. So much so I once had someone mistake almond sugar cookies for cherry sugar cookies. So we have substituted the walnuts for toasted almonds. You must toast the almonds. If you watch all the baking shows like we do, you know you have to toast your nuts.
When we set out to share this recipe, I insisted that we wait for Valentine’s. With its pretty pink interior and pops of red from the maraschino cherries I knew it would make for a stunning Valentines Day themed shoot. So we went for it and obviously had to include a cherry blossom, and some heart shaped chocolate too. This bar is perfect way to show your love for not only your spouse but for your family and friends this Valentines Day. Though we would suggest you make it all year round, nothing this delicious should be limited to any one day or season.
PS: Originally, I had called the Cherry blossom a chocolate but was quickly informed by Mom that it is in fact a chocolate bar. I argued that it is not shaped like a bar, but Mom informed me that no one asks “What kind of chocolate would you like?” they ask “What kind of chocolate bar would you like?” when going to the store. To which she would respond a Cherry Blossom. So I relented mainly because she threatened to tell on me to my aunt, who also loves cherry blossoms. We’d love to hear you weigh in on the debate, feel free to leave us a comment!
Our first step with this Nanaimo bar is to prepare the maraschino cherries. We have learnt that it is easier to cut the bar when there is less moisture in the maraschino cherries.
We rinse, then we cut them into 1/4″ size pieces until we have 1/2 cup. We spread them out onto paper towels placing additional towels on top and let them sit for about 30 minutes before we start the base. Although it removes some of the maraschino flavour we do reintroduce it by adding the syrup to the icing middle layer.
Base ingredients
½ cup salted butter
¼ cup granulated sugar
⅓ cup cocoa powder
1¾ cups graham cracker crumbs
½ cup shredded coconut
⅓ cup coarsely chopped toasted almonds
1 egg at room temperature
In a medium bowl combine the graham cracker crumbs, shredded coconut, and coarsely chopped almonds. Set aside.
Melt butter on low heat in a medium saucepan. Remove from heat and add sugar and cocoa powder whisking until combined.
Quickly whisk the egg into the butter mixture to keep the egg from scrambling and return to heat. Turn the heat up to medium and whisk continuously for 2 minutes until the mixture thickens and becomes glossy. Remove from heat.
Add the dry ingredients to the sauce pan, stir quickly until combined and pour into a prepared 8 inch square pan.
We recommend lining your square pan with parchment paper, you will see why in the last few steps.
Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Using your hands, the bottom of a measuring cup, or an off set spatula gently press down on the base until it is level. Set aside until completely cooled, approximately 20 mins.
Middle Layer Ingredients
½ cup salted butter at room temperature
½ cup chopped maraschino cherries
1 tsp almond extract
3 cups icing sugar
3-4 tbsp maraschino cherry syrup
In a bowl sift the icing sugar , set aside. Cream the butter with a hand mixer until fluffy then add the almond extract.
Next add 1 cup of the icing sugar. Once incorporated add a tablespoon of maraschino cherry syrup and repeat finishing with the last cup of icing sugar. Stir in the chopped maraschino cherries until evenly distributed.
Ensuring the layers are even in a Nanaimo Bar is not easy. For the icing mom came up with this useful trick. Using a cookie scoop we place 9 scoops of icing, 3 across, 3 down over the base.
As you can see I struggled a bit with getting it to come out of the scoop nicely. But it still helped me to get the icing layer even.
Slowly spread each scoop until the icing evenly coats the base. Take your time in this step, there is no rush and you want it to be as even as possible.
Set aside for at least 10 minutes, this allows for the icing to set and will make it easy for to spread the chocolate layer over top.
Chocolate Topping Ingredients
4 oz. dark chocolate chips
2 tbsp salted butter
Add chocolate and butter into a microwavable wet measuring cup. On 50% power, heat the chocolate and butter in the microwave for 30 second intervals stirring in between until chips are fully melted.
Pour over the middle layer spreading evenly with a offset spatula. If you do not have an offset spatula, you can use the back of a spoon. Cover and place in the fridge for 10-15 minutes.
Our next step is to score the chocolate before it fully sets, this will prevent cracking when cutting the Nanaimo bar. Lining the pan with parchment paper allows you to remove the bar from the pan. This will give you more room to work with. Our pan is slightly smaller then 8” so we scored the bar in 1½” squares using a ruler to guide us or if we don’t feel like measuring we use the width of our ruler as a guide which works out to about 1”
Drag the knife through the chocolate layer cleaning the knife after each score. Make sure the knife goes all the way through the chocolate layer. Cover and refrigerate until the chocolate has fully set.
To finish cutting the bar remove it from the fridge and allow it to warm up for 10-15 minutes. We do not have a knife that can cut all the way across the bar, so I make the first cut in the second row. This way I only need to cut the remaining pieces over the length of 2 or 3 bars. Store the bar in the refrigerator. Enjoy!
Cherry Nanaimo Bar
Ingredients
Base
- ½ cup salted butter
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup cocoa powder
- 1 egg at room temperature
- 1¾ cups graham cracker crumbs
- ½ cup shredded coconut
- ⅓ cup coarsely chopped toasted almonds
Middle
- ½ cup salted butter at room temperature
- 1 tsp almond extract
- 3 cups icing sugar
- 3-4 tbsp maraschino cherry syrup
- ½ cup chopped maraschino cherries
Chocolate Topping
- 4 oz dark chocolate chips
- 2 tbsp butter
Instructions
Maraschino Cherry prep
- Our first step with this Nanaimo bar is to prepare the maraschino cherries. We have learnt that it is easier to cut the bar when there is less moisture in the maraschino cherries. We rinse, then we cut them into 1/4" size pieces until we have 1/2 cup.
- We spread them out onto paper towels placing additional towels on top and let them sit for about 30 minutes before we start the base. Although it removes some of the maraschino flavour we do reintroduce it by adding the syrup to the icing middle layer.
Base
- In a medium bowl combine the graham cracker crumbs, shredded coconut, and coarsely chopped almonds. Set aside.
- Melt butter on low heat in a medium saucepan. Remove from heat and add sugar and cocoa powder whisking until combined.
- Quickly whisk the egg into the butter mixture to keep the egg from scrambling and return to heat. Turn the heat up to medium and whisk continuously for 2 minutes until the mixture thickens and becomes glossy. Remove from heat.
- Add the dry ingredients to the sauce pan, stir quickly until combined and pour into a prepared 8 inch square pan.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Using your hands, the bottom of a measuring cup, or an off set spatula gently press down on the base until it is level. Set aside until completely cooled, approximately 20 mins.
- In a bowl sift the icing sugar , set aside. Cream the butter with a hand mixer until fluffy then add the almond extract.
- Next add 1 cup of the icing sugar. Once incorporated add a tablespoon of maraschino cherry syrup and repeat finishing with the last cup of icing sugar. Stir in the chopped maraschino cherries until evenly distributed.
- Ensuring the layers are even in a Nanaimo Bar is not easy. For the icing mom came up with this useful trick. Using a cookie scoop we place 9 scoops of icing, 3 across, 3 down over the base.
- Slowly spread each scoop until the icing evenly coats the base. Take your time in this step, there is no rush and you want it to be as even as possible.
- Set aside for at least 10 minutes, this allows for the icing to set and will make it easy for to spread the chocolate layer over top.
Chocolate Topping
- Add chocolate and butter into a microwavable wet measuring cup. On 50% power, heat the chocolate and butter in the microwave for 30 second intervals stirring in between until chips are fully melted.
- Pour over the middle layer spreading evenly with a offset spatula. If you do not have an offset spatula, you can use the back of a spoon. Cover and place in the fridge for 10-15 minutes.
- Our next step is to score the chocolate before it fully sets, this will prevent cracking when cutting the Nanaimo bar. Lining the pan with parchment paper allows you to remove the bar from the pan. This will give you more room to work with. Our pan is slightly smaller then 8” so we scored the bar in 1½” squares using a ruler to guide us or if we don’t feel like measuring we use the width of our ruler as a guide which works out to about 1”
- Drag the knife through the chocolate layer cleaning the knife after each score. Make sure the knife goes all the way through the chocolate layer. Cover and refrigerate until the chocolate has fully set.
- To finish cutting the bar remove it from the fridge and allow it to warm up for 10-15 minutes. We do not have a knife that can cut all the way across the bar, so I make the first cut in the second row. This way I only need to cut the remaining pieces over the length of 2 or 3 bars. Store the bar in the refrigerator. Enjoy!
