Chocolate and ginger may seem like an odd combination to some, but to our family chocolate covered gingers are a birthday and holiday staple. Boxes of dark chocolate gingers from a certain Canadian Chocolatier well known in western Canada are exchanged between Mom’s siblings on Birthday’s, and sometimes over the holidays too. When Grandma and Grandad were still with us, they were often recipients of these boxes full of joy.
Though for some of us a “box of joy” is not how we’ve always thought of it. As a child I did not understand why you would cover chocolate over a spicy sometimes fibrous piece of ginger. I can’t remember if I first tried a chocolate covered ginger at my grandparents, or if it was one of my mother’s, but I did not like them, not one little bit. Somewhere along the way, after years of trying them and somewhat to my mother’s disappointment I started to love chocolate covered gingers. Now mom “happily” shares with me whenever she gets a box.
One winter evening Mom and I were brainstorming which recipes we wanted to include in our family cookbook, this was before we decided to do the blog and it hit us. What if we combined two holiday staples Nanaimo Bars and chocolate covered gingers? It was on that winter night, two years ago we came up with our new favourite flavour of Nanaimo bar, Ginger.
It took us a little time to make Ginger Nanaimo, but after passing back and forth a lot of ideas, and workshopping the recipe, we finally have one we are excited about. If your family likes chocolate covered gingers as much as we do, or even candied ginger then you need to try this recipe. Even if you haven’t had this flavour combination before you really do need to try it, it’s delicious. I know we will be making this ginger Nanaimo for Christmases and Birthdays for years to come.
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 walnuts
⅓ cup coarsely chopped candied ginger
1 egg at room temperature
We really wanted to ensure that when someone has a piece of this Nanaimo bar they can taste the ginger. So, along with flavoring the middle layer with ginger powder we decided to add pieces of candied ginger in the base. That way every few bites you get a little candied treat and can really taste the ginger.
In a medium bowl combine the graham cracker crumbs, shredded coconut, coarsely chopped walnuts, and candied ginger. We prefer our nuts to be coarsely chopped (¼ of an inch pieces) so we can taste them when we take a bite, but a lot of recipes for Nanaimo bar call for finely chopped nuts. Either way works but we do recommend that you coarsely chop the candied ginger. Any smaller and you may not notice when you get a piece.
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.
Evenly spread the mixture in the pan and then press down. You can use your hands or the bottom of a measuring cup to obtain an even and flat surface. Set aside until completely cooled, approximately 20 mins.
Middle Layer Ingredients
½ cup room temperature salted butter
½ tsp vanilla extract
1½-2 tsp ginger powder
2 tbsp custard powder
3 cups icing sugar
2 tbsp milk
In a bowl sift together the icing sugar and ginger powder, set aside. Cream the butter with a hand mixer until fluffy then add the vanilla extract and custard powder. Next add 1 cup of the ginger icing sugar, once incorporated add a tablespoon of milk and repeat finishing with the last cup of icing sugar.
The icing may seem thick but it sets nicely making it easy to cut the Nanaimo bar once finished.
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. Set aside for at least 10 minutes, this allows for the icing to set and will make it easy for us to spread the chocolate layer over top.
Chocolate Topping Ingredients
4 oz. chocolate chips
2 tbsp salted butter
When we buy chocolate covered gingers, we always buy ones covered in dark chocolate vs milk chocolate. We prefer the slight bitterness of the chocolate in combination with the spice from the ginger. To top our Nanaimo, we chose to use 60% cacao bittersweet baking chips though semisweet, dark or milk chocolate chips will work as well depending on your preference.
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. 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.
Remove the Nanaimo bar 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.
Ginger Nanaimo
Ingredients
Base
- ½ cup salted butter
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup cocoa powder
- 1¾ cups graham cracker crumbs
- ½ cup shredded coconut
- ⅓ cup chopped walnuts
- ⅓ cup chopped candied ginger
- 1 egg at room temperature
Middle
- ½ cup room temperature salted butter
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1½ tsp ginger powder
- 2 tbsp custard powder
- 3 cups icing sugar
- 2 tbsp milk
Chocolate topping
- 4 oz. chocolate chips
- 2 tbsp salted butter
Instructions
Base
- In a medium bowl combine the graham cracker crumbs, shredded coconut, coarsely chopped walnuts, and candied ginger. We prefer our nuts to be coarsely chopped (¼ of an inch pieces) so we can taste them when we take a bite, but a lot of recipes for Nanaimo bar call for finely chopped nuts. Either way works but we do recommend that you coarsely chop the candied ginger. Any smaller and you may not notice when you get a piece.
- 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.
- Evenly spread the mixture in the pan and then press down. You can use your hands or the bottom of a measuring cup to obtain an even and flat surface. Set aside until completely cooled, approximately 20 mins.
Middle
- In a bowl sift together the icing sugar and ginger powder, set aside. Cream the butter with a hand mixer until fluffy then add the vanilla extract and custard powder. Next add 1 cup of the ginger icing sugar, once incorporated add a tablespoon of milk and repeat finishing with the last cup of icing sugar. The icing may seem thick but it sets nicely making it easy to cut the Nanaimo bar once finished.
- 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. Set aside for at least 10 minutes, this allows for the icing to set and will make it easy for us 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. 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.
- Remove the Nanaimo bar 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.
