These bars have quite the history. Not only how they have become to be Nanaimo bars, but also what they’ve meant to me. The name ‘Nanaimo Bars’ is said to have come from a woman who lived on Vancouver Island, in Nanaimo who entered them into a baking contest, instead of naming the bars after herself she named them after the city of Nanaimo. There have been other claims to the bar name, a more familiar one known as ‘The new york slice,’ but true Nanaimo bar lovers have come to love them by this name.

My mom’s mom, my grandma was the nanaimo bar queen. She made them for my  mom and her 4 other sisters and 1 brother when they were growing up, and then it became a favorite of all her grandchildren as well. Ie. me. My mom said that my grandpa would say they were ‘just glorified chocolate bars,’ but that definitely didn’t stop him from eating them. Everytime we got together for a family reunion, picnic or barbeque,  nanaimo bars were always there.

I got this recipe from my aunt, who got it from my other aunt who got it from their mom. Since my grandma’s no longer with us, my aunt has carried on the traditional family favorite, which my mom says tastes just like grandmas. So, I thought I would try for the first time to make them!

This treat doesn’t require any baking, and is delicious! Give it a try for the holidays. (more…)

When I made these brownies I was actually looking for a different brownie recipe I had made the week earlier, that was really really really good. I saw this one a few times on different blogs and thought it was probably just as good.

And it was.

I needed something to bring to a Wine Night my friends and I were having. Everyone brings their own bottle of wine, and we open them one by one, and when it’s your turn you present your wine, try and pronounce it’s name and then describe where it came from. This gets more and more entertaining as you get to the 8th or 9th bottle of wine. My friend and I decided chocolate and wine pairs well together.

And it did.

These were really good, not as fudgy as the ones I made the weekend before, but I think it was also because I had less cocoa left over to use. I would have melted some chocolate and stirred it in but I didn’t have time, as the wine night was on the island and I made them the night before.

Also! As you’ve probably seen I am on the island (Vancouver Island) quite a lot. Usually every weekend. Well, I’m going to be moving there more permanently! I’m going to go to UVIC – The University of Victoria in January. So I’ll be an island girl for a while. It’s a good thing I live near the ferries! So I can come home and visit lots. And, I will definitely be bringing all my Kitchen Aid appliances so I can bake! It will be a little harder in my new basement suite, and It’ll be some starving-student recipes haha. But I definitely will continue to blog! And I’ll need all those sweets when I’m studying and stressed out!

If you haven’t tried this recipe already for King Arthur Brownies give it a try!

King Arthur Brownies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 2 1/4 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 1/4 cups Dutch-process cocoa
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups king arthur flour (any flour im sure is fine)
• 2 cups chocolate chips <– I like mine plain, usually with walnuts if I do have them.

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9 x 13-inch pan.
2. In a medium-sized microwave-safe bowl, or in a saucepan set over low heat, melt the butter, then add the sugar and stir to combine. Return the mixture to the heat (or microwave) briefly, just till it’s hot, but not bubbling; it’ll become shiny looking as you stir it. Heating the butter and sugar a second time will dissolve more of the sugar, which will yield a shiny top crust on your brownies. Transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl.
3. Stir in the cocoa, salt, baking powder and vanilla. Add the eggs, beating till smooth; then add the flour and chips, beating till well combined. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan.
4. Bake the brownies for 28 to 30 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out dry (though it may have a few crumbs clinging to it). The brownies should feel set both on the edges, and in the center. Remove them from the oven, and after 5 minutes loosen the edges with a table knife; this helps prevent the brownies from sinking in the center as they cool. Cool completely before cutting and serving.

You can also melt some chocolate and decorate them once they’ve cooled. They also pair lovely with a glass of wine.

Enjoy!

Alright, so now you get to see what all those delicious blackberries were baked into!! Well, here they are. Incredibly good Blackberry Crumb Bars. Oh-so good blackberries combined with lemon juice and lemon zest sandwiched between two shortbread like layers = Yum. These are just sweet and tart enough without being overly sugary. And super versatile. You could easily substitute in blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, cherries, or even peaches! They are even better once refrigerated and cut easily into take-along bars.

It was really easy to make basically four ingredients: berries, flour, sugar and lemon. Perfect for all those end of summer left over berries, or even for the fall. You can definitely freeze all your berries from the summer and use them in the fall to make the dessert. Just note that they will probably be a bit watery once you thaw them. Maybe cut back on the amount of lemon juice, or add a bit more cornstarch.

If you’ve got some berries at home and some flour, I suggest you get baking! I’m going to visit my friend today – who didn’t help pick the berries by the way, but will get to taste the finished product! Lucky friend ; )

Sorry it took a few days … but I went to the island again this weekend – and jumped off a bridge! Yes, I’m crazy. I went bungy jumping in Nanaimo yesterday – and it was scary! But so much fun too! I said I wanted to do lots of exciting new things in my 21st year, and so far since June I’ve gotten a tattoo, gone to Vegas (Just last week! and no, I’m not a millionaire) and now bungy jumping. I think it’s a pretty good list so far! There’s also a few to-dos on my baking list, I better get on that!

Blackberry Crumb Bars
As seen on Smitten Kitchen, Adapted from AllRecipes.com

Ingredients:

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup cold unsalted butter (2 sticks or 8 ounces)
• 1 egg
• Zest and juice of one lemon
• 4-5 cups fresh berries of your choice
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 4 teaspoons cornstarch

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 9×13 inch pan.

2. In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour, and baking powder. Mix in salt and lemon zest. Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the butter and egg. Dough will be crumbly. Pat half of dough into the prepared pan.

3. In another bowl, stir together the sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Gently mix in the berries. Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble remaining dough over the berry layer.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until top is slightly brown. Cool completely before cutting into squares.

These tasted even better once refrigerated, but feel free to dig in while their still warm! Maybe with a scoop of ice cream!

Enjoy!

& Here’s me jumping off a bridge!

So I’ve been wanting to bake something more fruity ever since I made the carrot cake last week. I do love all the chocolatey things and cakes and all the good stuff. But lately i’ve been wanting to bake something with apples, that seems a little lighter and healthier. (ok, i know it’s not exactly healthy.. eating an apple on it’s own would be a lot better, which I have been doing also!) But I had wanted to use up some green apples that were sitting on the counter. Of course I searched for recipes on the web, and in Dorie’s Book to find an apple related recipe that was lighter and less dense than say, an apple pie.

So I stumbled upon this recipe, and decided to combine it with a recipe I found in Dorie’s book for Dimply Plum Cake. I really liked her’s but found It was a bit smaller than I wanted to make so I combined the two recipes to make something inbetween. Instead of chopping the apples up and incorporating them, I sliced them and layed them on top of the cake like Dorie’s plum cake. This recipe is worth trying for sure. 

Dimply Apple Spice Cake

Ingredients

• 2 cups plus 2 Tbsp all purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp allspice
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
• 3-4 apples, cored and sliced
• cinnamon sugar for sprinkling

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spay a 9×13 baking pan, dust with flour and tap excess off.
2. In medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, all spice, cinnamon and nutmeg. Whisk to combine well and set aside.
3. In bowl of stand mixer, combine sugars and butter and beat on medium high until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well to combine. Add vanilla extract and beat to combine.
4. Turn mixer on slow and fold in flour mixture a little at a time until just combined.
5. Spread mixture evenly into prepared pan. Layer top with apple slices so they all face the same way, and sprinkle top generously with cinnamon sugar.
6. Place in oven and bake until cooked through, when top slightly bounces back to the touch, about 30 minutes, you may need an extra 5 minutes if it looks too soft, so just turn the oven off, and let them sit for another 5 minutes before you take them out.
7. Remove from oven and let cool completely before removing from pan, cutting and serving. These would also be good with whipped cream, cool whip or a dollop of ice cream. 

After the peanut butter cookies were eaten in a mere couple hours (ok, maybe 48 hours, thanks to mom and brother) I had an urge to make these oat bars. My mom begs me to stop baking sometimes because she doesn’t want to eat them all! (She ate three of the peanut butter & chocolate chip cookies in a matter of seconds. Sorry mom!) But I can always send them to work with my brother, if she really wants them out of the house! (she doesn’t.) 

I made these a few times this summer, after I had seen them in the Kraft Canada Magazine Fesitve 2007 issue. This time I didn’t have any cranberries on hand so I used raisins. Both are really yummy because you soak them in orange juice before baking. And I was sad to find no oats, so I used three single serving packages of brown sugar instant oatmeal (each servings is 1/2 cup.)  They are great to pack in lunches. I took some to class (and secretly ate them in the bio lab. Shh!!) I also added some shredded coconut. You can add pretty much anything you like, but no peanuts this time. I think i had my day with those. No more.

Ingredients