Last night, I made Nanaimo Squares for the first time. I have had them several times before, just never made them. I also found out just last night, that Nanaimo is a city in British Columbia, Canada that claims the cookie originated there. Anyway, after the cookies were all assembled, I found out that I did not quite make them right. The recipe I have seems poorly written. I am not sure if I got the recipe from my mom (who just happens to be Canadian), or somewhere else. All the recipes online are slightly different and vary. The recipe did not make sense to me until after I was finished - but here it is, the way it was written:Nanaimo Squares
Melt over hot water:
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup sugar
5 T cocoa
1 t. vanilla
Cool slightly and add:
one egg, beaten
Mix:
2 cups crushed graham crackers
One cup shredded cocoanut
2 cups chopped walnuts
Combine with other ingredients and press
Into 9 x 9" pan. Cover with Icing mixture.
2 cups icing sugar:
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup milk
2 T custard powder
Chill. Cover with 4 squares chocolate
(1/2 semi sweet and 1/2 bitter) melted
With 1 T butter
Where I went wrong, was in the amount of the icing sugar. It says "2 cups of icing sugar," then gives the ingredients below. What I did not realize, as I was too busy putting the ingredients together, is that the ingredients listed below does not make "2 cups!" I guess I should have known, since it only lists a 1/2 cup of butter (which is a heck of a lot of butter anyway).
What I don't understand is why wouldn't they say the amount you need to make the 2 cups of icing sugar, or at the very least say, "you need 2 cups of this, but you will have to quadruple the recipe!" I guess it is because when you get to that part, you realize how much butter you are consuming. You might as well just eat 4 sticks of butter! With the addition of the other butter in the crust, it would be less butter to consume!
Anyways, if you make this recipe, the right way, the icing sugar alone to make "2 cups" will probably take you 4 sticks of butter. You will need more for the crust and the chocolate topping. If you don't want to use that many sticks of butter, just use one for the icing sugar. Then your recipe will turn out exactly like mine did. Still pretty good, but not quite the same as what I have eaten before. Have some milk on hand. These are pretty rich.
Afterthought notes: After a discussion on the ingredients for this recipe, I realized that you don't need 4 sticks of butter, or that you need to quadruple the recipe. The recipe reads "icing sugar" and has a colon afterwards. That is wrong. It is actually part of the ingredients for the icing mixture. It should read "icing sugar" without the colon. Which is powdered sugar.
Just in case some of the other ingredients, instructions are hard to understand, here is a key to some of it:
icing sugar = powdered sugar
custard powder = dry pudding (most use vanilla)
T = Tablespoons
Also you need to chill each layer before adding the next one. You have the crust, cool slightly before adding the "icing mixture" (cool for at least an hour). Then add the hard chocolate top.
Hope your squares turn out right the first time!
I'm thinking that to make the "icing" you were supposed to add the 1/2 CUP BUTTER (one stick, which is not much for an icing recipe), the 1/4 CUP MILK, and the 2 T CUSTARD POWDER, (I have no clue what that is), PLUS 2 CUPS of "ICING SUGAR" (aka powdered sugar)... because I have never seen ANY type of recipe for ANY icing that doesn't call for at least some powdered sugar.
ReplyDeletep.s. I'd also like to add that I have never had or seen these bar cookies before, so my advice was merely based on my understanding of recipes & baking chemistry (which is, the only type of chemistry I know) ;-) And not my opinion of how the icing for these cookies should taste, because I have no clue.
ReplyDeleteThe "Icing Mixture/Sugar" is actually a filling, not real icing, or at least as we know it. The mixture tasted right, it was just the ratio of the "icing" to the crust that was wrong.
ReplyDeleteI should have added 2 cups of butter (4 sticks - bleah), 1 cup of milk, and 8 Tablespoons of custard powder (vanilla pudding - dry) and then, it would have turned out right.
Because it is a Canadian recipe, they word things a little differently. Icing Sugar is the filling. They taste really good anyway. :)
icing sugar just sounds like it would be too soupy if you quadrupled the recipe.
ReplyDeleteOkay. I found out what the real problem is. It is the grammar of the recipe. The recipe says:
ReplyDelete2 cups icing sugar: <-- with a colon beside it!
Then it goes to list the rest of the ingredients, which makes it look as if that is the "icing sugar."
It really should have said:
2 cups icing sugar
without the colon, and listed the rest of the ingredients.
You are right about icing sugar being powdered sugar. I thought at first it might taste to thick and icing like, but maybe it won't? All I know is when I have had them before, it does not taste or look like icing, but more like vanilla pudding, but slightly thicker.
Thanks for your comments. Maybe next time I will get the recipe right!
I think 2 cups of powdered sugar would be just right... because to make "cake/cookie" icing would take a lot more than 2 cups (because when you add it to hot ingredients, it tends to shrink a little). BUT if it was the "icing" for a fancy, decadent bar cookie it would be just enough.
ReplyDeletep.s. and by "it shrinks when added to warm ingredients" I am assuming that the butter may be slightly warm due to being room temp (or else it wouldnt blend right)
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think with the 2 cups of powdered sugar, it would be just right too. However, you do not add that part to the hot ingredients. You are supposed to cool the crust part (which they did not say to either), then spread it on top. Cool it some more, make the chocolate topping, cool, but not completely, and put that on top. So, what it should taste like - is kind of like hard chocolate, on top of what kind of tastes like pudding, with a hardish crust. It's kind of a layered dessert thing. I would have never guessed before that the filling was icing... but I guess it is.
ReplyDelete