Oops! …or how not to make a Nanaimo bar.

It’s Daring Bakers Challenge time!

This month’s Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. She chose gluten-free (or not) graham crackers and Nanaimo bars.

This sounded like the perfect challenge for me, as the graham cracker recipe was from 101 Cookbooks, which I believe I’ve mentioned before as one of my favorite food blogs. I’ve been meaning to make it, and here was the perfect excuse. The Nanaimo bars sounded intriguing, and when someone posted a Weight Watchers recipe for them, I was over the moon.

So, here’s where I went wrong. Instead of doing the work well ahead of time, I procrastinated, working on slippers, the afghan, a dress, some nightstands, and all sorts of things that did not involve baking graham crackers. Time came and went, and before I knew it, it was today. I got up from watching the State of the Union address, started to make dinner, and suddenly realized that today is the day I’m supposed to post the outcome of my DB challenge. It’s 8:30 p.m. by this point, and I’m short a couple of ingredients. What do I do? I fudge it, get in a hurry, and forget a vital step.

Here’s the Weight Watchers recipe:

Nanaimo Bars

POINTS® Value: 3
Servings: 16
Preparation Time: 18 min
Cooking Time: 60 min
Level of Difficulty: Moderate*

Sweet, crunchy and delicious, this treasured Canadian dessert keeps well in your fridge for when chocolate cravings soar!

Ingredients
1 cup(s) graham cracker crumbs
2 Tbsp chopped walnuts
2 oz milk chocolate chips
1/8 cup(s) packaged shredded coconut
3 Tbsp reduced-calorie margarine, melted
1 oz fat-free sugar-free instant vanilla pudding mix
1 cup(s) fat-free skim milk
5 oz lite whipped topping
4 oz semisweet baking chocolate
1 Tbsp reduced-calorie margarine
Instructions
Line bottom of an 8 X 8-inch baking pan with parchment or waxed paper.

Place graham cracker crumbs, nuts, chocolate chips and coconut in a food processor; pulse until combined and then add melted margarine. Stir together and pour into prepared baking pan, patting down crust evenly on the bottom; place into freezer for 10 minutes. (Note: If you cannot find graham cracker crumbs, crush 6 whole graham cracker sheets into crumbs in a food processor.)

In a bowl, whisk together pudding mix and milk until firm; add in whipped topping. Spread evenly on top of chilled crust and place back into freezer for 45 minutes, or until firm.

Melt baking chocolate and 1 tablespoon of margarine in a small saucepan over low heat; stir and set aside until luke warm. Pour and spread over pudding layer and place into refrigerator until set, about 5 minutes. Cut into 16 bars and serve.

*I’d go so far as to say this is a very easy recipe, which is what makes the following just that much more embarrassing.

I didn’t have graham cracker crumbs. I didn’t make the graham cracker recipe. What to do?

Oh, yes. Raid the kid’s snack shelf.

Pretty tasty little things, I might add.

So, I pretty much followed the recipe, but substituted pecans for the walnuts (because I had pecans, not walnuts), used unsweetened dried coconut (don’t have the sugary stuff), and used only dark chocolate (because I hate milk chocolate).

The crust is perfect, and actually so good that I plan to use it in a future cheesecake recipe. The pudding filling? Lovely. The topping?

This is where it gets dumb. I sort of got in a hurry, as I was making this at the same time as dinner. I melted the chocolate in the microwave (don’t remember where I learned that trick, but I love it), and as I was pouring it over the frozen filling, I thought to myself: “wait a minute; how am I going to cut this?”

Duh. Sort of skimmed over that whole “add some butter to the chocolate” thing, and had my common sense shut off.

The result?

Well, let’s just say it was sort of a mess.

A delicious mess, though! It sort of tastes like a big frozen s’more. In the best possible way.

I wanted to get picture of D cutting through the chocolate armor when he went for seconds:

Me: “Babe, let me get a picture of you cutting the chocolate.”

D: “Okay, but don’t show my face.”

Me: “I won’t! I’m just getting a picture of the trouble with the topping.”

D: “Well, hurry it up! I want to eat it! …uh, before it melts.”

We ate enough of it that I’m relatively sure I completely blew my points for the day.

I’ll be making it again, though. Next time, I’ll make the graham crackers. And more importantly, next time, I’ll remember the butter in the topping so I can try it as a bar instead of eating it with a spoon!