Nanaimo Bars
A hearty Canadian dessert built around custard, cocoa and digestive biscuits — roughly 80 minutes start to finish, and rated medium to make. Below: the ingredients split into pantry staples and a quick shopping list, a built-in serving scaler, and the method in 10 steps.
You'll mainly reach for pan and saucepan. At medium difficulty across 10 steps, it's manageable with a little attention. As written, it's meat-free.
What you'll need
Shopping list (8)
Pantry staples (you likely have these)
🔁 Unit converter
How to make it
- Start by making the biscuit base.
- In a bowl, over a pan of simmering water, melt the butter with the sugar and cocoa powder, stirring occasionally until smooth.
- Whisk in the egg for 2 to 3 mins until the mixture has thickened.
- Remove from heat and mix in the biscuit crumbs, coconut and almonds if using, then press into the base of a lined 20cm square tin.
- Chill for 10 mins.
- For the middle layer, make the custard icing; whisk together the butter, cream and custard powder until light and fluffy, then gradually add the icing sugar until fully incorporated.
- Spread over the bottom layer and chill in the fridge for at least 10 mins until the custard is no longer soft.
- Melt the chocolate and butter together in the microwave, then spread over the chilled bars and put back in the fridge.
- Leave until the chocolate has fully set (about 2 hrs).
- Take the mixture out of the tin and slice into squares to serve.
You'll use: Pan · Saucepan · Whisk · Microwave
Watch how it's made
Hosted on YouTube — pressing play loads content from YouTube.
Ingredient substitutions
- Butter
- olive oil (¾ the amount) · coconut oil · margarine
- Double Cream
- heavy cream · whipping cream
What to serve with Nanaimo Bars
- Poutine Miscellaneous
- Split Pea Soup Side
- Tourtiere Pork
- Montreal Smoked Meat Beef
Tips & common questions
How long does Nanaimo Bars take to make?
About 80 minutes from start to finish — an estimate based on the 10 steps and 13 ingredients. Times vary with your kitchen and how much prep you do ahead.
What can I use instead of butter?
Try olive oil (¾ the amount). See the substitutions section above for more swaps.
Can I scale this recipe up or down?
Yes — use the servings control above the ingredients and every quantity rescales automatically (fractions included). Cooking times stay roughly the same; very large batches may need a little longer.
Is Nanaimo Bars vegetarian?
Its ingredients contain no meat or fish, so it's suitable for vegetarians. Check any cheeses for animal rennet if that matters to you.
Related recipes
Recipe data for Nanaimo Bars via TheMealDB (open database). ▶ Video. Original source. Consomee adds the scaler, ingredient tools, timing and structure — how we source recipes.