The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca.

What an exciting challenge for the start of the year! I’ve never made either the gluten-free graham wafers nor the nanaimo bars before. Geez, I’ve never heard of Nanaimo Bars for that matter!!!

The gluten free graham wafers were a breeze to make (if you can find all the ingredients).  I tried it twice. The first time I used sweet rice flour, tapioca flour and sorghum flour.  For the second batch, I used 2 1/2 cups of Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free all purpose flour.  I didn’t see much difference in the texture.

GLUTEN-FREE GRAHAM WAFERS

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (138 g) (4.9 ounces) Sweet rice flour (also known as glutinous rice flour)
• 3/4 cup (100 g) (3.5 ounces) Tapioca Starch/Flour
• 1/2 cup (65 g) (2.3 ounces) Sorghum Flour (I used 2 1/2 cups of gluten free all purpose flour instead of these three flours)
• 1 cup (200 g) (7.1 ounces) Dark Brown Sugar, Lightly packed (I used  only 1/4 cup of dark brown sugar)
• 1 teaspoon (5 mL) Baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon (4 mL ) Kosher Salt
• 7 tablespoons (100 g) (3 ½ ounces) Unsalted Butter (Cut into 1-inch cubes and frozen)
• 1/3 cup (80 mL) Honey, Mild-flavoured such as clover. (I used agave nectar)
• 5 tablespoons (75 mL) Whole Milk (I used plain soy milk)
• 2 tablespoons (30 mL) Pure Vanilla Extract

Directions:
1. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade, combine the flours, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt. Pulse on low to incorporate. Add the butter and pulse on and off, until the mixture is the consistency of a coarse meal. If making by hand, combine aforementioned dry ingredients with a whisk, then cut in butter until you have a coarse meal. No chunks of butter should be visible.

2. In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the honey, milk and vanilla. Add to the flour mixture until the dough barely comes together. It will be very soft and sticky. Turn the dough onto a surface well-floured with sweet rice flour and pat the dough into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Wrap in plastic and chill until firm, about 2 hours, or overnight.
3. Divide the dough in half and return one half to the refrigerator. Sift an even layer of sweet rice flour onto the work surface and roll the dough into a long rectangle, about 1/8 inch thick. The dough will be quite sticky, so flour as necessary. Cut into 4 by 4 inch squares. Gather the scraps together and set aside. Place wafers on one or two parchment-lined baking sheets. Chill until firm, about 30 to 45 minutes. Repeat with the second batch of dough.
4. Adjust the rack to the upper and lower positions and preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius). Gather the scraps together into a ball, chill until firm, and reroll. Dust the surface with more sweet rice flour and roll out the dough to get a couple more wafers.
5. Prick the wafers with toothpick or fork, not all the way through, in two or more rows. Bake for 25 minutes, until browned and slightly firm to the touch, rotating sheets halfway through to ensure even baking. Might take less, and the starting location of each sheet may determine its required time. The ones that started on the bottom browned faster.
6. When cooled completely, place enough wafers in food processor to make 1 ¼ cups (300 mL) of crumbs. Another way to do this is to place in a large ziplock bag, force all air out and smash with a rolling pin until wafers are crumbs.

For the nanaimo bars, I made two different versions: the original recipe provided by the host and then a MINT CAPPUCCINO version using mint chocolate chips and a cappuccino filling in addition to the vanilla custard one.  I used two silicone loaf pans instead of a square pan.

NANAIMO BARS

Ingredients:

Bottom Layer

• 1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
• 1/4 cup (50 g) (1.8 ounces) Granulated Sugar ( I did not add sugar)
• 5 tablespoons (75 mL) Unsweetened Cocoa
• 1 Large Egg, Beaten
• 1 1/4 cups (300 mL) Gluten Free Graham Wafer Crumbs (See previous recipe)
• 1/2 cup (55 g) (1.9 ounces) Almonds (Any type, Finely chopped)
• 1 cup (130 g) (4.5 ounces) Coconut (Shredded, sweetened or unsweetened)

Middle Layer

• 1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
• 2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons (40 mL) Heavy Cream
• 2 tablespoons (30 mL) Vanilla Custard Powder (Such as Bird’s. Vanilla pudding mix may be substituted.)
• 2 cups (254 g) (8.9 ounces) Icing Sugar (I used only 1/2 cup of icing sugar)

Top Layer

• 4 ounces (115 g) Semi-sweet chocolate
• 2 tablespoons (28 g) (1 ounce) Unsalted Butter

Directions:
1. For bottom Layer: Melt unsalted butter, sugar and cocoa in top of a double boiler. Add egg and stir to cook and thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in crumbs, nuts and coconut. Press firmly into an ungreased 8 by 8 inch pan.
2. For Middle Layer: Cream butter, cream, custard powder, and icing sugar together well. Beat until light in colour. Spread over bottom layer.
3. For Top Layer: Melt chocolate and unsalted butter over low heat. Cool. Once cool, pour over middle layer and chill.

CAPPUCCINO FILLING

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp milk
• 3 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 2 tsp instant coffee or espresso powder
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cups icing sugar

Note:  Use mint chocolate chips (they are green) to make the mint top layer

The recipe  chosen by Steph of Obsessed with Baking for this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie is on page 46 of Dorie Greenspan’s book  Baking: From My Home to Yours.  COCOA-NANA BREAD. Two of my favorite ingredients– chocolate and banana– play center stage for this delicious snack (or breakfast or…any time food!!!!).  Not only did the recipe have unsweetened cocoa added to the batter, a handful of bittersweet chocolate pieces (or chocolate chips) made this bread taste like decadent chocolate cake with a hint of banana flavor.  We got so crazy about the taste that the second time we made it, we added all kinds of flavors that we thought went well with chocolate and banana— a couple of tablespoons of orange zest (dark chocolate and orange, anyone?), a cup of chopped peanuts (banana with peanut butter, yum!) and more chocolate!

Here’s the version I baked where we got crazy with flavors.  By the way, this cake disappeared so fast I don’t think it even made it out of the bundt pan whole!

Peanut Orange Cocoa-Nana Cake (whew, that’s a mouthful!)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups wholewheat pastry flour
• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• a pinch of salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 stick butter, softened
• 2 large eggs
• 2 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• zest of 1 orange
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup ground of chopped peanuts
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.  Combine flour, baking powder, cocoa powder, salt and baking soda. in a bowl.  Set aside.
2. Cream butter in an electric mixer.  Add eggs one at a time and continue mixing, scraping side of bowl in between mixing.  Add bananas, orange zest, vanilla extract and sour cram.  Continue mixing at low speed until combined.
3. Add dry ingredients  in 3 additions, mixing until incorporated.  Add chocolate chips and crushed peanuts and stir carefully using rubber spatula.  Pour into 9 cup bundt pan.
4. Bake for 50 – 60 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean.  Cool on a rack for 10 minutes.  Invert and release from pan and let cool at room temperature before serving.

One of three  Nikita’s Cupcakes (Cupcake #1: Red Velvet, Cupcake #2: Mocha Muffins) we baked for my dog Nikita’s vet, Dr. Carl Kelly,this muffin recipe was adapted from The Cupcake Cafe cookbook.  I had reservations when I was mixing this recipe because I saw chunks of apples and not much batter.  And the recipe did not have any sugar except for 1/2 cup of honey mixed with the apples.  Even though the unbaked portions looked like they weren’t going to amount to anything, the resulting cupcakes smelled heavenly and tasted like apple pie muffins!  The next time I make this, though, I will probably decrease the amount of apples or perhaps chop them smaller.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups peeled and cubed apples (delicious, golden, mcintosh, gala or granny smith)
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1/2 cup honey
• 2/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground allspice
• 1/2 cup wholewheat flour
• 3/4 cup walnuts
• 3/4 cup seedless raisins

Directions:

1. Grease or line muffin pan.  Preheat oven to 350F.
2. In a bowl, toss apples with lemon juice and honey.  Add vegetable oil, eggs and vanilla extract. Set aside.
3. Sift together all purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, allspice and salt.  Add wholewheat flour, nuts and raisins. Mix well.
4. Combine flour mix with apple mix.  Fill muffin pan 2/3 full and bake for 30 minutes or until tester comes out clean.
5. Serve warm or room temperature.