January 2010 Daring Bakers' Challenge: Gluten Free Graham Crackers and Nanaimo Bars

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.

Whew! Hunting down the ingredients for this recipe were difficult;  my town doesn't seem to be too gluten-free-friendly.  I used both white and brown rice flours instead of regular ol'  wheat flour to make the graham crackers gluten free.  The dough was super sticky and wet and I was so worried they wouldn't come out right, but they did!  Well, sort of.  I was out of parchment paper and thought that would be okay, but the crackers stuck really badly to the pan.  Luckily, I needed them to be crumbs anyway.

Gluten-Free Graham Wafers

• 1 cup (138 g) Sweet rice flour (also known as glutinous rice flour)
• 3/4 cup Tapioca Starch/Flour
• 1/2 cup Sorghum Flour
• 1 cup Dark Brown Sugar, Lightly packed
• 1 teaspoon Baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon Kosher Salt
• 7 tablespoons Unsalted Butter (Cut into 1-inch cubes and frozen)
• 1/3 cup Honey, Mild-flavoured such as clover.
• 5 tablespoons Whole Milk
• 2 tablespoons Pure Vanilla Extract

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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The Nanaimo Bars are ... sweet.  Super-duper sweet.  I cut them too big so they're  a tad overwhelming, but the chocolate sandwiching the vanilla cream makes for a nice balance.  Hubby was not a fan of the coconut in the bottom layer; good thing he didn't notice the almonds!

Nanaimo Bars

Bottom Layer

• 1/2 cup Unsalted Butter
• 1/4 cup Granulated Sugar
• 5 tablespoons Unsweetened Cocoa
• 1 Large Egg, Beaten
• 1 1/4 cups Gluten Free Graham Wafer Crumbs (See previous recipe)
• 1/2 cup Almonds (Any type, Finely chopped)
• 1 cup Coconut (Shredded, sweetened or unsweetened)

Middle Layer

• 1/2 cup Unsalted Butter
• 2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons Heavy Cream
• 2 tablespoons Vanilla Custard Powder (Such as Bird’s. Vanilla pudding mix may be substituted.)
• 2 cups Icing Sugar

Top Layer

• 4 ounces Semi-sweet chocolate
• 2 tablespoons Unsalted Butter

 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.

For Middle Layer: Cream butter, cream, custard powder, and icing sugar together well. Beat until light in colour. Spread over bottom layer.

For Top Layer: Melt chocolate and unsalted butter over low heat. Cool. Once cool, pour over middle layer and chill.