| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 1 hr 30 min |
| Active: | 1 hr |
| Yield: | about 16 |
Ingredients
- 1 stick unsalted butter
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/4 cups finely ground graham cracker crumbs
- 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
- 1/2 cup sliced almonds
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste (or 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract)
- 1 1-ounce package freeze-dried strawberries
- 2 cups white chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 tablespoon vegetable shortening
Instructions
- Make the crust: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8-inch square baking dish with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on all sides. Melt the butter with the cocoa powder, sugar and espresso powder in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
- Whisk the heavy cream and egg in a small bowl. Whisk in a few tablespoons of the butter-cocoa mixture, then pour into the saucepan. Cook, whisking, until combined and thickened, about 1 minute. Remove from the heat and stir in the graham cracker crumbs, coconut, almonds and vanilla bean paste. Press the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Bake until set, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a rack and let cool completely in the pan.
- Make the filling: Pulse half of the freeze-dried strawberries (about 1 cup) in a food processor until slightly powdery with a few pieces remaining. Set aside the remaining strawberries for topping.
- Put the white chocolate chips in a medium bowl. Bring the heavy cream to a simmer in a small saucepan, then pour over the white chocolate chips. Let sit until softened, 3 to 5 minutes; stir until smooth. (If the chips are not fully melted, microwave in 20-second intervals until smooth.) Stir in the strawberry powder. Spread over the cooled crust. Cover and refrigerate until set, about 30 minutes.
- Make the topping: Microwave the semisweet chocolate chips with the shortening in a small microwave-safe bowl in 20-second intervals, stirring, until melted and smooth. Let cool slightly, about 5 minutes. Spread evenly over the filling. Gently crush the reserved freeze-dried strawberries and sprinkle over the top. Cover and refrigerate until set. Lift out of the pan using the parchment overhang and cut into bars.
- Freeze-dried strawberries have a ton of flavor. You just have to make sure you don?t pulverize them into too fine a powder; you want to be able to see the nice red flecks.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 16 servings |
| Calories | 331 |
| Total Fat | 24 g |
| Saturated Fat | 14 g |
| Carbohydrates | 30 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Sugar | 25 g |
| Protein | 4 g |
| Cholesterol | 38 mg |
| Sodium | 79 mg |
Reviews
This recipe needs some work. The base is from the Nanaimo bars but the white chocolate filling does not work. Next time I will do a cream cheese filling so it won’t be so hard. The topping needs to be a ganache so that it isn’t as hard and holds the strawberries better. My husband thought it was a fudge more than a bar.
I served these at a luncheon and they were a big hit! They were pretty to present and I loved the layering of flavors!
Loved these! They were delicious!! I will definitely add this to my favorites!!
Disappointing, greasy, and too many ingredients. I couldn’t even get rid of these bars at a large BBQ. I also had to mop grease from the base once baked. There was so much I even doubled checked the instructions. I felt they were expensive to make as well simply based on the number of ingredients. Most of all they didn’t even taste good. I couldn’t get rid of them. Not worth the time and effort and certainly not deserving of the “runner up” winning recipe title.
Delicious and gorgeous
The name is misleading for these bars. They should been labeled as a candy. I made the recipe as it was written. Parts of the bar I really liked. The base was very good but think that the full stick of butter was too much. It left an oily surface on the bars after they were baked. I would make the base again but cut back on butter to 6 T. or increase the gram cracker to 1 1/2 c. I found the filling overwhelming with the white chocolate. You really couldn’t taste the freeze dried strawberries. After tasting the filling, I opted for dark chocolate instead of the semi-sweet. I had mixed reviews from my guests and agreed the base was the best part. I would not make these again.