Here is a unique twist on a popular classic: Reverse Nanaimo Bars. For those who aren't familiar with Nanaimo Bars, they are a popular Canadian confection named after their place of origin, Nanaimo, British Colombia. These are fairly easy, three-layer, no-bake squares. There are a few different recipe variations around for them, but they all have the same basic idea. They start with a chocolate base chock full of coconut, walnuts, and graham cracker crumbs. That is followed by a buttercream layer flavored with vanilla custard powder, and a smooth topping of melted semi-sweet chocolate. Custard powder was invented by a man who's wife adored custard, but she was allergic to eggs. So he came up with the powder. It can be tricky to find in some areas, but instant vanilla pudding can be used in place of it (I have even omitted it completely, the bars are still delicious!). Nanaimo bars are easy and quite visually appealing, the only drawback is that they must be prepared in three stages, and refrigerated after each one. The only lengthy part of the preparation is the chilling. It is a good recipe to make when you have several small chunks of time on your hands instead of one big one.
In this variation, instead of the usual white layer between two chocolate, there is a chocolate layer between two white. The base is pretty much the same, except in place of cocoa powder, there is melted white chocolate. The middle still contains custard powder, but also has the addition of cocoa. And the top is simply melted white chocolate, with a semi-sweet chocolate drizzle for a little extra garnish. I really like traditional Nanaimo Bars, but this twist was nice for a change, it was something different and was still very tasty.
These squares turned out nice and sweet, without being too rich. They are easy to cut and store, and surprisingly the chocolate topping did not crack. The flavors of white chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate work very well together.
Here are some hypnotizing cookies! This recipe came from Company's Coming "Cookies". There are several pinwheel cookie recipes featured in this book, including shortbread pinwheels, date filled pinwheels, raspberry filled pinwheels, and these chocolate-vanilla sugar cookie pinwheels; as well as variations on these recipes for cloverleaf and checkerboard designs, which can be any colors of your choice! Along with having a very attractive appearance, these cookies are delicious and easy to make! The dough must be prepared the day before and chilled overnight, although it may also be frozen for more advanced preparation.
Chocolate-Vanilla Pinwheels
1/2 cup butter or hard margarine, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
3 Tbsp. milk
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. cocoa
1 Tbsp. butter or hard margarine, softened
Cream first amount of butter and sugar together. Beat in egg, vanilla and milk.
Stir flour, baking powder and salt together and add. Mix into a ball. Divide into 2 equal portions.
To 1 portion add cocoa and remaining butter. Mix well. Roll out each portion between sheets of waxed paper to 1/8 inch thick. Make them the same size in a rectangular shape. Remove top papers. Invert white layer over chocolate. Remove top paper. Roll as for jelly roll, removing bottom paper as you roll. Wrap and chill overnight. To bake slice thinly. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in 375◦F oven for about 6 minutes. Makes 4 dozen.
TIPS: The rectangular dough shapes should be approximately 7x12 inches. Roll dough from the short end. Slice about 1/3 inch thick, although you may not get 4 dozen out of it. Dough should not stick to waxed paper too much, but you may want to sprinkle the waxed paper with a light coating of flour as a precaution. I baked mine for 8 minutes, which was the perfect amount of time.
Paré, Jean. "Pinwheels." Recipe. Cookies, Edmonton Alberta: Company's Coming Publishing Limited, 1989. 64.
