Nanaimo bars

Nanaimo is "the city so beautiful it's alright to stare". It has a proud tradition of bathtub racing. And it has punched well above its weight in the culinary world, giving us the gift of the Nanaimo bar.

I owe thanks to a former housemate for this discovery, or rather, his Mum; he always brought back a neatly packed box full of the sweets coming back after Christmas.

The recipe is simple, with minimal cooking required. The only thing I did differently was to toast the walnuts after chopping them. This is a universal way of intensifying the flavour of any nuts. I'd also suggest working rapidly with the chocolate topping, as it starts to cool quickly after resting on top of the icing.

Cut them into bite sized chunks. They are far too sickly to have in any kind of quantity, but are perfect with an after dinner coffee.

The recipe is copyright Ben's Mum.