Nanaimo Bars, for those who don’t know, are delicious squares made with a chocolate-coconut-pecan base, a thick layer of custard-flavoured icing and then topped with chocolate. Do you see why all Canadians love these bars?

No Bake Treats

The best thing about Nanaimo Bars is that they are no-bake! Which makes them the perfect treat to make on Canada Day when you don’t want to heat up the kitchen. Although I make these way more often than that, because even if I haven’t been to the grocery store in a while, I usually have all the ingredients on hand for these super easy Nanaimo Bars.

Nanaimo Bars Magic Ingredient: Custard Powder

The magic ingredient that makes Nanaimo Bar filling so delicious is custard powder. You can get it on Amazon here. The ingredients on a container of custard powder are: cornflour, salt, colouring, flavouring. So it’s not the healthiest stuff ever. It does have a few carbs- probably about 30 grams for the amount used in this recipe.

Feel free to omit it and just use yellow food colouring if you prefer. Or you can use a package of sugar-free Instant Vanilla Pudding, which works well too. Of course, sugar-free pudding is sweetened with aspartame and has tons of chemicals and preservatives in it, so it is also not the healthiest stuff ever. Your call.

Nanaimo Bar Variations

My favourite type of Nanaimo Bar is the classic flavour in the recipe below. But sometimes, for a change of pace, I make another flavour. One of my husband’s favourites is Baileys Nanaimo Bars, which use Baileys instead of the heavy cream in the middle layer.

You can also make Peanut Butter Nanaimo Bars, which have no heavy cream or custard powder in the filling. It is just 1 cup butter, 1 cup peanut butter and 2 cups powdered sugar or sweetener.

Instead of Bars, Make Elegant Nanaimo Slices

The other way to switch up your Nanaimo Bars is to use a 9″ springform pan instead of a 9×9 square pan and cut your bars into thin slices, like a cheesecake. So elegant. Or I also have small 4″ springform pans that I use to make little Nanaimo tarts. Each tart is probably about 4 or 5 portions.

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Nanaimo Bars

These delicious low carb Nanaimo Bars will be your new favourite no-bake treat!

Course Dessert

Cuisine Canadian

Keyword keto Nanaimo bars, low carb Nanaimo bars, Nanaimo Bars

Prep Time 20 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

Servings 18

Author Erin

Ingredients

Crust:

• 3 oz unsweetened chocolate
• ½ cup butter
• 1 cup almond flour
• ½ cup sweetener (e.g. Lakanto Monk Fruit Sweetener)
• ½ cup finely chopped toasted pecans
• 1 cup shredded coconut

Filling:

• 1 cup butter softened
• 1/4 cup custard powder
• 6 tbsp heavy cream
• 2 cups powdered sweetener (e.g. Lakanto Powdered Monk Fruit Sweetener)

Topping:

• 3 oz dark chocolate
• 2 tbsp coconut oil or butter

Instructions

1. Melt unsweetened chocolate and butter and combine with almond flour, sweetener, pecans and coconut. Press into 9″ square pan and chill.
2. Beat filling ingredients together until smooth and pour over base. Chill until firm.
3. Melt dark chocolate and coconut oil over low heat and spread over base. Chill until firm.

Recipe Notes

If you don't have custard powder, you can also use yellow food colouring for the filling.