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Okay, what Canadian isn't in love with Nanaimo bars? They're rich, decadent, sweet and have the perfect layers of texture! But they're also severely loaded with refined sugars, sure to send you on a path for diabetes (a topic for another day)! This recipe is sweetened mostly by dates, which are low on the glycemic index in comparison to regular baking sugars. The remaining sweetener is maple syrup, which has a medium-low value on the glycemic index, indicating that it's healthier than table sugar, but less healthy than dates.  For those of you who don't know, the glycemic index is a scale that measures how much your blood-sugar levels raise after consuming a food high in carbohydrates.  It's particularly important for those who have diabetes, or anyone interested in maintaining stable blood-sugar levels.

The original recipe states that it makes 8-10 servings in an 8X8 pan. I adapted the original recipe, cut the maple syrup down a bit and we still found it extremely rich and cut those portion sizes in half, producing about 16 servings! The below recipe is my loosely adapted version from www.catchingseeds.com.

Beware!!

Here it is:

Ingredients (base)

• 2 cups of pecans
• 2 cups of softened dates
• 1 cup of unsweetened coconut flakes
• 2 tbsp of raw cacao powder

Ingredients (middle)

• 2 cups of raw cashews (soaked for about 4-6 hours, and then drained)
• 3 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Ingredients (top)

• 1/4 cup of coconut oil
• 1/4 cup of raw cacao powder
• 2 tbsp. of maple syrup
• pinch of salt

Directions

• Add all of the crust ingredients to a food processor/blender and blend until it begins to clump
• Then transfer the ingredients to an 8X8 pan lined with parchment paper (to lift the bars out afterward)
• Press the crust firmly down into the pan so that it covers the bottom evenly and cohesively
• Clean out your blender and add all of the middle custard ingredients
• Blend until smooth and creamy. Then pour over the crust and smooth it out. Place the pan in the freezer for about 45 minutes for it all to firm up
• Melt the coconut oil, add the remaining ingredients and stir well. Pour over the custard layer and tilt the pan around to evenly coat the custard layer.
• Since your bars are cold, the chocolate coating should firm up nearly right away

Cut and serve! (these keep fantastically in the fridge or freezer, but should not be exposed to heat as the top chocolate layer will melt)