Cherry Almond Nanaimo Bars

Submitted by LuckyMomof3

"These go well on any goody platter. They're great for valentine's day parties 'cause they're pink! I also pair these with my Chocolate Mint Nanaimo Bars on Christmas platters. Green and red, what's more Christmasy? The filling is so good with chunks of cherries throughout YUM!Note: Don't let the long list intimidate you...these are really easy to make and time below includes chilling times."

 

• Ready In: 2hrs 25mins
• Ingredients: 14
• Yields: 30 bars
• Serves: 30

ingredients

• Base

• 1⁄2 cup margarine
• 1⁄4 cup sugar
• 1⁄3 cup cocoa
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 medium egg (beaten)
• 1 cup desiccated coconut
• 1 3⁄4 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1⁄2 cup almonds (chopped)

• Filling

• 1⁄4 cup margarine (softened)
• 1 tablespoon cherry juice (from maraschino cherries)
• 2 cups icing sugar
• 1⁄3 cup maraschino cherry (chopped)

• Topping

• 2 ounces semisweet chocolate (2 squares)
• 1 tablespoon margarine

directions

1. Base:

2. Melt margarine, sugar, cocoa, vanilla and egg in saucepan over low heat stirring constantly until it begins to thicken.
3. Remove from heat and stir in coconut, graham cracker crumbs, and chopped almonds.
4. Press into greased 9x9-inch pan.
5. Chill 1 hour.

6. Filling:

7. Cream butter, cherry juice, and vanilla.
8. Gradually beat in, with hand mixer or by hand, icing sugar to make a smooth spreading consistency.
9. Stir in chopped cherries.
10. Spread evenly over chilled base.
11. Chill until firm.

12. Topping:

13. Heat chocolate and butter over medium heat until smoothly melted. Drizzle over filling.
14. Chill.
15. Cut into 30 bars with sharp knife pressing down gently to break the drizzle first then drag to slice.

Reviews

[BestTeenChef]

These tasted great! There was alittle bit of base leftover in the pan but i still I got quite a few nice pieces i also used 1/3 cup chocolate chips for the topping. Thanks for the recipe LuckyMomof2!

 

[lauralie41]

These were so good! I had pecans on hand so I used those instead of almonds for the base. Added a bit more chopped maraschino cherries to the filling and we enjoyed this so much. Chilling time should be followed closely for the bars to set up.