Nanaimo Bars

I love the name for this. I found this recipe a few months ago in The Sunday Times. According to wikipedia the Nanaimo bar is a dessert of Canadian origin popular across North America. Well there you go!

Anyway these have kept very well for a week and gone down a treat with everyone that has tried them. I've been taking them in to work as a mid-morning snack. I didn't know what to make them in so I used a big square ceramic dish but I think that was actually too big, as I didn't have enough chocolate sauce to cover all of the top, so next time I'll have to find something slightly smaller.

Ingredients
Bottom Layer
100g butter
50g sugar
5tbsp cocoa
1 egg, beaten
200g digestive biscuit crumbs
75g desicated coconut
100g finely chopped walnuts (optional)

Second Layer
2 tbsp custard powder
3 tbsp milk
50g butter
250g icing sugar

Top Layer
75g milk chocolate chips
50g butter

1. For the bottom layer, melt the butter, sugar and cocoa over a low heat, then stir in the rest of the ingredients for the bottom layer. Press firmly into the bottom of a bake tray/dish.
2. For the second layer, mix the custard powder and milk together. In a separate bowl, cream the butter with an electric whisk. Add the milk custard mix and the icing sugar a little atr a time. Beat at high speed until light. Spread over the bottom layer.
3. For the top layer, melt the chocolate hcips and butter over a low heat. Allow to cool but while still runny, spread over the second layer. Chill in the fridge until set, then cut into squares.