Rx Recipes: Nanaimo Bars

Associate Professor, Sam Pattenden, shares her dessert bar recipe for our sweet-tooth readers

Recipe by Sam Pattenden | Published April 16, 2024

Our Rx Recipes series explores recipes provided by faculty, staff, students, and alumni of the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. For our readers with a sweet-tooth, Associate Professor Sam Pattenden has brought us this recipe for decadent dessert bars – Nanaimo bars!

Ingredients:
Base:
1 c graham cracker crumbs
1/2 c sweetened shredded coconut
1/3 c finely chopped walnuts
1/4 c cocoa powder
1/4 c granulated sugar
1/3 c butter, melted
1 egg, lightly beaten

Filling:
1/4 c butter, softened
2 tbsp custard powder
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 c icing sugar
2 tbsp milk

Topping:
4 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped (or chocolate chips)
1 tbsp butter

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
2. In a bowl, stir together graham cracker crumbs, coconut, walnuts, cocoa powder, and sugar
3. Add melted butter and egg; stir until combined
4. Press the mixture into a parchment paper lined 9-inch square cake pan and bake until firm – about 10 minutes
5. Let the pan cool on a rack
6. In a bowl, beat together your softened butter, custard powder, and vanila
7. Beat in icing sugar alternatively with milk, making 3 additions of sugar and 2 additions of milk (add up to 1 tsp more milk if too thick to spread)
8. Spread the mixture on top of the fully-cooled base layer; refrigerate until firm – about  hour
9. In a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of hot – but not boiling – water, melt chopped chocolate/chocolate chips with butter
10. Spread the melted chocolate over the cooled bars and return the pan to the refrigerator until chocolate is almost set – about 30 minutes
11. With the tip of a knife, score into the bars, then return to the pan to the refrigerator until chocolate is completely set – about another 30 minutes
12. Cut into bars and enjoy!

This recipe comes to us from Associate Professor, Sam Pattenden, in the School’s Division of Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry (CBMC). “Nanaimo bars are a very popular Canadian dessert that originated in Nanaimo, British Columbia,” she explains. “There are many sources for this recipe since it is so popular, but the one that I have provided is adapted from a version that appeared the magazine, Canadian Living in 2012.”

Sam grew up in Toronto, Ontario, and received both her undergraduate and PhD degrees from the University of Toronto. She found her way to UNC in her second Postdoctoral Fellowship, with Bill Janzen and Stephen Frey at the Center for Integrative Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery (CICBDD). She came on as faculty with the School in 2015.

Sam’s research focuses on disovering drugs that modulate epigenetic pathways to stop cancer cell growth. Her work has led to a spinout company, Triangle Biotechnology, which licenses tech developed in her lab in collaboration with Paul Dayton in Biomedical Engineering. “I really enjoy being a part of the UNC community,” Sam says. “We have many collaborations with other researchers on campus. This fun and exciting team science enables research on a scale that I could never do on my own.”

When she’s not developing breakthrough technology, Sam is an avid reader, traveler, cook (of course), and gardener. “I have a large flower garden in my yard as well as a more modest vegetable garden,” she explains. “I get my vegetable plant starters from fellow pharmacy staff member (and long-time friend), Dr. Jacqueline Norris-Drouin. [We] spend a lot of time discussing gardening, reading about gardening, and finding plants in garden centers.”

Sam’s flower garden is now in bloom with azaleas, speedwell, and salvia, with many more varieties that will put on a show throughout the year. She will soon be planing tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants.

Thank you for the sweet dessert recipe, Sam!