Daring Bakers Challenge: Januari 2010

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca.

To open recipe and instructions in Microsoft Word, click [ HERE ]
Oh. and btw, it doesn't take two whole days. It takes like 45 min +2 1/2 hours. Don't let my slowness scare you away.

Whereas I didn't make my nanaimo bars gluten-free (it would've been far too expensive if I had seeing as 1) it had just been christmas and 2) I hadn't gotten my study grant yet. I still havent. And I have bills to pay, hello panic attack?) I did, however, read up a bit on Celiac Disease as a way of making up for my stinginess. If you're intrested in doing so, I suggest clicking one of the two links below (the second one is in swedish).

[ Celiac Disease ]
[ Glutenintolerans ]

---- Day 1 ----

Note to self:
Don't you EVER make graham crackers again. Do you hear me? They are evil. EVIL. Oh, you don't remember why? No? Let me enlighten you, dear - Graham Crackers BROKE your mother's oven. Yeah. That's right. Broke. The things on the inside of the oven fell apart. You know, where you hang the "baking-plates"?

Okay. Maybe, just maybe, it was my fault. But I don't know what I did. Actually I do. - I didn't do a thing. Ahem. I was just sitting in the other room, chatting with one of my friends on msn (I love her to death... and not only because her life is like something out of days of our lives.. it's very amusing, I tell ya. She even has a Stefano, I kid you not. The only thing missing is an evil twin) when I heard a loud noise coming from the kitchen. Fortunately, I managed to fix it without waking up my mother... that would've been bad. o.O;

... The image is supposed to be centered, but apparently, blogger hates me too. xD
You'll have to use your imagination. Do it. Come on. Think like the picture. BE THE PICTURE. Okay. I can't blame you if you don't - I wouldn't want to be that picture either :P

Yes. I did forget them in the oven. That's why they look so bad (see those disgusting fat stains? That used to be covered in burnt graham crackerishness. Yum) Well. That and the fact that the image quality is crap. Photobucket, much like those graham crackers once were, is hating on me. Very much so. The crackers tasted alright though, not that I had much to compare them with - I'd never eaten graham crackers before so I didn't quite know what to expect. If I ever make them again, I'll probably use another kind of honey, the kind I used wasn't as mild as I'd expected, and I'll probably reduce the amount of baking soda :P Don't tell anyone, but I accidentally added too much baking soda (I forgot that I'd halfed the recipe), so they were a bit too thick for my liking - in other words: good thing the recipe called for graham cracker crumbs. And good thing I used a not-mild enough honey - it hid the baking soda flavour nicely. Oh, and good thing I'd never made graham crackers prior to the DB challenge... you know what that means, don't you? I get to say that I've never eaten such delicious AND pretty graham crackers before. Ever. And. It's not a lie. :)

---- Day 2 ----

Unlike the previous day, day 2 did not bring any unpleasant surprises. My only surprise was that I didn't hate the Nanaimo Bars. To be honest, I'm a bit of a food snob sometimes. Especially when it comes to baking. Swedish pastries/cakes/muffins/other baked stuff are just "SO" much better (even if they're not) than for example American, or, as in this case - Canadian (... I'm very good at being obnoxious in case you hadn't noticed, very easy to dislike) I know it's all in my head, and that other countries have awesome recipes too, but I tend to shoot recipes down before giving them a try. Especially when I get insecure in my own ability. I guess it all boils down to the fact that a) I overanalyze recipes, making them seem odder than they really are b) I grew up here, eating a certain type of pastries etc. It's what I'm used to. (In all fairness though, I've had my fair share of odd foreign recipes) And I'm sorry. But vanilla extract will never float my boat. Not even the pure vanilla extract. There. I said it. I'm breaking up with vanilla extract.

That being said: Back to the bars - I absolutely loved the bottom layer. I only wish I'd added a couple of teaspoons of coffee to it as I had intended to in the first place. Maybe a bit of oatmeals as well. The middle layer - not so much. At least not in it itself. The top layer was a dream (despite me not waiting for the chocolate too cool enough.. Bad choice.), but then again, how could it not be? It's chocolate. And together - much, much better than I had expected. A bit sweet, but I liked them anyways. My mother loved them. My sisters seemed to love them as well. :)

I can't wait to see what next months recipe will be. Or to what corner of the world it will take me (and yes, I do realize I could just take a look in the hosting schedule thread, but I don't want to - that would ruin the surprise) - Oklahoma? Brazil? India? Australia? Or perhaps France? (Ok. It's probably an american who will host, but I won't let that burst my bubble. I refuse to let it burst my bubble. My bubble is solid). My point is - I don't think I'll ever cease to be amazed by how small the world have gotten. It's amazing. In fact, I think I might dive into google and see where to travel next. I'm thinking either the moon, South Africa or Hollywood. Something intresting might have happened in Perez-land. Maybe Brangelina adopted another kid.

xoxo

Ps. Scratch the where-do-I-travel-next-part. I'm going to Quantico, baby. Spencer Reid awaits.