Baking Through the Alphabet - the Letter N

The Letter N

Letter N Meal:

• Nachos
• Nectarines
• Nuts

At my high school graduation, years and years ago, our family friend, Carol, gave me a recipe for Nanaimo Bars.  While at college, I thought about making them, multiple times, but they seemed too time consuming and I never did it.  Many times, over the years, I have gotten that recipe out to think about making it - and never did.  So, when my daughter wanted to start this "baking through the alphabet", I knew exactly what we were going to make for the letter "N"!  Of course, with our recent move, I couldn't find Carol's recipe, but she was kind enough to send it to me last night. (Thanks, Carol!!)

We made a few changes though - my daughter didn't particularly want coconut in the base crust so we left that out.  We used almonds instead of pecans because I'm allergic to the pecans.  And we didn't have any cream cheese (it was Sunday, and it was night-time, and I didn't want to go out in the cold - lazy!).  Instead, we improvised with some 1/2 &1/2 and some regular whipped topping.  

The result was DELICIOUS!!  Besides the Lintzer cookies, this was, by far, my most favorite baked good.  To be honest though, this isn't technically baked, but we did measure typical baking ingredients...and cooked on the cook-top...so w're going to count it anyway for our letter "N".  

Here's the recipe and what to do to make it:  

Grease a 9x9 pan and set it aside (Carol says that she usually doubles the recipe and uses a 9x13). 

Crumb Mixture:

• 1/2 C unstalted butter
• 1/4 C Sugar
• 1/4 C unsweetened cocoa
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 egg
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 graham cracker crumbs
• 3/4 C flaked coconut
• 1/2 C chopped pecans 

In a heavy saucepan combine the first six ingredients over low heat, stirring constantly until mixture coats a spoon.  

Stir in crumbs, coconut, and pecans.  Press evenly into prepared pan.  

Filling: 

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 pkg (3oz) cream cheese, softened
• 2 T. instant vanilla pudding mix (1/4 of a 3 oz pkg)
• 1 cup confectioners sugar
• 2 Tbsp milk

Cream butter, cream cheese and pudding mix.  Beat in sugar and milk.  Spread over crumb mixture. 

Refriderate until mixture is firm.  

(Since we didn't have cream cheese, we used the recipe from Classy Cooking to help us come up with an alternative filling.  We mixed 1/8 cup of 1/2&1/2 with 1/8 cup of whipped topping (like Cool Whip).  It might not have looked amazing, but it tasted sensational! 

Glaze:

• 4 sq (1 oz each) semisweet chocolate (we used 4 oz of mini chocolate chips)
• 1 Tbsp unsalted butter

In a double boiler over hot, but not boiling water, melt the chocolate and butter.  

Spread evenly over pudding layer. Refriderate again until chocolate is firm or until serving time.  Cut into squares.  (Since we had the mini chocolate chips, we put them all over the top, just for kicks.) 

Letter N Musicals:  (*= ones that are, in my opinion, decent or just fun to watch; **=kid friendly; ***=the one we chose to watch)

There weren't too many musicals that started with "N", at least not ones that I thought my kids could/would watch.  But here are a few that are good, decent, and fun:

• Newsies***
• the Nightmare Before Christmas**
• No, No, Nanette*  (I haven't seen this one, but it looks interesting.)