Nanaimo bars

Here’s how to get rid of that Bird’s Custard Powder tin in your pantry—without Nanaimo bars.

This decadent no-bake dessert bar is named after the city in British Columbia where the recipe originated, likely in the 1950s.

Some of our kitchen team find traditional Nanaimo bars too sweet, so we developed a bar we all could love. Thanks to cocoa powder, salted almonds and much less sugar, we got it.

What makes this Canadian dessert standard a holiday knockout? Toasting the walnuts for extra oomph, adding a little salt to balance the sweetness and cutting it into sleek diamond shapes. These cute little bars appear here exactly as they did in our December 1995 issue.

Featuring the stone-cold classic, plus a glitzy holiday take and a less-sweet salted almond version that's a staff favourite.