One down...

When R. read my post on The Sweet Hundred, she noticed a familiar item in the list of treats I've never tried.

"hey - i have had a nanaimo bar!! only thing on your list of things you haven't had that i've definitely had. i think it's big in the PNW."

In a delicious twist of fate, she then visited the Pacific Northwest and brought back some Nanaimo bars!

Despite being individually packaged, these Canadian treats (named after Nanaimo, British Columbia) remained moist, chewy, and homemade-tasting.

By the way, Internet legend has it that the mascot of the city of Nanaimo, BC is a giant Nanaimo bar named Nanaimo Barney, but the fact that I have been unable to discover a picture of said mascot makes me suspicious of that story.



This very real Nanaimo bar (pronunciation notes included for your edification), has the traditional three layers, though sometimes the top layer is solid chocolate. The nuts in the crust are walnuts and the coconut must be melted in there somewhere, but I really didn't taste it.

The Nanaimo seems to be both about texture (crumbly crust; creamy and rich pudding/custard layer) and sweetness (powdered sugar galore!), which combine tantalizingly in the no-bake bar. I approve this as a potential potluck dessert. Love!

If you come across these (I hear they're big at Starbucks), I recommend only eating one at a sitting - no more. I don't want anyone going into the sugar shack - I mean sugar shock.

The two-bite fight

WholeFoods sells plastic tubs of "Two-Bite Brownies," but my problem with plastic tubs of things is that I can eat a whole plastic tub of things. So when I saw small packages of fewer similar brownies, I decided to try them out.

These Homestyle "two-bite brownies" (made in Canada) also claim on the package to be either the "original two-bite" or the "two-bite original" or the "original two-bite original." This reminds me. Hey, typographers, I don't like words printed in circles when it's unclear in what order they're supposed to be read. Unless it really does work in every direction. And the repetition of the word "original" in this seal seems unnecessary to me.

There are four brownies in a pouch, which is only 8 bites, but I got my money's worth in chewing. Which is not to say that these have much texture. They are very soft. That just happens to be how I like my store-bought brownies. The chocolate flavor is rich and not artificial, the brownie melts under mild pressure, the taste lingers for a little while, and best of all I haven't eaten 14 of them.

One of these days, I'll have to do a back-to-back test of the Homestyle brownies vs. WholeFoods' variety. My memory of the WholeFoods' Two-Bites is that they are a little bigger and slightly "crustier" on the outside, but that could be wishful thinking.