German Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies

These brownies won a 3rd place ribbon at the 2012 Tillamook County Fair.  It's actually two different recipes I threw together.  I thought they would taste well together.  The recipes are:  Black Bottom Cupcakes - which Russ brought home from work, and Coconut Pecan Frosting from my sister Lynda.

Black Bottom Cupcakes
1 (8) oz pkg cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1/3 cup white sugar
1/8 tsp salt
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1 cup semisweet mini chocolate chips
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1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup white sugar
1/4 unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 TBSP cider (or regular) vinegar
1 tsp vanilla

In a medium bowl, mix the first 4 ingredients until light and fluffy.  Stir in chocolate chips.

In large bowl combine remaining ingredients.  Mix well.  Pour into greased 9x13 baking pan.   Pour cream cheese mixture over top of batter - try to keep it evenly dispersed.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until it tests done.  Now....you have 2 choices.  You can either leave your cake this way and call it good - which is very tasty...OR you can add the following recipe - which is what I did for the fair.

Coconut Pecan Icing
1 (12 oz) can evaporated milk
3 egg yolks, lightly beaten
1 1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 cube margarine or butter
1 1/4 cup coconut
1 1/4 cup chopped nuts
1 TBSP vanilla

Combine all ingredients in large saucepan.  Bring to a boil and boil for 5-6 minutes.  Cool then frost cake.

German Chocolate Bars

If you love German Chocolate cake and you love brownies...you are sure to love these! I made 2 pans of these when I made them. One for home of course and one to take to Young Women's. Two of our leaders had birthdays so we celebrated! This is part of my September 2010 Aussie/NZ recipe swap. My teammate is Dreamgoddess from Alabama, USA.

German Chocolate Bars
1 (17 5/8 oz) box brownie mix
1 large egg
1/4 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp coconut extract
1/2 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1/2 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped

Frosting:
3/4 cup sugar
5 TBSP butter, cut up
5 oz evaporated milk
2 egg yolks
1 cup sweetened coconut
3/4 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Brownies:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 9x13 pan with veggie spray. Combine the brownie mix, egg, water, oil and coconut extract in large bowl. Mix just until blended. Stir in 1/2 cup coconut and 1/2 cup nuts. Pour into prepared pan and spread around. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until done.

Frosting:
Combine 3/4 cup sugar, butter, milk and egg yolks in a saucepan. Cook on medium high heat, stirring, until thickened - approximately 13-15 minutes. Add in remaining coconut, nuts and vanilla. Cook 2 more minutes. When brownies are done, pour on frosting and spread to edges of brownies. Cool and enjoy!

I dare you to eat just one! :)

Coconut Chocolate Bars

This recipe is one I chose as part of the May 2010 Aussie/NZ recipe swap. Russell and the boys inhaled these. My teammate for this recipe is Seasoned Cook from Eastern North Carolina. I've made some of her recipes before and we've enjoyed them so far.

Coconut Chocolate Bars
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup butter, melted
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup baking cocoa
2 TBSP butter, melted

Topping:
2 cups milk chocolate chips
2 TBSP butter, melted

In a medium bowl beat eggs and add sugar. Blend in melted butter and vanilla. Add in flour, baking powder and salt.
Pour 1/2 the batter into another bowl. In one batter bowl add cocoa and 2 TBSP melted butter. In the other batter bowl add coconut.
Pour the chocolate batter into a greased 9x13 baking pan. Spread the coconut batter on top. (I noticed the coconut batter was really runny - don't know if it's supposed to be that way or not.)
Bake at 325 degrees. I had mine in the oven for around 45-50 minutes. Cool.

For the topping:
Melt chocolate chips. Add melted butter and mix. Spread onto cooled bars. Let cool completely and cut into bars. These are very rich so they don't need to be big. I thought they tasted similar to either a Mounds or Almond Joy candy bar.

Chocolate Coconut Bars

This is part of the collection of recipes I chose for the April 2010 Aussie/NZ recipe swap. My team mate is Chickee from Sydney, Australia. She calls these Chocolate Rough Slice and her grandma used to make these. Russell says this is something he could actually get fat off of. That says a lot! If you like coconut - you will like this. These remind me of those Brachs@ Coconut Triple Layer candies - the ones that are pink, white and brown. I love those!

Chocolate Coconut Bars
Base:
2/3 cup butter or margarine, melted
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup coconut
2 cups flour
1 TBSP baking powder
1 tsp salt

Mix all base ingredients and press into a greased 9x13 baking pan. Bake 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool slightly.

Topping:
2 TBSP butter or margarine
2 TBSP baking cocoa
1 can sweetened condensed milk
2 cups powdered sugar
2 cups coconut
1 tsp vanilla
**Optional throw in ingredients: chopped walnuts OR pecan pieces OR sliced almonds

While base is cooking melt all topping ingredients together in a saucepan over low heat. Cool. Spread over base. Cut when cold.

If you eat one of these...
You will probably need a glass of milk to go with it....

German Chocolate Cheesecake

German Chocolate Cheesecake
This recipe was made for Russell for his birthday. He loves German Chocolate Cake and he loves a good cheesecake. So why not combine them? I found a really super yummy recipe by Swan Valley Tammi at recipezaar. I used her cake recipe and my sister Lynda's Coconut Pecan Frosting recipe. It is very similar to the 'zaar recipe.

1 box German chocolate cake mix
2 8 oz each cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs, lightly beaten

Prepare cake batter according to package directions; set aside. In a small mixing bowl, combine cream cheese and sugar. Beat until smooth. Add eggs and beat just until combined.
Pour half the cake mixture into a greased 9x13 pan. Gently pour cream cheese mixture over batter. Gently spoon remaining batter over top, spreading to edge of pan.
Bake at 325 degrees F for 70-75 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 1 hour.

Coconut Pecan/Walnut Frosting
1 12 oz can evaporated milk
3 egg yolks, beaten
1 1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 cubes butter or margarine
1 1/4 cups coconut
1 1/4 cups chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts)
1 tsp vanilla

Combine all ingredients in large saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium high heat, stirring often. Boil for about 8 minutes or until thickened. Cool then frost cake.
Store cake in the refrigerator.

Coconut and Caramel Bars

This recipe comes from recipezaar and the chef is Bev from Along the Potomac. This is ooey gooey yummy!

Coconut and Caramel Bars
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 large egg
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 cups shredded coconut, toasted and divided
30 caramel candies, unwrapped
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 TBSP milk or cream

Toast coconut. Spread coconut in a 9x13 pan. Bake in preheated 300 degree oven for 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Stir half way through baking time.
Increase oven temperature to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl beat butter, sugar, vanilla and egg until well blended. Mix in flour, salt baking powder and 1 1/2 cups toasted coconut.
Spread mixture in a greased 9x13 pan. Bake 15 minutes.
Meanwhile melt 1/2 of the caramel in microwave. Drizzle melted caramel over baked crust and return to oven for 10-12 minutes or until medium brown and caramel is bubbly.
Remove crust from oven. Working quickly - loosen edges of the crust from the pan. Cut into bars while they are still warm.
Sprinkle bars with chocolate chips. Allow chocolate chips to soften about 5 minutes then spread evenly over bars. Set aside to cool completely.
Loosen the bars from the edge of the pan again and carefully remove. I placed mine on a cookie sheet lined with foil for easy cleanup.
Combine remaining caramel with 1 TBSP milk or cream and heat until caramel is melted. Stir to combine with the milk. Drizzle over bars. Garnish with reserved coconut.

Golden Coconut Crisps

These little gems come from the "joey" I got to adopt in the August Aussie/NZ recipe swap. My "joey" had to be someone from either New Zealand or Australia. I picked Jacqui from Oz. She lives in Australia. It's interesting to read ingredients from other countries. I will post her original and what it means to us in the USA! These are so yummy by the way.

Golden Coconut Crisps ( a very yummy cookie)
1 1/2 cups self rising flour (if you don't have self rising flour - use 1 1/2 cups all purpose and add 1/4 tsp salt and 1 tsp baking powder. this is what I did.)
1 tsp cinnamon
5 oz butter or margarine ( I used 1 stick - it's close enough)
1 cup coconut
1/2 cup caster sugar (granulated sugar)
1 TBSP golden syrup (corn syrup)
favorite jam

Combine flour, cinnamon coconut and sugar in large bowl. Melt butter and corn syrup together. Add to dry ingredients and mix well. Roll dough into balls, flatten out on cookie sheet and make hollows in the center. Fill hollows with jam. (not much jam is required)
Bake in 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes. Or until the bottoms are a light brown.