German Chocolate Brownies [family favorite]

For Father’s Day we celebrated with a little poetry tea party with my family back in New Hampshire. My dad has two favorite desserts: Oat Cake and German Chocolate Cake. I didn’t want two different cakes on the table (and Grandma was already bringing banana cake) so I decided it was the perfect time to try another brownie twist. I used the frosting from a tradition german chocolate cake recipe atop cut brownies filled with coconut and pecans. My dad loved them, my little sister advance ordered 500 for her wedding in 10 years, and I had to guard them before the tea party began.

The frosting for these is a little bit more involved, but easy and so worth it. The gooey coconut and pecan mixture on top makes the brownie, promise.

What You’ll Need:

• 1 boxed brownie mix + all listed ingredients
• 1 extra egg
• 1/2 C sugar
• 1/4 C butter
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 can evaporated milk
• 2 C coconut flakes
• 1 3/4 C chopped pecans
• 1 C Powdered Sugar
• 1 TBSP hot water

What You’ll Do:

• Mix brownies as directed on box with additional egg. Stir in 1 C coconut flakes and 1 C pecans. Pour mix into a greased baking pan.
• Bake as directed on box.
• For the frosting: Whip powdered sugar and water and set aside. Then, in a small saucepan, heat evaporated milk, sugar, and butter until it thickens (just until it starts to boil). Remove from heat and add vanilla, 1 C coconut flakes and 3/4 C pecans. Let it cool before putting it on brownies (if you care what they look like, if not, heap it on and enjoy them warm!).
• For frosting the brownies, you can stripe the pan with the powdered sugar/water combo and spread/sprinkle the pecan and coconut frosting over the brownies, or you can cut each brownie out as pictured. For the second serving option (great for parties), wait until the brownies have completely cooled. Then, use a cup or cookie cutter to cut out circles. Pipe a small dot of the powdered sugar/water frosting onto each brownie and top with a spoonful of the coconut/pecan frosting.

I’ve been having so much fun coming up with ways to dress up the boring boxed brownie mix! Other variations include:

• Coconut Cream Brownies
• Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Brownies
• Junior Mint Brownies
• Cookies and Cream Brownies

Any suggestions on other variations I should work on? What can you imagine being great in a brownie?