Over The Top German Chocolate Brownies

Over The Top German Chocolate Brownies

When I was on vacation almost a month ago, I went to a bakery that had lots of delicious-looking cakes, cookies, pies, homemade breads, and more. It was really hard to decide what to buy. I bought a few things, but decided not to buy the German Chocolate Brownies窶的 would have had to buy a

whole pan and if I did that, I’m sure I would have eaten them all! So I just made a note to myself to try making my own German Chocolate Brownies when I got home.

These brownies are very rich, dense, and fudgy…with lots of German chocolate. Two 4-ounce German sweet chocolate bars are melted and mixed into the batter, and an additional 4-ounce bar is chopped up and mixed in, too. So these are choc-full of German chocolate (if you don’t want to use quite so much chocolate, omit the 4-ounce bar of chopped chocolate–the brownies will still be rich, but not quite so fudgy and dense). As you can see from the picture, the brownies are also topped with a generous amount of Coconut Pecan frosting…so rich and yummy!

This makes a 9×13″ pan of brownies, and I would advise you to cut them into smaller bars–you don’t really need big pieces of these brownies to satisfy your sweet tooth. They’re a great dessert to make when you have guests over or for taking to a potluck. You can freeze some, too, if you happen to have any extra brownies left over (ha, ha!). Here’s the recipe…enjoy!

OVER THE TOP GERMAN CHOCOLATE BROWNIES by NancyCreative Makes a 9×13″ pan  3 (4-ounce) bars of Baker’s® German’s® Sweet Chocolate (a total of 12 ounces; use 2 bars

for melting and stirring into batter; coarsely chop the third bar to mix into the batter–or you can omit this chopped chocolate bar if you want)  3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter  1 1/2 cups sugar  4 eggs  2 teaspoons vanilla  1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (regular or unbleached)  2 teaspoons baking powder  1 teaspoon salt  1 cup chopped pecans  Coconut Pecan Frosting (see recipe below)

1.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9×13″ baking pan, or line pan and

sides with parchment paper (leave a little extra parchment paper sticking out so you can grab edges to lift brownies out of pan after they’re frosted and cooled; the brownies are really easy to cut when they’re out of the pan).

2.

Coarsely chop 1 of the 4-ounce bars of chocolate, if using, and also chop enough

pecans to equal 1 cup; set these ingredients aside. Note: the chocolate bar will be easier to chop if it’s been chilled in the refrigerator.

3.

Microwave 2 of the 4-ounce chocolate bars and butter in a large microwaveable bowl

for 1 to 2 minutes or until butter is melted. Remove from microwave and stir chocolate and butter together until chocolate is completely melted. Add sugar to chocolate-butter mixture,

blending well; then add eggs and vanilla, blending well. Add flour, baking powder, and salt, mixing until blended. Then fold in the chopped chocolate, if using, and pecans from Step #2.

The batter will be fairly thick.

4.

Spread your batter evenly into the prepared 9×13″ pan and bake for 35-38 minutes,

or until top middle of brownies is set and toothpick inserted in center comes out almost clean– it won’t come out completely clean because of the chopped chocolate in the batter. If you decide to omit the chopped chocolate in the batter, your baking time may be a little less, like 32-36 minutes. Cool brownies completely before adding the frosting…

COCONUT PECAN FROSTING  3 egg yolks  1 1/4 cups sugar  1/2 cup butter (1 stick)  1 teaspoon vanilla  1 (12-ounce) can evaporated milk  2 1/2 to 3 cups sweetened flaked coconut  1 1/2 cups chopped pecans

In a medium saucepan, stir together the egg yolks, sugar, butter, vanilla, and evaporated milk until well blended. Cook this mixture over medium heat for about 15 minutes, stirring constantly, until thick and bubbly. Remove from heat and stir in the flaked coconut and chopped pecans, blending well. Let mixture cool for about 30 minutes, then give it a final stirring and spread evenly over the completely cooled brownies.

Slicing these brownies will be easier and less gooey if you put them in the refrigerator (while still in the pan) for 10-15 minutes, or longer if you want. If you used parchment paper, you can just lift the brownies right out of the pan and slice them on a flat surface‌it’s so easy to slice brownies and cookie bars using parchment paper that way!

By the way, I learned something interesting about German Chocolate…I thought it was a type of chocolate originating from Germany, but according to Joy of Baking, it actually is a baking chocolate that was created in 1852 by Samuel German, an employee of Walter Baker & Company. He added sugar to this baking bar so it would be more convenient for bakers to use (as opposed to unsweetened chocolate baking bars). So, the correct name of this chocolate isGerman’s® Sweet Chocolate, and it is still sold by Baker’s®.

If you don’t happen to have German’s® Chocolate on hand for a recipe and you’re in a pinch, you can substitute 1 ounce (30 grams) of bittersweet or semisweet chocolate plus 1/2 tablespoon (7 grams) granulated white sugar for 1 ounce of German’s® Chocolate.