Samoa Brownie Bars

Total Time: 1 hr 10 mins Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 40 mins

Ingredients

• 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened (1 1/2 sticks)
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 (19 ounce) box brownie mix
• water, oil, and eggs called for in the directions on the brownie box
• 1/4 cup chocolate fudge topping, straight from the jar, unheated
• 3 cups toasted coconut
• 1 (17 ounce) jar caramel topping
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Recipe

• 1 preheat oven to 300. cover baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil. spread coconut evenly over baking sheet. bake for about 20 minutes, stirring/flipping every 5 minutes to make sure coconut browns evenly. once done, put into a bowl so that coconut doesn't continue to brown. set aside to cool.
• 2 preheat oven to 350. combine butter, sugar, salt, and flour and cut with pastry knife, or mix with mixer until coarse pea-sized lumps form. press evenly over the bottom of a 9 x 13-inch baking pan. bake until lightly browned.
• 3 meanwhile, prepare brownie batter according to package directions, adding 1/4 cup hot fudge ice cream topping, unheated and straight from the jar. make sure to follow the high altitude directions if you live at high altitude. pour over shortbread crust and bake as directed, until a toothpick comes out nearly clean with only a few crumbs remaining.
• 4 when brownies are almost finished, scoop caramel topping into a heavy bottomed saucepan and heat over low until caramel is soft and easy to stir. add toasted coconut and stir gently until evenly mixed. if brownies are not quite finished, keep this warm, stirring occasionally. keeping the coconut caramel mixture warm will help it to spread evenly without tearing brownies apart.
• 5 pour coconut caramel mixture over brownies and gently spread evenly over the top.
• 6 place chocolate chips into a zip-loc baggie and put into microwave for 20 second intervals. squish the bag with your fingers to mix and smooth the chocolate between intervals. when melted smooth, snip a tiny piece off of the corner of the bag and drizzle over bars.
• 7 cool for 30 mins, then refrigerate for another hour to set. cut and serve.