Pecan Coconut Cheesecake with Chocolate Crust

  • Gooey Pecan Coconut Cheesecake

    This dessert really is a culmination of All Things Amazing.

    I know I say that about almost all of the desserts I post, because I am pretty much smitten with All Things Desserts, but really.  In italics.

    Take a look at the picture above.  (Don’t pay attention to the sort of sub-standard photo quality, though- focus on the layers of the dessert itself.)  Do you see the chocolate graham crust?  Um hmm.  How about the layer of cheesecake?  And the topping- yes that’s the same gooey topping from the Sweet German Chocolate Cake, which means that you can stop debating whether or not to make this and just start preheating the oven.  (In my experience, you can smear this pecan-coconut goo on anything and you’ll be a baking hero.  Holy cow- what if you spread it on toast?)

    Added benefit of baking these in the mini format?  Other than the fact that they look almost to cute to eat?  You can eat six and rationalize that it’s probably a smaller serving than the hunk of cheesecake you’d be served at The Cheesecake Factory.

    GRAHAM CRUST:

    1 cup chocolate graham cracker crumbs

    2 Tbsp. sugar

    3 Tbsp.  butter, melted

    CHEESECAKE FILLING:

    3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese

    1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

    3 eggs

    2 teaspoons vanilla extract

    PECAN COCONUT GOOEY TOPPING:

    1 can evaporated milk (12 oz.)

    4 egg yolks

    1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

    1 1/2 cups sugar

    3/4 cup butter

    1 package Angel Flake shredded coconut (14 oz. bag, or 5 1/3 cups)*

    1 1/2 cups chopped pecans, toasted

    1. Preheat oven to 300º.
    2. CRUSTS:  In a medium bowl, mix chocolate graham cracker crumbs, sugar and butter together.  Press onto bottom and up the sides of 24 mini muffin/cupcake liners (or a 9″ springform pan).  Set aside.
    3. CHEESECAKE FILLING:  In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth (2 minutes).  Gradually add sweetened condensed milk and beat well (2 minutes, scraping sides of bowl).  Add vanilla and eggs, and beat on medium speed until smooth.  Pour into prepared mini crust cups.
    4. Bake for 25 – 30 minutes, or until mini cheesecakes appears set in center.  Remove from oven to cool completely.
    5. PECAN COCONUT GOOEY TOPPING:  In a heavy saucepan, whisk milk, yolks and vanilla together until well blended.  Add sugar and butter, and cook over medium for about 12 minutes while stirring constantly until thickened and golden brown. Remove from heat, stir coconut and toasted pecans in, and let sit to cool slightly.  Scoop onto tops of cooled mini cheesecakes.  Keep refrigerated until time to serve.

    Tips:

    • No chocolate graham crumbs?  Just throw a sleeve or so of the actual crackers into a food processor until nice and crumby.  Done.
    • For the gooey topping… add more or less coconut to get the gooey topping you’d like.  You’ll probably have extra topping which you can freeze or just eat by yourself right now.
    • For the pecans… don’t even think of to toasting them first.  Really.  Don’t talk to me if you don’t toast them.  (8 minutes or so in the hot oven.  Bake until barely toasted but totally smelling like pecans all over the place.)
    • Don’t freeze these.  It’s a cheesecake thing.  They don’t really like the freezer.
    • Enjoy!

     

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    September 10th, 2014 | More Sweets Please | No Comments | Tags: , , ,

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