Coconut Topped Buttermilk Brownies with Chocolate Buttermilk Frosting

Stop right there!! Don't scroll down to the recipe yet... pause and have a look and these beautifully lit photos my darling hubby captured for me. He got up early to get great lighting for me while I was heading off to work. What a sweetie?! He totally deserves mad props in my opinion!!

These little beauties are coconut topped buttermilk brownies finished with a chocolate buttermilk frosting. Yah, I may have had some buttermilk leftover from another recipe I was trying to use up, but it turned out to be a great success. These were eagerly devoured by my co-workers and my hubby's co-workers (did I mention the recipe made wayyyy more than I thought?!). These even started a little rivalry between husbands at my hubby's workplace.. turns out another wife had sent in baking that day too... cookies. It ended with one of his co-workers (who shall remain nameless), telling my hubby that my cupcakes were way better than so-and-so's wife's cookies... whoops!! Maybe we should plan which days we are allowed to send in baking so we don't step on any toes?!

Don't even think about how much work these may be... just go out, get the ingredients and get to it!! They are soooo worth the effort. :)

Coconut Topped Buttermilk Brownies with Chocolate Buttermilk Frosting
Brownie recipe adapted from Bake Space
Coconut topping from In Katrina's Kitchen
Frosting Recipe by me

Ingredients:
Brownies:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup butter
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 cup water
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 tbsp vanilla

Coconut Topping:

• 4 1/2 cups shredded coconut
• 1 small can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 1/4 cups icing sugar

Frosting:

• Find the frosting recipe here. Substitute 1/3 cup of the icing sugar for 1/3 cup of cocoa powder for a chocolate version of the same frosting.

Method:

1. To make the brownies: Preheat the oven to 350F. Line 3 - 12 cup muffin tins with paper liners. Set aside. In a large bowl, combine the flour, granulated sugar and baking soda.
2. In a medium saucepan, combine brown sugar, butter, cocoa powder and water. Bring mixture just to boiling, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add the chocolate mixture to the flour mixture and mix until all of the flour is incorporated. Add the eggs, buttermilk and vanilla. Whisk until mixture is smooth and silky (it will be quite thin). Fill prepared muffin tins 1/3 - 1/2 way full. Bake in preheated oven for 10-14 minutes (or until tops spring back lightly when touched). Do not overbake or they will be dry. Err on the side of slightly underbaked as they will continue to cook after they are removed from the oven.
3. Cool on a wire rack.
4. While brownies are cooling, prepare coconut topping by combining all three ingredients and stirring until evenly distributed. Mixture should be quite stiff. Once cupcakes are cooled, form 1-2 tbsp portions of the coconut mixture into disks and fit them on top of the cupcakes, pressing down gently to adhere them to the cakes. Repeat until all cupcakes have been fitted with a coconut disk.
5. Prepare the frosting and frost cupcakes however you like. 

This post has been linked up with the Recipe Party over at the Sweet Spot. Head on over to check out what other goodies fellow bloggers have whipped up this week.

Yep, these are pretty incredible!! :) :) Hope you'll take the time to try them out. Happy Baking my Friends!