I have named this the “COLLEGE BAR”. Ten incredible Hope College students came over to our house for dinner tonight. They are all YoungLife leaders and are amazing. They led a YL meeting tonight with 30 High School students. The leaders did skits, they sang songs, they gave a message…but even more than all of that, they loved up the HS students. It was awe-inspiring!
I served them Chicken Fajitas and will give that recipe later this week. But the dessert…it had to be something amazing! OVER THE TOP! And this is what I came up with. I need help naming it. For now I have named it; THE COLLEGE BAR. It has a brownie crust, a pumpkin cheesecake filling, a chocolate ganache topping and on top of that, pecan praline sauce. While describing it, I started with a brownie crust and one of the girls gasped. You can imagine my delight…it is almost like “you had me at hello”. I got her with the brownie crust. 
THE BROWNIE CRUST: If you use a box mix for the brownies there is a way to make them over the top awesome. Instead of adding water add coffee and a little coconut rum or kahlua. And use butter instead of oil. These alterations will add a great deal of flavor to your brownies and make them taste like homemade. For this recipe, cook the brownie for 10 minutes and let cool before topping with cheesecake mixture.
THE PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE FILLING: I use my normal cheesecake recipe. Then add 1 can of pumpkin to half the batter. Pour the cheesecake without pumpkin on the brownie crust then pour the pumpkin cheesecake on top. Bake in 350 degree oven for 30 minutes until there still is a little jiggle in the middle. Turn off oven and let sit in there for another 30 minutes.
THE CHOCOLATE GANACHE: Easy! Cream and Chocolate…that’s it. Warm cream over med. fire in sauce pan til it is scalding (almost boiling). Place chocolate in metal bowl. Pour scalded cream over chocolate and let it melt chocolate for 1 minute. Then whisk until all the lumps of chocolate turn creamy. Pour on top after the cheesecake cools off.
THE PECAN PRALINE SAUCE: This is a holiday staple for me…the more the better! I make it in large batches and can it. Some I give as gifts and some I keep. If you don’t want to make this sauce, you can buy store bought caramel sauce. I will post the PECAN PRALINE SAUCE recipe on Friday.
Enjoy this dessert! And, if you know some college students, pack some up and surprise them with these decadent bars.
[cft format=0]