Almond Joy Cookies and Brownies

I have this thing when I have unused food in my house I have to use it up while I still can.  I hate wasting food and money.  I made Cake By Courtney's Toasted Almond Joy Cake for my Dad's Birthday, another birthday cake and a little thank you cake.  I doubled the recipe so I had LOADS of the toasted coconut/almond filling, ganache and buttercream left.  I'll share how the cakes turned out at the bottom of this post but I just had to use up all that extra deliciousness.  I thought about how awesome the peanut butter brownie bites were and couldn't stop thinking about Almond Joy Cookies...and then Brownies!! 

Seriously I'm like if you give RuthAnne a cookie...Have you read If You Give a Mouse a Cookie?  It's adorable and describes me pretty accurately.  

I made a simple, but delicious soft chocolate cookie base and topped it with the fluffy coconut buttercream, filled it with the perfectly sweet toasted coconut/almond filling, a drizzle of chocolate ganache and a little sprinkle of toasted coconut.  Are you drooling yet?

Here's a little video from my YouTube channel decorating these dream boats.

I tasted one of these and had to start plating them up for my neighbors and friends.  Much too good to be laying around my house! haha You probably won't believe it but after all those cookies I still had more of ALL those things! So I decided how awesome would all of that be with brownies! I secretly think I like the brownie version more and that's saying A LOT!  I used my sweet friend Jodi's brownie recipe for the base.  How cool is that post!  One of my desserts inspired HER!  Then I topped all the delicious toppings on to the cooled brownies.  

Everything about these desserts are just too good! I'll include the recipe below for the cookies and my rendition on the coconut butter cream, it's so, so good!

Almond Joy Cookies 

-1 box Devil’s Food Cake Mix

-1/3 C. vegetable oil

-1 T. brown sugar

-1 T. dark chocolate cocoa powder

-1 tsp. almond extract

-2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cookie sheet pans with parchment paper.  Sift cake mix. Add remaining ingredients and stir.  Batter will be thick.  Scoop dough into small round balls using a cookie scoop and bake for 8 minutes.  Do not overbake.

Coconut Buttercream
--Adapted from Cake By Courtney

-2 C. unsalted butter, room temperature
-1/4 C. plus 1 tsp. cream of coconut
-6 C. powdered sugar, sifted
-1 T. plus 2 tsp. coconut emulsion
-pinch of salt
-1 T. plus 1 tsp. heavy whipping cream.

Beat butter and cream of coconut until light and fluffy.  Gradually add powdered sugar, coconut emulsion and salt.  Once combined add heavy whipping cream and beat for at least 2 minutes.  Add more of coconut flavoring if you'd like more. Push out bubbles and beat with a large spoon.

Toasted Coconut/Almond Filling from Cake By Courtney 

Chocolate Ganache
-1 C. dark chocolate chips
-1/2 C. heavy whipping cream

Heat whipping cream for 1 minute in microwave.  Pour in chocolate chips and let sit for a few minutes.  Stir until chocolate is completely melted.  Pour in squeeze bottle or plastic bag with a tiny corner cut out for a fancy drizzle.

Toasted Coconut