Coconut Spice Cheesecake Bars

Happy Thanksgiving!

Dave and I are so happy that his parents are visiting for the holiday! We wanted to try out a new dessert, so I made these tasty bars.  I've tweaked some of the amounts from the original recipe, which I updated below.

Ingredients
1 box spice cake mix (we used Duncan Hines)
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract + 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon water, optional if necessary
3/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut flakes
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1 can (14-ounces) sweetened condensed milk
3/4 cup cream cheese, softened (I used whipped cream cheese. Add more if it tastes too sweet)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F and prepare a 9-by-13 inch pan by lining it with aluminum foil and then placing a piece of parchment cut to the size of the bottom of the pan. Spray with cooking spray.  
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the cake mix, butter, egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla and mix. The batter will be extremely thick and will be difficult to combine, but keep stirring or use your fingers and knead it together, adding the water if necessary. 
3. Press the dough it into the prepared pan. It will be tacky, sticky, and a bit tricky to work with, but keep pressing, spreading, and finessing it. 
4. Sprinkle the coconut evenly over the dough, then sprinkle the chocolate chips and white chocolate chips evenly over the dough.
5. In a mixing bowl (the same one from the cake mix is fine), combine the sweetened condensed milk, cream cheese, 1 teaspoon vanilla and stir until well combined, and pour mixture evenly over dough, using a spatula to even it if necessary. 
6. Bake for 28 to 31 minutes, or until edges of bars begin to brown and pull away slightly from the sides of the pan, taking care not to overbake. Note that the middle will not seem very well set and will be jiggly upon removing from oven and that is okay, you want to keep these gooey. They will continue to set up more after they have cooled. 
7. Allow bars to cool well before slicing and serving. Store in the refrigerator for up to a week or freeze for up to three months.

Here's what they looked like before I poured on the cheesecake mixture, and another shot of them on our new buffet table :)

Recipe adapted from Averie Cooks