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My husband lived in American Samoa for three years as a child (ages 8–11) while his parents taught at the LDS church school there. Eight years later his dream came true and he was honored to serve as an LDS missionary in both Western and American Samoa for two years.

Sam loves the Samoan people and everything Polynesian. One of those things he came to love is anything with coconut. For his birthday this year, I looked for a coconut recipe that was a little different for his birthday cake. We ate this at our family party last night and it was a delicious hit. Thanks Paula Deen!
Ingredients
- 1 box chocolate cake mix (any flavor, the darker the better, but not with pudding in the mix)
- 1/2 C unsalted butter, melted
- 1 large egg
- 1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 t vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 C chopped pecans
- 1 C shredded coconut
- 1/4 C unsweetened coconut flakes
- 1/2 C dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°.
- Grease a 9x13 inch pan with nonstick spray.
- In a medium bowl, mix together the cake mix, butter, and egg. Press into the bottom of the prepared pan. The crust should not come up the sides.
- Bake for 7 minutes and remove from the oven. The crust will not look done.
- While the crust is baking, mix together sweetened condensed milk, vanilla, egg, pecans, and shredded coconut.
- Pour over the warm crust and spread to edges.
- Sprinkle evenly with coconut flakes and chocolate chips.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the top is a light golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and cool completely before cutting into squares.
Notes
Recipe slightly modified from German Chocolate Bars

Alison Moore Smith is a 61-year-old entrepreneur who graduated from BYU in 1987. She has been (very happily) married to Samuel M. Smith for 40 years. They are parents of six incredible children and grandparents to two astounding grandsons. She is the author of The 7 Success Habits of Homeschoolers.
Ooh, these look so yummy! We’re definitely fans of German chocolate at our house. Thanks for the great recipe to try.
My grandmother was from Germany and made the best German Chocolate cake on the planet. This recipe reminded me of that. I need to make them…and eat them… in her honor of course:)
OMG, these bars look so temptingly delicious! I love them! Must surely try out the recipe! Will share my impression of my creation later!
Wow! This recipe looks tempting and delicious. I would love to try this at home for my kids. I’ve been trying recipes with extra dark chocolate bars which I always brought from Giddy Yoyo in Canada. I have never tried any German chocolate recipes before, but this would be the perfect recipe to get started. Thanks for sharing this recipe with us.