I waited tables for years durning college at Chili's. You know “I want my baby back, baby back….” that Chili’s.
One of our most popular desserts at the time was something called the Paradise Pie. It was basically a chocolate coconut blondie in a cinnamon buttery skillet, topped with ice cream, caramel, and fudge sauce, sprinkled in chopped nuts.
How many of these did I eat over the years I worked there? I would honestly hate to know the real number. Lets just say A LOT, because they are addictive. My husband (who also spent some time waiting tables there) and I were talking about this glorious dessert the other day with our kids and decided it had to be veganized. They had to know the glory and wonder of this perfect dessert.
The 13 year old baking wonder had already perfected an amazing vegan blondie recipe, so I had her add coconut and chocolate chips and a graham cracker crust. The result was perfection and tasted just like I remembered it. Mind you it has been a gazillion years at least since I have had the real thing. We topped it with vanilla ice cream and our easy vegan caramel and fudge sauce recipes, and ate ourselves sick.
The kids were fans for sure, and my husband and I were more than excited!
If you have had a Paradise Pie, then you know! If not, then let me urge you to blow your diet on this! You might regret it a little, but will probably get over it pretty fast.
Also thanks Chili’s for helping me pay my rent through college and for all the friends I made working there, that I am still friends with to this day. Lets share a vegan Paradise Pie the next time we get together!
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup melted vegan butter
2 cups brown sugar
2 egg replacers (powdered or flax egg)
2 teaspoons vanila extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup mini vegan chocolate chips
1/3 cup shredded coconut
1 sleeve graham crackers
3 tablespoons melted butter
1 batch vegan fudge sauce
1 batch vegan caramel sauce
plant based vanilla ice cream
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
2 tablespoons butter mixed with 1 teaspoon cinnamon (for the skillet)
A bite of Vegan Coconut Chocolate Blondie Skillet Sundae on a spoon
INSTRUCTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Place graham crackers in a blender or food process and pulse until they are finely ground to a sandy consistency. Mix in the 3 tablespoons of melted butter. Press the mixture into a 8x8 baking pan and bake for 10 minutes.
While the crust is baking, mix the sugar with the melted butter, and vanilla. Mix in the flour and salt until well combined. Stir in the coconut and chocolate chips.
Pour batter over the graham cracker crust and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour on the middle oven rack. The blondies will seem a little gooey and soft even once they are done, but will firm up once cooled.
Allow blondies to cool before cutting.
Place the butter and cinnamon mixture in an iron skillet. You can use a small casserole dish as well if you do not have a skillet. Pop the skillet into the oven and let the butter melt. Place 4-5 blondies in the skillet and pop back in the oven for about 5 minutes.
Remove from oven and top with 3-4 scoops of ice cream, fudge sauce, caramel sauce, and chopped walnuts.
Serves about 4. You can always add more blondies and more toppings to the skillet to serve more.
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