Hello Chancers!! My favorite type of Girl Scout cookies are Samoas. There is something about the mix of coconut, chocolate, and cookie that makes my mouth water. I buy cookies from the girls every year to support them. I was a Girl Scout once and I know what it is to try to sell as many as you can to win a prize. As much as I love supporting them, there are some issues with the cookies. The biggest issue is, they are sold 2 months out of the year!! There is nothing I would like more then to put some Thin Mints in a summer Mudslide, or having some Samoas with my Pina Coladas. The second issue is the price. Each year the cookies go up in price and down in amount you receive. As I said I love to support the girls, but I wanted to to try to make my own, you know for those times out of the year we can't buy them. Today I decided I would play around in the kitchen and see what I could do! Here is where I got the recipe: http://www.justataste.com/2013/02/homemade-samoas-girl-scout-cookies-recipe/
This recipe will yield approx. 4 dozen cookies and take approx. 2 hours.
Ingredients
For the cookies:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking power
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Topping:
3 cups shredded sweetened coconut
15 ounces caramel (Home-made Soft)
3 tbsp milk
1/4 tsp salt
8 ounces dark chocolate Cookies: Part I 1. Preheat the oven to 350. 2. In the bowl of a stand mixer cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. (Use the paddle attachment for best results.) 3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the four, baking soda, and salt.
4. Slowly add the flour mixture to the creamed butter, stopping to scrape the sides. 5. Add the milk and vanilla extract, mixing until the dough begins to come together in large pieces. 6. Use your hands to divide the dough in half, pressing it together to compact it into two disks. 7.Wrap the disks in plastic wrap and refrigerate them until firm, about an hour.
Part II 8. When the dough has chilled, roll each disk out on a floured surface until it is 1/8 inch thick. 9. Cut out as many cookies as possible with a doughnut-shaped cookie cutter ( I used bottle caps). 10. Place the cookies on parchment paper (I used wax paper) lined cookie sheets. 11. Bake the cookies for 10 - 12 mins, rotating the cookie sheet half-way through, until the cookies are pale golden brown. 12. Transfer the cookies to a wire cooling rack and cool completely.
Toppings: Coconut 1. Spread the coconut flakes on to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper ( once again I used wax paper). 2.Bake the coconut for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees until toasted. Stir frequently to ensure even browning and so it doesn't burn. 3. Remove the toasted coconut from the oven and set aside.
Caramel
1. Melt the Caramel ,(I used caramel used for candy apples. It was already soft and didn't need much warming), milk and salt in a double- boiler. (2 pots) ( I used a bowl and a pot instead of 2 pots) Place the pot or bowl over another pot filled with water and bring the water to a simmer.
2. Cook stirring until the caramel is melted. 3. Remove the pot (or bowl) from heat and combine 3/4 of the caramel with the toasted coconut in a large bowl.
4. Carefully spread the remaining caramel atop the cooled cookies. ( I dipped the cookies in caramel) 5. Press a portion of the coconut mixture onto the top of the cookies. 6. Let the cookies stand for 30 mins.
Chocolate: 1. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or in a microwave. ( I used a microwave) 2. Dip the bottom of the cookies in the chocolate. 3. Place the cookies on a wax paper lined cookie sheet.
4. Use a fork to drizzle chocolate on top of the cookie. 5. Let the cookies stand until the chocolate has hardened. This is an important side note I found from experience. After you dip and drizzle the cookies in chocolate immediately take the cookie sheet and put it in the refrigerator. The recipe above says to let it stand until the chocolate hardens, however after many hours of cooling, I tried to remove the cookies from the paper and the chocolate came off of the bottom of the cookie and stuck to the sheet. I was worried I had ruined them until I was told I could put the cookies back on the chocolate (stuck to the paper) into the oven and let the chocolate melt slightly, and then promptly remove them and put them in the refrigerator. After the cookies were chilled they came right off the paper chocolate and all!!. So long story short go ahead and put the cookies in the refrigerator after you put the chocolate on them. That will save you the worries of ruined cookies!!
Even though this project gave me a few small upsets, I would recommend this for the days when you really want Samoa Cookies!
