Homemade Samoas

Just because they were that good, I thought I'd share the recipe for those homemade samoas I wrote about last week. My parents really enjoyed these this past weekend during their visit. Plus these are by far my favorite Girl Scout cookie so what could possibly be better than the homemade version?


Ingredients for Shortbread
 
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

Ingredients for Toppings
3 cups shredded coconut
3/4lb caramels
3 tablespoons milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips



The first step is to make the cookie base. It is a shortbread type base that is super quick and simple. Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the egg and vanilla and beat. Finally mix the flour and salt in with the rest of your ingredients. Flatten out the dough in a greased 9x13 baking pan and bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes until it is lightly browned.

While the shortbread cools, toast 3 cups of coconut on a parchment lined baking sheet for about 20 minutes at 300 degrees. Be sure to take the baking sheet out of the oven every 5 minutes and give the coconut a good stir so that it doesn't get too dark on one side.

Next, unwrap and melt 3/4lb of caramels along with 3 tablespoons of milk and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Melt the caramels in the microwave on high, stirring occasionally. It takes about three minutes for all of the caramel to melt.

Finally, stir in the toasted coconut and spread the caramel mixture on top of your shortbread. Cut out squares of your cookie to prepare for the chocolate. Melt one cup of chocolate chips in the microwave. I usually melt the chocolate chips for several 30 second intervals, stirring in between. Dip the bottoms of your cookies in the melted chocolate, reserving some chocolate to drizzle on top as well.

If you decided to make these, let me know how they turned out! Enjoy!