Wednesday

Samoas ~ The Girl Scout Cookie Clone











For a PRINTABLE copy of the recipe, you'll find it on my recipe blog.  Click below:


Once Upon a Plate Recipes


If you like the Girl Scout Cookies Samoas (also known as Caramel De-lites), I'm quite certain you will like these!
I found the recipe on the excellent website "Baking Bites", and posted by a wonderful baker named Nicole.

Thank you Nicole, for cracking the code for these delicious cookies. And please don't overlook all of Nicole's OTHER recipes on her incredible website ~ her talent is amazing:


















Please NOTE:  


I don't want you to be disappointed.


---> If you are of the 'slice and bake' cookie mind, making these cookies might not be for you. <--- 


These cookies DO take TIME EFFORT and a bit of SKILL.  Some may call them tedious to make ... I call them WORTH it. 


But that's just me.   :)


You decide.


Cookies ~ Homemade Samoas
(also known as Caramel de-Lites)
Makes about 3 1/2 to 4 dozen

1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
up to 2 tablespoons milk

Preheat oven to 350F.

Cream together butter and sugar in a large bowl. Mix in flour, baking powder and salt at a low speed, next, the vanilla and milk, adding in the milk only as needed to make the dough come together without being sticky (you may not need any at all). The dough should come together into a soft, pliable ball. Add in a bit of extra flour if your dough seems sticky.

It's easiest to roll the dough out in 2 or 3 batches (between pieces of wax (or parchment) paper to about 1/4-inch thickness (or a little thinner) using a 1 1/2-inch cookie cutter to make rounds. Place on a parchment lined (or on silicone mat) baking sheet and make a hole in the center. I used the small end of a large round piping tip. Nicole comments that you can use a knife, or the end of a wide straw, to cut a smaller center hole. Repeat until the dough is used up (it's okay to re-roll, this dough is shortbread-like and very forgiving.)

Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes, until bottoms are very lightly golden brown around the edges.

Cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet, to allow them to firm up slightly, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
















Topping:

3 cups shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)
12-ounces good-quality chewy caramels


1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons milk
8 ounces dark or semisweet chocolate (chocolate chips will do)


If you prefer milk chocolate, by all means use that.









My notes: The caramel-coconut mixture is quite sweet, so I used Bittersweet chocolate to balance the sweetness bit.


Preheat oven to 300 degrees (F)




Spread coconut evenly on a rimmed baking sheet and toast 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes, until coconut is golden. Watch carefully, especially near the end of toasting time; the coconut toasts very quickly once it begins to become golden.


Cool on baking sheet, stirring occasionally. Set aside.



Unwrap the caramels and place in a large microwave-safe bowl with milk and salt. Cook on high for 3-4 minutes, stopping to stir a few times to help the caramel melt. When smooth, fold in toasted coconut with a spatula.


Using the spatula or a small offset spatula, spread topping on cooled cookies, using about 2-3 teaspoons per cookie. Reheat caramel for a few seconds in the microwave if it begins to firm up, to make it soft and spreadable once again.





While topping sets up, melt chocolate in a small bowl. Heat on high in the microwave in 45 second intervals, stirring thoroughly to prevent scorching. (I melted mine stovetop using double boiler method.) Dip the base of each cookie into the chocolate and place on a clean piece of parchment paper (I used silicone baking mats instead). Transfer all remaining chocolate into a piping bag or a ziplock bag with the corner snipped off and drizzle finished cookies with chocolate. (Melt a bit of additional chocolate, if there is not quite enough for all the cookies.)





Let chocolate set completely before storing in an airtight container.








Recipe credit: Nicole @ Baking Bites ,

See Nicole's Original Recipe here:
http://bakingbites.com/2008/01/homemade-girl-scout-cookies-samoas/








Fair warning; they are quite rich and decadent, almost candy like but they are sublime.

















68 comments:

  1. oh you made it already! must be you 43 degree temps, its over 90 here, no baking for me until it rains! they look super, and a cookie could never be too sweet for me~

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  2. Mary..I printed this recipe the first time I saw it and lost it! Thanks!!

    They look great..BTW..where IS Baking Bites? Since I returned..it is unavailable..I LOVED that site..do you have a new link?

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  3. Hi J! It finally warmed up to the 60's today; it's your kind of weather.

    Monique, I'm not surprised you found this recipe first~ you always find the BEST ones!

    Oversight on my part:

    bakingbites.com

    Such wonderful resource!

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  4. Those look EXACT! Fantastic! I love Samoa's in the freezer :) Mary, you could go door to door with those cookies and make a fortune, LOL! Love girl scout cookies!

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  5. LOL, Carol!
    Mary, they look FABULOUS!!

    Kathleen

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  6. I can't believe I've never tried these cookies! Look great though :)

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  7. I LOVE these cookies! Thanks for locating and posting the recipe. I'm looking forward to trying them.

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  8. Wow! I'll have to try these. I like the girl scout ones over a scoop of icecream. That said, I also have to hide the boxes in the freezer to keep the family from eating them all at once. No doubt I'll have to do this with these--perhaps even more so!

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  9. I have been wanting to try these since I saw them on Baking Bites. Yours look fabulous!

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  10. These are my very favorite Girl Scout cookies I am so glad that now I do not have to wait for the yearly drive to enjoy them...

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  11. NICE..these could be very dangerous in my house!

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  12. THAT LOOKS SO GOOD.
    they are the best homemade caramel delites i've seennn yay

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  13. Holy crap. Those look incredible. I bet they're even better than the girl scout cookies.

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  14. Samoas are my weakness!! Thank you for posting the recipe! Yours look fantastic.

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  15. Those are my absolute favorite cookies! I will have to try the homemade version-although my husband and I have eaten a whole box of the Girl Scout ones in a sitting before so these might be dangerous!

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  16. These look fantastic! That was my favorite GS cookie, and freshly baked versions must be so much better!

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  17. They look amazing! I don't know how many I could eat in one sitting!

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  18. oh you are my hero! these are my favorite girl scout cookies and since i didn't get a chance to order any this year, i'm definitely going to have to try these out!

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  19. Oh my, these are my favorite. You are my new best friend :)

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  20. Oh, wow! Amazing! I have to say that these are one of my favorite cookies (that I don't get to have nearly as often as I'd like) I've gotta try this recipe!

    Thanks!!

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  21. Wow, these bring back a lot of memories. I love girl scout cookies but unfortunately they contain so much corn syrup. So I am glad you posted a recipe for these delectable cookies. Now I can make them for myself.

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  22. WOW they're just so tempting, I must try these ;-)

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  23. these are my favorite girl scout cookies - so i MUST make these!

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  24. I love these too! I've seen these at her blog long ago and had forgotten about them. These are just beautiful! Maybe I can add them to my Holiday baking list!

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  25. Oh no way! How cool, my husband loves these and I will have to try them, thank you!!

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  26. holy crap. those are pretty damn amazing looking. way to go.

    i was a girl scout for two years, i lived in seattle, and we had to sell our cookies in the parking lot at the ferry boats, in the morning to grumpy comuters. samoas were always so very popular. hey do tagalongs next!

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  27. My favorite girlscout cook EVER! Thank you!!

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  28. Oh my gosh! These look absolutely amazing!

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  29. They look identical to the Girl Scout cookies! Those were my daughters' favorites when they were selling them ;) Your photos make we want to bake some up right now!

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  30. These look fantastic! I just finished making a batch and I'm salivating while I wait for the chocolate to harden. Thanks for posting the recipe!

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  31. Made a batch of these yesterday for my sister's thanksgiving dinner. I just ate one now (trying to keep off solids as I had my wisdom teeth pulled on Thurs.) and they are amazing. Thanks for sharing this recipe.

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  32. No way. NO WAY!

    Ok, totally jumping up and down here, complete with hand clapping! I can't wait to try these!

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  33. YUMMY! Wow am I ever glad I stumbled upon this post..THANK YOU!!

    Stacy
    http://littlebirdiesecrets.blogspot.com

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  34. Shut up!
    Every year when we get our girl scout cookies, I promise my hubster that I will try to make homemade Samoas. Now I have no excuse not to give it a try.

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  35. I saw this on craftzine.com and had to check it out to see if it was really true...

    Thank you so much for sharing the recipe! I've missed Girl Scout cookie season two years in a row now, and have been nursing a serious jones for some Samoas. I'll definitely have to try 'em out!

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  36. oh my gosh, I think I am in love.. my diet is not... but I am!! I am so glad Craft brought me to you!! :D

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  37. So I just tried making these. Got to the part of spreading the caramel/cocoanut mixture on the cookies and it just failed. I got frustrated and stopped after 4 cookies. I think I might cry. wah.

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  38. mmm looks great I might try it sometime!

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  39. THANK YOU!

    I adore Samoas...and I cannot WAIT to make this recipe. In fact, I think I will do so tonight.

    You have totally made my day.

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  40. Samoas are my favorite - I will have to try these out!

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  41. Hi: I just spent ALL morning making these (very time consuming) and they have NOT come out in a handful of ways...tell me where I went wrong. My cookie is crispy and breaks too easily, the chocolate on the bottom NEVER hardened and is goo-ed to the sheet, but worst of all the caramel-coconut mixture will not STICK to the cookie itself. It just falls off. Thanks for any advice.

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  42. Wow piglet, it sounds like you've had quite a time with these cookies.

    Cookies breaking: As far as the cookie base, either it may have been rolled too thinly? Or baked too long?

    Chocolate: What kind of chocolate did you use? I used regular Ghirardelli Chocolate Chips in the bag, the chocolate hardens as it cools completely.

    Sticking: I used the silicone baking mats, no sticking. The ambient humidity and temperature in the room may have had an affect.

    Caramel-Coconut problem: Was the coconut measured accurately? Too much coconut to caramel, and the caramel won't be able to adhere to the cookie.

    OR...

    The caramels themselves;
    I used regular grocery store "Brach's" individually wrapped (sold in the bag) candies. Others have used Werther's successfully. It sounds as if your caramel mixture may not have been warm and spreadable?

    As stated in the recipe:

    "Reheat caramel for a few seconds in the microwave if it begins to firm up, to make it soft and spreadable once again."

    That's exactly what I did and didn't have a problem. I'm not sure what to tell you there.

    There is no doubt this recipe does involve a number of steps, they take time to put together properly, so it's not the quickest cookie recipe out there.

    But they certainly are delicious, and worth the time, imo.

    I want to thank Nicole at http://bakingbites.com once again for developing and bringing us the recipe. Perhaps she might have additional tips for you.

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  43. OMG, these look so great!! How am I supposed to stay on my diet with this kind of temptation around!!

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  44. I am going to make these this week :) Question, does it matter if the butter is salted or unsalted? Did you use sweetened or unsweetened coconiut?

    Thanks!

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  45. Hi Deborah, Etna and Amanda, thank you for your comments!

    Amanda, I used salted butter and sweetened coconut, but you could use unsalted butter and Nicole (the developer of this recipe, indicated unsweetened coconut can be used). Sweetened is more readily available where I live, so that's what I used.

    Hope you love them!

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  46. I made these yesterday for myself and my roomates and they are AMAZING, nowhere near as pretty as yours but still taste delicious, thanks for the post!

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  47. Hanna, I'm so happy you liked them!

    Thank you for letting us know. :)

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  48. I disagree Linda. I STILL buy Girl Scout cookies every year. However, you can only buy them once a year when they go on sale. So what's a person to do the rest of the year... make their own :) Don't be so negative.

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  49. Anytime :) i wish GS would sell their cookies all year, it's probably better that they don't or my hips wouldn't fit through the door BAHAHAH

    My faves are those chocolate covered peanut butter patties MMMMMMM

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  50. I see you removed that offending comment LOL Just wanted to let you know I DID make these and finally posted about them. Thank you! http://amandascookin.blogspot.com/2008/11/girl-scout-cookie-recipe-somoas.html I linked back to you in my post. Happy Thanksgiving!

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  51. YUM! I bet these would taste even better with homemade caramel!

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  52. I finally made these! all i can say is thank you for posting these. They were a big hit over christmas. Holy cow are they rich, its a good thing though since it limits me to eating only one or two at a time :-)

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  53. I love the concept! They look amazing!

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  54. OH. MY. I LOVE samoas! Thanks for sharing!

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  55. Wow, these look out of sight! Thanks for sharing.

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  56. I just found you at Foodgawker. These make me drool. I'm a new follower.

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  57. I'm making these now. They take a super duper long time! i hope they turn out well. I love samoas and found this on stumble/foodgawker. :D thanks for the recipe!

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  58. i just made these. definitely a labor of love! i spent three hours in the kitchen making these. i also posted a step by step tutorial on my blog (kind of) thanks for posting!

    http://isabelleestrella.blogspot.com/2011/09/labor-of-love.html

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  59. Oh, these are definitely worth the extra effort! My favorite girl scout cookie but BETTER!!

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  60. my mouth is watering so bad, i couldn't finish reading the instructions!!!

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  61. What a delightful blog! I saw the cookies on pinterest and was thrilled to see it came from a blog. Happy to follow from http://sandcastlesandsnowforts.blogspot.com/. You won't believe how many times this recipe has been shared. Thanks!

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  62. I absolutely love your blog! It is so attractive and, well, yummy looking! I'm going to try these cookies with my girls; we love to bake together and these will be the perfect gift for their dad's birthday. Thank you!

    Chandra
    www.judyjane.com

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  63. OMG! These look DELICIOUS!!! This is my favorite Girl Scout Cookie!!! YUM! Thank you for sharing the recipe with us!

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Thank you for your comments, friends ~ they make my day!

A Sampling of my food . . .

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