Homemade Girl Scout Samoa Cookies

The hubby sure knows how to pick em'. I told him I was thinking about baking something today, and asked him what he wanted me to make. I rolled my eyes as I got the standard response out of him, "I don't care." So I opened up my Pinterest board for baking and told him to pick one. It came down to homemade butterfingers or these Samoa cookies. I had all the materials to make the Samoas, so the Samoas it was. The easy part was over (choosing).

If you are into making cookies in 20 minutes, cooking for 10, and being done, this recipe is not for you. These are very intricate cookies. There are a lot of components, they are a lot of work, and they make a huge mess. All of this is completely forgotten as soon as you take the first bite. Sooooo worth it.

FYI, I popped mine in the freezer for 30 minutes after they were done to help the chocolate set. After that, they were perfect!

Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favor. Sorry, I just finished the Hunger Games trilogy :)

Ingredients (makes about 3 dozen):

1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp milk
3 cups shredded coconut, unsweetened
12 oz caramel candy
3 tbsp milk
1/4 tsp salt
8 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Lightly spray 2 cookie sheets with cooking spray. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add flour, salt, and baking power. Mix well. Add vanilla extract and milk, mixing until dough has come together, but is not too sticky. Add a little extra flour if you need it.
3. Spread a little flour on your baking space. Roll the dough out to 1/4". Use a 1 & 1/2 " cookie cutter to make rounds. Use a knife to make smaller circles in the middle of the circles (I used a large piping attachment). Repeat process until dough is used up. Place cookies about 1" apart on cookie sheets.
4. Bake 10-12 minutes, or until edges are golden brown. Cool on cookie sheet 5 minutes, transfer to a cooling rack. Cool completely before next step.
5. Turn oven down to 300º.
6. Spread coconut evenly on a cookie sheet. Bake in oven 5-10 minutes, or until toasted golden. Set aside.
7. Combine caramels, milk, and salt in a bowl placed over a pan of boiling water (a double broiler). Whisk until the mixture is smooth. Fold in the coconut.
8. Spread the coconut caramel mixture onto the cookies (2-3 tsp per cookie). Place cookies back on the cookie sheet for the caramel mixture to set. Reheat the caramel mixture for 10-15 seconds in the microwave if the caramel gets too hard to work with.
9. Heat chocolate chips in the double broiler situation, whisking until smooth. Dip the bottoms of the cookies in the melted chocolate, placing on parchment paper when dipped. Transfer the remaining melted chocolate to a piping bag when all the cookies have been dipped. Drizzle the cookies with the remaining melted chocolate. Let cookies set until chocolate has hardened.
10. Store in an airtight container.

Recipe provided by Once Upon A Plate.