There used to be a young friend of ours that would hunt us down every spring to buy Girl Scout cookies. LOVE them! My husband would always buy a case to hoard and somehow it was always an empty box before long. And a LOOOOOOOONG wait until our next “fix.”
Here is my “I Need Samoas Relief” Cookie. It is just more work when it isn’t delivered to your door in a box!
- Cookie Dough:
- Cream together and beat until fluffy:
- 2c. butter
- 1c. sugar
- Add:
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1teaspoon vanilla
- 4 cups flour
- 3 tablespoons milk
- Chocolate Base:
- ½ bag of chocolate chips, melted
- Caramel-Coconut Topping:
- 2 11-oz bags of unwrapped carmel squares
- 2 tablespoons of milk
- 2 cups sweetened shredded coconut
- ½ bag of milk chocolate chips, melted
- Mix cookie ingredients together.
- Spread wax paper out on the counter top to roll out your dough.
- Dump out the entire bowl of your dough on to the wax paper and roll it out about ¼ inch thick. Use a pizza cutter or pasta noodle cutter to quickly cut lines into the entire batch. Each cookie should be about 1½ inches square.
- Slide a spatula under each cookie to transfer to a cookie sheet.
- Bake at 350 for about 7-8 min or until lightly browned.
- Heat the milk and carmels together in a microwave safe bowl until Carmel is soft enough to stir in the milk.
- Once your Carmel is smooth add 2 cups sweetened shredded coconut.
- Spoon warm carmel/coconut mixture on the top of each chocolate coated cookie. Let cool.
- Melt ½ bag of milk chocolate chips in an extra heavy zipper lock bag. Heat your chocolate ONLY until warm enough to smooth out the lumps as over heating can cause it to go white once it cools again. Snip a small corner of the bag off with scissors and drizzle in zigzag motion over the top of the cookies.
The cookie is a soft shortbread cookie. Spread wax paper out on the counter top to roll out your dough. If the counter is still slightly damp from being washed down, the paper will stick down and not roll up. A trick I have learned is to make my cookies square instead of round. Dump out the entire bowl of your dough on to the wax paper and roll it out about 1/4 inch thick. Use a pizza cutter or pasta noodle cutter to quickly cut lines into the entire batch at one time. I make mine about 1 1/2 inch square. This makes them pretty uniform in size and easy to slide a spatula under to transfer to the cookie sheet.
A pizza cutter makes quick work of slicing dough into even shapes
For the chocolate on the bottom of the cookie I use melted chocolate chips. You can use whatever form of chocolate grabs you, but I simplify where I can without sacrificing the end delight. If you use the back of a spoon to generously spread the chocolate across the BOTTOM of the cookie it goes faster than using a knife. Place the cookie chocolate side down on top of wax paper.
Now my favorite part: the carmel!
There are two versions of carmel to use. One is shown here and made by unwrapping carmels from the store. I recommend buying an extra bag. They seem to disappear as you unwrap them and you will find having extra on hand easier than slapping the taste testers that wander by to “help”. By the time you unwrap all those candies, you almost save time by just making your own from scratch anyway.
I prefer the homemade version and I usually have the needed ingredients in my pantry. If you are using Jill’s Pretzel Carmel recipe you need to make a double batch of the cookie dough. Or just get a spoon and pig out on the extra. Or dip marshmallows. or… you know– Pretzels! https://tableforfifty.com/caramel-pretzels/
When I was pregnant I got a hankering for carmel that I just couldn’t satisfy. I really should have begged my mom to make me some of hers, but it just seemed so petty to ask a busy person to indulge a pregnancy craving. After my sweet husband made a couple dozen or so attempts at bringing me every variety of carmel covered and flavored treats he came upon for a few weeks in a row, I finally just stayed up late one night and cooked up my own pot of Carmel Heaven. And got a spoon. And ate. And shared. and shared, and shared. (It makes a giant pot!) Really, I should have done that before!
Chocolate Piping for Top of Cookies
Pro Tip: Melt 1/2 bag of milk chocolate chips in an extra heavy zipper lock bag. Heat your chocolate ONLY until warm enough to smooth out the lumps as over heating can cause it to go white once it cools again. Snip a small corner of the bag off with scissors and drizzle in zigzag motion over the top of the cookies. You may need to stick a spoon inside to stir. If so, fold down the sides of the ziplock bag first. This keeps drips and spills and mess on the “inside” of the bag when you close it back up.
Fold down the edges of the zipper bag before stirring–this helps keep the outside of the bag clean.
