Back in July, I wrote an article titled "10 Things Only Ex-Girl Scouts Will Understand" that got over 25,000 shares. Why did a silly list article get so many shares? Because everyone loves the Girl Scouts.
So, recently when I was scrolling through Facebook, and saw one of those Buzzfeed Tasty videos that gave a recipe for homemade Samoa cookies, I immediately wanted to give the recipe a try!
I followed along exactly as the video told me to make the cookies, however I hit a few snags along the way. I took pictures of the whole process, so I could share the process with you!
Step 1: Gather ingredients.
- Flour
- Sugar
- Butter
- Baking Powder
- Milk
- Vanilla
- Salt
- Heavy Cream
- Toasted Coconut
- Soft Caramels
- Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
Step 2:
Take one stick of butter and combine in a mixer with ½ cup of sugar. Make sure the butter is room temperature, but DO NOT heat it up in the microwave. This will soften the butter too much and completely throw off the texture. I learned that through trial and error.
Step 3:
In a separate bowl combine two cups of regular all-purpose flour, 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Mix all of the dry items to evenly spread the ingredients.
Step 4:
Add the flour mixture to the butter and sugar and mix together until the mixture forms small chunks.
Step 5:
Once the dry ingredients have formed into small chunks, add two tablespoons of milk and ½ a teaspoon of vanilla. Mix together until all ingredients have mixed into chunks.
Step 6:
Dump cookie dough onto a piece of plastic wrap and form it into a rectangle. Then refrigerate for 30 minutes. At this step if your “dough” looks more like little chunks of flour, don’t worry, the refrigeration process really helps this issue.
Step 7:
While the dough is refrigerating, toast the coconut. I did this by putting the coconut in a skillet and tossing it around as if I were making hash browns. Toast them until they are golden brown.
Step 8:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Then roll out the dough and cut into circles. Bake the cookies for about 10 to 15 minutes, until the bottom is golden brown.
Step 9:
While the cookies are baking start melting the chocolate. I did this by creating a double boiler on the stove. Fill a saucepan with about an inch of water, and then put an empty glass bowl over the pan. Make sure that the bottom of the bowl isn’t touching the water. Put the stove on high and let the water start to boil. Then put the chocolate chips into the glass bowl and stir until it melts. Once it is completely melted, you don’t have to constantly stir it, but stir occasionally.
Step 10:
Take out the cookies and let them cool for about 15 minutes.
Step 11:
While the cookies are cooling make the melted caramel mixture. Take two cups of soft caramel candy and put it in a bowl with 1/4 teaspoon of salt, three tablespoons of heavy cream, and half a teaspoon of vanilla. Then microwave for two minutes. Stir the mixture, and heat again if it is not fully melted.
Step 12:
Separate the caramel mixture into two bowls. Pour one of the halves into the toasted coconut, and toss together until all the coconut is sticking to the caramel.
Step 13:
Take the remaining caramel and spread it onto the top of the cookies, and then take the coconut mixture and put it on top. The caramel acts as glue to keep the coconut balls attached.
Step 14:
Take the bottom of the cookie and dip it into the melted chocolate then place the cookies onto parchment paper to cool. Take the left over melted chocolate and drizzle it on top of the cookies.
Step 15: Enjoy!
While I followed the instructions just as the video told me, it was definitely a hard process. At first the dough would just not cooperate. It was chunky and wouldn’t stick together at all, so I ended up having to refrigerate if for about an hour instead of 30 minutes.
Also time management is key with this recipe and I would strongly suggest that you have someone help you. The caramel does not stay soft for long, so you have to work very quickly and it gets everything sticky. I’d suggest having one person coat the cookies with the excess caramel, while the other mixes it with the coconut.
Special thanks to Buzzfeed Tasty for the original recipe!
Check out the video here.
