Homemade Samoas

First of all, I should probably apologize to the Girl Scouts, cause they just lost a pretty good customer. Every year I let end up buying boxes of Samoas, my all time favorite Girl Scout cookies. This year, I haven't seen ANY Girl Scouts, just Boy Scouts selling popcorn. So I decided to take matters into my own hands. I found this delicious looking recipe for Samoa Bars on the Baking Bites blog. They are absolutely fabulous! A sugar cookie base, covered with caramel and coconut and topped off with a healthy dose of chocolate! Yum!

Samoa Bars

Recipe from Baking Bites

Sugar Cookie Bottom:

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup butter, softened

1 large egg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

First, make the crust.

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 9×13-inch baking pan, or line with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, cream together sugar and butter, until fluffy.

Beat in egg and vanilla extract. Working at a low speed, gradually beat in flour and salt until mixture is crumbly, like wet sand.

The dough does not need to come together.

Pour crumbly dough into prepared pan and press into an even layer.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until base is set and edges are lightly browned.

Cool completely on a wire rack before topping. I let mine cool overnight, then proceeded with the topping.

Topping

3 cups shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)

12-oz chewy caramels (I had small packages so I used two 7 ounce packages)

1/4 tsp salt

3 tbsp milk

10 oz. dark or semisweet chocolate (chocolate chips are ok)

Preheat oven to 300. Spread coconut evenly on a parchment-lined baking sheet (preferably one with sides) and toast 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes, until coconut is golden. Cool on baking sheet, stirring occasionally. Set aside.

Unwrap the caramels (this took me FOREVER) 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. *Tip: If you lightly spray the spatula with cooking spray, the caramel won't stick to it as much.

Put dollops of the topping all over the shortbread base.

Using the spatula, spread topping into an even layer. Let topping set until cooled.

When cooled, cut into 30 bars with a large knife or a pizza cutter.

Once bars are cut, melt chocolate in a small bowl. Heat on high in the microwave in 45 second intervals, stirring thoroughly to prevent scorching.

Dip the base of each bar into the chocolate and place on a clean piece of parchment or wax paper. Transfer all remaining chocolate (or melt a bit of additional chocolate, if necessary) into a Ziploc bag with the corner snipped off and drizzle bars with chocolate to finish.

Let chocolate set completely before storing in an airtight container.

Makes 30 bar cookies.

Have a great week!