Monday, January 18, 2010

samoas!

After my attempt at homemade samoas, I might go back to supporting girl scouts by buying them in bulk. It definitely isn't an easy cookie to make and cleaning up the caramel/coconut was not fun (not to mention it bubbled over in my microwave so that was a pain to clean up too). I made them smaller than the recipe recommended because I didn't want to punch out holes in the middle. It tasted pretty much the same if that's worth anything. Recipe is from Baking Bites.




Ingredients

1 cup butter, soft
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
up to 2 tbsp milk

Preheat oven to 350F.
In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Mix in flour, baking powder and salt at a low speed, followed by the vanilla and milk, adding in the milk as needed to make the dough come together without being sticky (it’s possible you might not need to add milk at all). The dough should come together into a soft, not-too-sticky ball. Add in a bit of extra flour if your dough is very sticky.
Roll the dough (working in two or three batches) out between pieces of wax paper to about 1/4-inch thickness (or slightly less) and use a 1 1/2-inch cookie cutter to make rounds. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and use a knife, or the end of a wide straw, to cut a smaller center hole. Repeat with remaining dough. Alternatively, use scant tablespoons of dough and press into an even layer in a mini donut pan to form the rounds.
Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes, until bottoms are lightly browned and cookies are set. If using a mini donut pan, bake for only about 10 minutes, until edges are light gold.
Cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Topping
3 cups shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)
12-oz good-quality chewy caramels
1/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp milk
8 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 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 tsp per cookie. Reheat caramel for a few seconds in the microwave if it gets too firm to work with.

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. Dip the base of each cookie into the chocolate and place on a clean piece of parchment paper. Transfer all remaining chocolate (or melt a bit of additional chocolate, if necessary) into a piping bag or a ziplock bag with the corner snipped off and drizzle finished cookies with chocolate.
Let chocolate set completely before storing in an airtight container.

Makes about 3 1/2-4 dozen cookies.

7 comments:

  1. Your honesty is so refreshing! If they were so easy to make, the girl scouts would be out of business.

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  2. Aw I'm sorry you didn't have a great experience, but I think they're worth it because yours are gooorgeous and I'd go bankrupt if I bought as many Samoas as I wanted! I know one way people make it easier is to make it in a big cookie sheet and cut them into bars before drizzing on the chocolate.

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  3. WOW - beautiful & cozy!! j

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  4. you're more patient than I am. I bought cookies at the grocery store (I live in Florida - I believe they were Publix brand plain cookies) that were the same size with a hole in the middle. I think they had scalloped edges. I boil a can of sweetened condensed milk under water for like an hour (?? I always have to call my mom and ask how long) which makes the caramel. Melt chocolate in a double boiler with a tablespoon of crisco (so it'll set up), and toast the coconut in the oven for a bit then let it sit out to soak up some moisture (again, maybe that's a given when you live in Florida!). Brush the chocolate on the bottom of the cookies and let set up. Pipe the caramel onto the top of the cookie. Sprinkle with coconut and pipe more chocolate on top. let sit for a day and the cookies soak up the moisture from the caramel so the caramel gets thicker and the cookies get soft like real Samoas. I've made these twice and each time they're delicious! But still a bit tedious. But cheap!!!

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  5. Tho I do like the idea of mixing the coconut with the caramel. Will have to try that next time.

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  6. Zon these are beautiful! I haven't seen any girl scouts with order forms yet, and I'm getting antsy because I NEED my Samoas!

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  7. and they were super delish!! j

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