Homemade Samoas

I found this yummy recipe on Baking Bites website. They are Homade girl scouts cookies and they were so great!! I reccomend you trying these especially if you love Girl Scout Samoas. I guarantee they are cheaper to make at home them buying them from the scouts!!

Homemade Samoas Bars~adapted from Baking Bites
Cookie Base:
1/2 cup brown 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 prepapred pan and press into an even layer. My dough was the consistency of cookie dough(it was not sticky at all)Bake for 20-25 minutes, until base is set and edges are lightly browned. Cool completely on a wire rack before topping.

What looks like after baked for 20 minutes:


Topping;
3 cups shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened) or 1(14 oz.) bag
12-oz good-quality chewy caramels~ I used a 14 oz package of Kraft caramels
3 tbsp milk
10 oz. dark or semisweet chocolate (chocolate chips are ok)~I used a mixture of Milk chocolate and semi sweet because we don't like dark chocolate very much
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. Will look like this:


Unwrap the caramels and place in a large microwave-safe bowl with milk 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.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 (it’s easy to get it through the topping).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. Like so: and Let the chocolate harden:

Transfer all remaining chocolate (or melt a bit of additional chocolate, if necessary) into a piping bag or 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.


Note: You can simply drizzle chocolate on top of the bars before slicing them up if you’re looking for yet an easier way to finish these off. You won’t need quite as much chocolate as noted above, and you won’t quite get the Samoas look, but the results will still be tasty.