Kelly the Culinarian: Cooking with Kelly: Homemade Samoas Cookie Bars Recipe

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Cooking with Kelly: Homemade Samoas Cookie Bars Recipe

It's Tim's birthday! He asked for samoa cookies, and I obliged. But .... I am never making these again.

Not because they aren't delicious, decadent and amazing, but because I have no self control and ate at least a pound of these homemade samoas cookie bars.  I love Girl Scouts, their organization and especially their cookies. We buy a ton every year, but it's never enough.

And what's a girl to do when the craving strikes and the boxes are empty? Get creative, and make a note to buy more samoas (or caramel delites, depending on where you live) next year. Be warned that these cookies take a long time to make, so wait until you're having a rainy afternoon to invest the time in these babies.

Homemade Samoas Cookie Bar Recipe
For the cookie base
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

Using a stand mixer on medium with a paddle attachment, cream together the sugar and butter until fluffy, then add the egg. add the vanilla, then add the flour and salt slowly until combined. It will be crumbly. Line a 9x13-inch baking sheet with parchment, then press the cookie dough into the sheet. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until the edges are brown, then remove from the oven. Cool for 10 minutes, then remove for baking sheet.

Spreading the chocolate layer
Here's my tip for the recipe: once you remove the cookie layer from the baking sheet, line it again with parchment paper or foil. Spread one bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips in the baking sheet, then place on the still-warm oven and allow to melt. Using a spatula, spread the chocolate evenly, then place the cooled cookie layer on top and allow to set.

The cookie layer cooling over the chocolate
Next, the coconut layer (my favorite part!)
3 cups shredded coconut
12-oz good-quality chewy caramels (I used Werther's Original Chewy Caramels)
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons milk
More chocolate chips for drizzling (I ended up using 1 1/2 bags chocolate chips)

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees, then spread the coconut in a roasting pan that has sides. Toast, turning every five to seven minutes, until golden brown and crunchy. Mmmm, crunchy coconut.

Remove from oven and allow to cool. Mix the remaining ingredients, minus the chocolate, in the microwave in one-minute increments until smooth. Add in coconut and stir to combine. Then, spoon over the cookie/chocolate layers and spread evenly.

Finally, melt about 1/2 cup chocolate chips and drizzle over the bars. Allow to set, then slice with a very sharp knife into about 30 bars.  Eat 15. The end.

1 comment:

Erin said...

Oh my god. It's a good thing I'm lazy when it comes to baking or these would be in my house and I would eat all of them.