Best Homemade Samoas Cookies Recipes

HOMEMADE SAMOAS COOKIES

Steps:

• In a mixing bowl, beat butter for about 30 seconds with an electric mixer at medium speed. Add sugar and vanilla extract. Beat on medium speed until fluffy, about 1 minute.
• In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add flour mixture to the butter mixture, beating until just combined and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the milk and blend until just combined.
• Divide dough into two equal parts and use your hands to form each part into a disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour. It may be tempting to skip the chilling time, but chilling the dough is essential to easy cutting of the cookies and to keeping the cookies from spreading while baking.
• Working with one disc at a time, remove from the refrigerator and roll to just slightly thicker than 1/8-inch thickness. Use a donut cutter or two round cookie cutters, one smaller than the other, to cut the dough into circles. I found a 2 1/4-inch round cookie cutter to be the perfect size for the larger circle, and used the cap from a small spice bottle instead of a cookie cutter to cut out the inside circle.
• Carefully transfer cut circles to a baking sheet with a small spatula. Re-roll the remaining dough scraps and continue to cut circles until all the dough is used.
• Bake cookies at 350 degrees for 10 - 12 minutes until just starting to turn pale golden brown on the edges. Allow to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
• Spread 4 cups sweetened flaked coconut onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 18 minutes, stirring frequently, until lightly browned. Remove from the oven and set aside.
• Unwrap caramels. Place caramels, milk, and salt in the top of a double boiler. Cook over gently simmering water, stirring frequently, until caramels are fully melted.
• Remove about 1/4 of the melted caramel to a small bowl. Set aside. Add toasted coconut to the remaining 3/4 of the melted caramel. Stir gently until well combined. Remove from the heat.
• Working with one cookie at a time, spread each cookie with a thin layer of reserved caramel. This helps the caramel coconut topping better adhere. If caramel becomes too difficult to spread as it cools, warm in the microwave for about 5 to 8 seconds until spreadable.
• With a small spoon, press about 1 tablespoon caramel coconut topping onto each cookie. Set aside on a parchment lined baking sheet. If the caramel coconut topping becomes too difficult to spread as it cools, place it back over simmering water and warm it until it's spreadable again.
• Coarsely chop 8 ounces good-quality dark chocolate. Place in the top of a double boiler over simmering water. Add 1/2 teaspoon vegetable or canola oil. Heat, stirring frequently, until chocolate is completely melted and smooth.
• One at a time, dip the bottom of each cookie in chocolate. Gently shake the cookie a couple of times to allow excess chocolate to drip off. Place dipped cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment or waxed paper.
• Use a fork or small spoon to drizzle chocolate over the tops of the cookies. Let the cookies stand until the chocolate is fully set.
• Store cookies in a covered airtight container at room temperature.

HOMEMADE GIRL SCOUT COOKIES: SAMOAS

Steps:

• 1. 1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar. Beat until light and fluffy. Add in egg and beat until well incorporated, scraping down the bowl, if necessary. Add in vanilla. Beat until smooth. With mixer on low, add in salt and flour. Mix until completely incorporated and dough is uniform. Pull dough together and shape into a cylinder with a diameter of about 2 1/2 inches. Wrap in parchment paper and freeze for at least 25 minutes.
• 2. 2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Slice dough into 1/8 inch disks and place on baking sheets, about an inch apart. Once you have made 30 cookies, wrap up the cookie dough, freeze, and save for another time. Use a tiny circle shaped cookie cutter or a large round cake decorating tip to cut a hole in the center of each disk. Refrigerate for an additional 10 minutes. Bake for 8 minutes, or until crisp. Let cool completely.
• 3. 3. Add coconut into the caramel. Warm the caramel in the microwave for about 10 seconds if necessary. Take cooled cookies and gently dip them completely in the caramel. Place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Freeze until set, about 5 minutes. 4. Melt chocolate in a microwave safe bowl in 30 second intervals, stirring well after each interval, until fully melted. Place the caramel coated cookies in the chocolate. Use a fork to pull them out of the chocolate and place them on a parchment line cookie sheet. Use the chocolate still on the fork to drizzle stripes over the top of the cookies. Refrigerate until set.
• 4. Dipping Caramel 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar) 4 tablespoons corn syrup 6 tablespoons water pinch of salt 6 tablespoons butter 6 tablespoons heavy cream* (DO NOT use plain whipping cream) 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 1. In a heavy bottomed saucepan with high sides, combine sugar, corn syrup, water, and salt. Whisk until combined, and set over medium-low heat. Swirl the pan every now and then to help distribute the heat. Use can use a pastry brush dipped in water to brush the sugar crystals down the sides of the saucepan. When the sugar dissolves completely, raise the heat to medium. When it comes to a boil, watch very carefully for the bubbles to become more viscous (this means that the water has evaporated and that it is ready to go through the candy stages). As it is bubbling away, you want it to turn a deep amber color. When it does, remove the heat and, working quickly, use the spoon to scoop up a small amount of the candy and drop it into the small glass of water. If the blob turns hard like lollipop, then it is ready. If the blob is still soft, put the pan back on the heat. Keep testing until the candy is hard. Remove from heat. 2. Whisk in butter, 6 tablespoons of cream, and vanilla (Careful here, as the mixture should bubble violently for about 10 seconds). If the caramel isn't smooth right away, return the pan to low heat and whisk until smooth. *To clarify, this cream should be heavy cream, or heavy whipping cream, not whipping cream.

HOMEMADE SAMOAS GIRL SCOUT COOKIES RECIPE - (4.4/5)

Steps:

• Make the cookies: Preheat the oven to 350ºF. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. In three increments, add the flour mixture to the creamed butter, mixing between each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add the milk and vanilla extract, blending until combined and the dough begins to come together in large pieces. Use your hands to divide the dough in half, pressing it together to compact it into two disks. Wrap the disks securely in plastic wrap and refrigerate them until firm, about 1 hour. Once the dough has chilled, roll each disk out onto a lightly floured surface until it is 1/8-inch thick. Cut out as many cookies as possible with a doughnut-shaped cookie cutter. (See Notes for cookie cutter alternatives.) Place the cut-out cookies on a Silpat or parchment paper-lined baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough. Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the baking sheet half-way through, until the cookies are pale golden brown. Transfer the cookies to a wire wrack to cool completely. Make the coconut topping: Spread the coconut flakes onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake the coconut for about 10 minutes in a 350ºF oven until toasted, stirring frequently to ensure even browning and so that it does not burn. (See Notes.) Remove the toasted coconut from the oven and set it aside. Melt the caramels, milk and salt in a double-boiler by placing the caramels in a medium saucepot set over a large saucepot of simmering water. Cook, stirring, until the caramels are fully melted. Remove the saucepot from the heat and combine 3/4 of the caramel with the toasted coconut in a large bowl. Carefully spread the remaining 1/4 cup of caramel atop the cooled cookies then press on a portion of the coconut mixture. Let the cookies cool for 30 minutes. If the caramel-coconut mixture thickens too much at any point while pressing it onto the cookies, return it to the double-boiler and warm it until it's spreadable again. Melt the dark chocolate in a double-boiler or in the microwave. Dip the bottoms of the cookies in the chocolate and place them on a wax paper-lined baking sheet. Use a fork to drizzle the tops with chocolate. Let the cookies sit until the chocolate hardens fully. NOTES: If you don't have a doughnut-shaped cookie cutter, you can use two cookies cutters (such as a circular 2-inch and a circular 1-inch) to form the ring shape. Alternately, you can use the caps to any dry spices to serve as cookie cutters. If the dough is too firm to roll out after being refrigerated, let it rest at room temperature for 10 minutes before rolling and cutting out the cookies. The shortbread should be very pale golden in color. When in doubt, underbake it! If using dark chocolate chips, 8 ounces is equal to about 1 1/3 cups chocolate chips. Coconut burns very quickly, so keep an eye on it and stir often! Spreading the cookies with the reserved 1/4 cup of caramel gives the coconut mixture a stickier base to adhere to.