recipe: samoas girl scout cookies (copycat)

It's Girl Scout cookie time and my old-standby Girl Scouts are (I guess) too "old" for scouting. Samoas are one of my all-time favorites, and this time of year I get a tiny bit of a craving. I saw a "healthy" version of this recipe in a magazine lately and thought I'd give it a try – but using more delicious, not-as-healthy ingredients. (Honestly, it's a coconut, caramel and chocolate cookie. If you're going to eat it, at least make it worth it!)

Recipe: Samoas Girl Scout Cookies

Ingredients
12 short-bread cookies (I used Keebler® Fudge Stripe™ cookies)
1/2 cup sweetened coconut
12 caramels
1/4 milk
1/4 cup chocolate chips

Directions
Toast the coconut by heating your oven to 300˚F. On a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper, toast the coconut by baking for 15 minutes, stirring the coconut every five minutes. Let cool.

Melt the caramel in a small saucepan by combining the caramels and milk. Stirring constantly, heat until smooth and creamy (about 10 minutes). Once the caramel is smooth, stir in the toasted coconut.

Melt the chocolate chips by heating it in a double-boiler, or in the microwave, stirring every 20 seconds or so. (Be careful! Chocolate burns really easily in the microwave!) Once melted, pour the chocolate into a sandwich bag.

Ok...time to build the cookies. Place the short-bread cookies on your parchment-lined cookie sheet. Spread a tablespoon of the caramel/coconut mixture onto each of the cookies. Cut a tiny hole in the sandwich bag and squeeze the chocolate out, drizzling over the cookies. Now, allow them to cool completely.

If you're like me, keep them in the fridge so they're extra chewy. Yum!