Homemade Girl Scout Cookies: Samoas Bars
- February 2, 2009
- Chocolate, Cookies - Bar Cookies and Brownies, Recipes
- 278 comments
I love the look of the original Samoas Girl Scout Cookies, but making them from scratch can be a little bit time consuming. This is largely because the dough must be rolled out, cut out and then each of the cookies has to be handled individually for topping. The results are well worth it, in my opinion, but we don’t always have time to make a labor-intensive recipe – no matter how bad a craving for Girl Scout cookies gets.
Bar cookies are the perfect solution.
This is basically a shortcut recipe that still delivers all the great samoas flavor without some of the more tedious parts of cooking making. These bars have a buttery shortbread base that is topped with the caramel-coconut samoas topping and chocolate. It is made in three stages. First, the shortbread is baked and cooled. Then, the coconut topping is applied. Put the coconut on while it is hot, so it will be fairly easy to push it around. It’s a thick mixture, but a spatula is all you need to press it into an even layer. The bars should be cut after the topping has been applied, and even though the shortbread has a melt-in-your mouth quality to it, the topping holds the bars together well. I recommend using a large knife or a pizza cutter to slice up the bars easily and neatly; small knives don’t work quite as well.
The final step is to dip these in chocolate once the topping has set. Since samoas have chocolate on the bottom and a chocolate drizzle on top, I kept that same look for my bar cookies. If you want something a bit simpler, just dip half that bars in chocolate – or skip the dipping in favor of a drizzle. The important thing is that all the flavors get into the batch. And that you have some friends to share these with, because they can be quite addictive.
Homemade Samoas Bars
Cookie Base:
1/2 cup 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.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, until base is set and edges are lightly browned. Cool completely on a wire rack before topping.
Topping
3 cups shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)
12-oz good-quality chewy caramels
1/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp milk
10 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.
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. 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.
278 Comments
I made these for a party and were a huge hit! Tasted exactly like Samoas! My dough was really wet too, having not read these comments, I thought I made it wrong. I just floured my hands to pat down the batter and it was fine, and worked like a charm. I used parchment paper on the bottom too which was extremely helpful in getting them out of the pan. The cookie bottom was slightly crumbly but I dont think people had an issue with the texture or them falling apart (the several that I tried seemed to be quite fine
Overall, big hit and will surely try them again for my mom who is a HUGE Samoa fan!
OH! One last thing! Instead of “dipping” the bars in chocolate, I used two cutting boards to turn them over after chilling and brushed the chocolate on with a pastry brush. Seemed like dipping would of made them too chocolatly and sweet
Worked Well!
Made these today and they were good. I spread the chocolate on top of parchment paper and then placed cut squares on top of it. Drizzled chocolate over top and then placed in the refrigerator to help set. Since it is dark chocolate the chocolate taste is over powering. Next time I plan to double the coconut/caramel mixture since I love coconut and caramel and won’t use nearly as much chocolate; will probably use milk chocolate instead. Hard to taste the coconut/caramel mixture. Thanks for the recipe.
I noticed that my crust was falling apart when i dip them to a chocolate. At some occasions, the topping separates from its crust which i couldn’t tell why.
I love the taste of it though. I couldn’t find chewy caramels so i googled the easiest and fastest way to make my own caramel.
I would make this again until i get the crust right to how i want it.
The crust was very crumbly which made it very difficult to dip. Will have to adjust the cookie base recipe. The caramel and coconut were perfect. Needs some work but a good base recipe to start with
My crust was crumbly as well, so I had to invert the entire pan to spread the chocolate on. The caramel also separated from the crust. If anyone finds a solution to this issues, please post, because I would like to make these again with some modifications to the crust.
Hi! What a delicious looking recipe!!! Can these made and frozen ahead for Christmas baking?
~Rachelle
I followed the directions. I also had problems dipping the cookie into the chocolate. The cookie dough just fell apart and even separated from the caramel.
Next time, I guess I would invert the cookies and brush the chocolate on like Beth mentioned. Just wish I had thought of that before I made them.
I also used parchment paper but think I would use waxed paper instead next time. Even when cooled, I had a hard time removing the cookie from the parchment paper.
The best solution I found. After I spread the cookie dough in parchment paper, I wet my hands and spread the dough so it was evenly spread. I melted the caramel with milk (worthers Carmel’s tasted best). When I took the crust out of the oven, I scooped the Carmel mixture over the cookie, and with wet hands I pressed down and was able to spread evenly over the warm crust. I used a pizza cutter. The cookie separates a little, but not too bad if its cool. I use a milk chocolate bar and chocolate chips and milk chocolate, not semi sweet to dip. They taste better. I found melting a milk chocolate bar was not as thick and clumpy.
I would like to know if these can be frozen.
How is dipping individual bars easier then dipping individual cookies? I don’t see the advantage here.
Looks so delicious! I actually found this recipe through another blog… thought you might want to know about this as they used your entire recipe and pictures and did not even mention where the recipe came from (I was able to find it via Google). http://pinrecipes.blogspot.com/2012/12/homemade-samoas-bars.html
Mine were a disaster. I could only find Kraft caramels and 12 was clearly not enough by a long shot. I added 6 more, but wasn’t enough. My base crumbled, my coconut mixture didn’t stay on the cookie base at all and dipping them was impossible. I knew better than to melt my chocolate in the microwave, but did it anyway and wasted an entire cup of chocolate chips. I’m not giving up!! I plan to try again, maybe put the coconut mixture while the base is still warm, double the amount of caramels (or find better quality ones), and change up the chocolate part too.
I spent all afternoon making these and I went exactly by the recipe. I didn’t have any problems making them but I just didn’t like them, to me they were too salty. I won’t be making them again.
I won’t make these again until I find a better crust. The crust is dry,crumbly and very bland tasting. These didn’t taste like Samoes, at best maybe a homemade twix bar? I added extra caramel even (yummy homemade caramel), and it still wasn’t enough, in my opinion, for 3 cups of coconut. These have potential, but the crust, for sure, has to be fixed.
After reading all the comments, I was afraid to try dipping them. I decided to put the bars in a low oven(200) for about three minutes. When I took them out, I pressed the caramel layer down and then let them cool. I also cut them smaller so they would be easier to handle. They are setting now. So far, no separation! Also, it’s 12oz. Not twelve caramels. I used a 14oz. Bag (Kraft) of caramels; should have increased the milk by a tablespoon. Hope this helps!!
Nancy I was starting to regret planning these bars after reading the previous comments. Thank you for a good idea and I will now proceed. Hope your’s come out well because I am following in your footsteps
Tried these and loved them. I made the cookie base the day before and only needed a minute in the microwave to melt the Carmel. I did melt the chocolate in a double boiler so I had more control over the chocolate. I think these will become my new recipe that I will always be asked to make! Thanks for sharing.
Made these for Easter…. Huuuge hit! I found out last minute I had no flour and used pancake mix…kept poking it with a spatula to lessen the rise. Double up on the caramel and coconut…WELL worth it! I toasted the coconut at the same time i cooked the base. I too flipped the base to spread choc on the bottom. I also did 8 oz milk and 2 oz dark. Omg these were heaven. Im making them again this weekend too
I think i will put a layer of straight caramel between the bar and then put the mixture on that.
Has anyone ever tried to freeze these? If so, Do they thaw out ok or does the chocolate sweat and become gross?
Yes the crust part is crumbly , the next time I make it the crust part will be made with a pillsbury sugar cookie dough that you tool out !
I made them and they worked out great! What I did differently was I cut the bars (without any toppings first). Then I spread the chocolate on the bottoms first. Then once they cooled and the chocolate dried, then I turned them over and spread the caramel/coconut mixture on the tops. Then I drizzled the top chocolate. It worked well.
look’s just like real samoas
Walmart has started selling a Great Value brand that is just like the girl scout cookie. They sell for $1.88 per package. About the same size package as the girl scouts sell.
most all my shortbread recipes don’t have eggs in them. this maybe the trouble, I make all my crust in my food processor and use cold butter. Like Ina Garten says, Till it feels like peas!! then press it into my pan.