Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Samoas Bars

samoas (2)

Have you ever had a samoas? I haven't, until now because the only girl guide cookies in Canada are vanilla, chocolate and thin mints. This is something that everyone must try, even coconut haters because they are that good! To make it easier, I made the bar version from Baking Bites. I was seriously addicted to these and they even contain coconut and shortbread, both of which I'm not a fan of.

Unwrap
samoas

Melt
samoas (4)

Enjoy
samoas (3)

I'm posting the recipe showing the proportions of ingredients I used for an 8 x 8 square. For my bars, I made the crust thinner and topping thicker than it would have been had I followed the recipe for a 9 x 13 inch pan.

Homemade Samoas Bars from Baking Bites

Cookie Base:
1/4 cup sugar
6 tbsps unsalted butter, softened
1/2 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt

First, make the crust.
Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 8x8-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
1.5 cups shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened) I used unsweetened
8-oz good-quality chewy caramels
1/4 tsp salt
1.5 tbsp milk
1 oz. dark or semisweet chocolate (chocolate chips are ok) - I only drizzled

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. (I melted caramels over a double boiler)
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.

37 comments:

  1. These look unreal. I must make these.

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  2. Samosas are my favorite Girl Scout cookie, but I've never tried to make them myself. YUM!

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  3. great clicks! the bars look delicious!

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  4. ooh wow. never tried a samoas bar... in canada GG cookies are not as inventive as your guy's in the states! they look great though.

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  5. These are the prettiest Samoa bars I've ever seen. Goodness!! Can you use homemade caramel instead of packaged caramel? Just wondering...seems that would be easier especially since it will be melted already.

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  6. Samoas were always my favorite girl scout cookie. Then again, I have always had a serious love of coconut! These are just gorgeous.

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  7. I have had this recipe bookmarked for a while now..now I NEED to make these!!

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  8. I've been meaning to make these for awhile now--thanks for the reminder!

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  9. These look totally divine! Toffee, chocolate, coconut, biscuit - wow. Must be made very, very soon :)

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  10. These look amaaaaaaazing. I keep telling myself I need to make samoas or samoa bars but haven't yet... I will soon!

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  11. Are girl scouts called girl guides up there? Total bummer you don't have somoas! Your homemade ones look better anyways though :)

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  12. Oh this looks delicious! I've always wanted to make girl scout cookies, never did!

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  13. I made these last year as my birthday "cake". So incredibly good and perfect way to enjoy samoas year round!

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  14. no somoas in canada??? horrors! Your version looks just as good if not better if you ask me!

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  15. Ill be making these very very soon, they look wonderful!

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  16. oh my! those are my favorite cookies EVER

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  18. Wow, thanks so much for the recipe! Now I don't have to wait all year long to devour my favorite type of Girl Scout cookie :)

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  19. Wow, I am soooo making these. Samoas are my fav girl scout cookies! Awesome photos!

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  20. Wow, thanks for introducing Samoas to me, these are awesome! I love caramel candy!

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  21. Wow, the chocolate drizzled on top looks TOO good! I can almost taste them!

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  22. I used to buy these cookies from the girl scouts in our neighborhoods back in VA. I love them. I am glad that you posted how to make them at home. I need to try to make them. Yum!

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  23. oh, you're killing me. These are my all-time favorite GS cookies and I've been saving my last box for a special occasion. Now I can eat them and then make these!

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  24. I'm guessing the coconut is desiccated coconut? The bars look really rich and fantastic.

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  25. These look JUST like bar versions of the cookies!! I have to try them!!

    Ps. Who hates shortbread? Only you ;)

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  26. These look absolutely incredible.

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  27. Yum, caramel and shortbread? I think I need to make a batch of these for my mom, she's love it.

    Thanks for the great recipe!

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  28. I'm for sure making these... someone at work who doesn't like coconut said they liked "samoas" but not coconut.... :) These look so heavenly and easy to make! Thanks so much for posting (and making) them!

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  29. Yay, bars! I'm not crazy but am I about bars. I've never had samoas but am think that's about to change.
    ~ingrid

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  30. I now know what I'm making this weekend ^_^

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  31. your blog posts are really awesome! thanks for sharing all your recipes! i've just tried your flour frosting recipe and the results are great!

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  32. looks really good and chocolatey!

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  33. I'm not sure where you are in Canada but I get knock off Samoa cookies at Loblaws, they are No Name brand.

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  34. Love Love Loveeeee your blog posts! All your pics are sooooo wonderfully taken and of course, your bakes are GOrGEOUS!!!! More posts plsss! ^_^

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