Homemade Samoas (aka: the caramel + coconut girl scout cookies)
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Whip up a batch of your favorite coconut and caramel Samoas girl scout cookies at home!! Even BETTER than the originals!
Calling all cookie lovers to try my Salted Caramel Stuffed Double Chocolate Cookies, German Chocolate Cookie Balls, and Salted Caramel Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies next!
Samoas are by far my absolute favorite girl scout cookie. Like, without a doubt. I know there are a lot of Thin Mint lovers out there, and I can respect that chocolate-mint combo, sometimes you just gotta have it. But for me, Samoas are hands down the must delicious little round pieces of perfection on the entire planet.
It’s a match made in heaven. Me + caramel + coconut + chocolate.
I’ve been dying to make these at home for months. Why I haven’t before now is, well, dumb. . . to put it nicely. I guess I was being lazy? But there was no need for laziness. These cookies are ultra easy to make. Which is good for impatient, 20 pairs of sweats owning people like myself.
And I wondered if I’d catch flack for saying this but, ah what the heck – I’ve gotta be honest: these are better than the originals. Unspeakable! No but really, it’s true. The caramel stays soft just like it should, the cookies is buttery and vanilla-y and totally delicious, the coconut-caramel topping is piled high to heaven, and the chocolate is extra-rich. Ohhhh yeah baby. But beware: upping the richness in these cuties just makes them even more addictive. I just made them yesterday and I have 3 left. Mind you there are only two of us living in this house. And my husband doesn’t like coconut soooo…..
yeah.
What people are saying about these Homemade Samoas
“These were delicious and a HUGE hit at the party I took them too! I did alter the recipe to make bars rather than individual cookies by: pressing the dough into a pan (9×13 because I doubled the recipe), baking at 350 for about 20 minutes, then mixing the toasted coconut with the melted caramel and pouring over the whole pan, chilled, cut into squares, dipped bottoms in chocolate. Even with omitting the rolling and cutting of the cookies, this recipe was pretty time/labor intensive for me. It was worth it because they were really yummy, but will probably only make for special occasions.” – Lindsey
“Hello! I went looking for a Samoas recipe and wasn’t disappointed! These came out great. I made the dough a few days before and refrigerated so it wouldn’t be as much work the day of. The circle shape adds to the authenticity of it, but i used small cookie cutters and had star and heart cookies. I also found that the cookie was much better the next day. It tasted even better and a lot more like the original cookie. 
” – Amelia
“Made these last night and had to restrain myself from eating every single crumb! It totally inspired me to re-create that smell using my Pink Zebra Sprinkles.” – Kristen
Homemade Samoas (aka the caramel + coconut girl scout cookies)
Ingredients
- ½ cup butter, softened
- ⅓ cup sugar
- 1 ¼ cup flour
- ⅓ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon cold milk or water
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
Topping
- 1 ½ cups coconut flakes
- 2 cups caramels, unwrapped
- 3 tablespoons heavy cream
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 ½ cups semi sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- To prepare the cookies, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside. Mix together butter and sugar in a separate bowl until fluffy. Add flour and mix with until fine crumbs form. Add milk and vanilla and continue to mix until dough comes together. Flatten the dough slightly, wrap it in plastic wrap, and chill for 1 hour OR freeze for 20 minutes.
- After dough has chilled, roll it out on a flat well-floured surface to about 1/4 inch thickness. (If the dough is too sticky, sprinkle a couple tablespoons of flour over the dough and knead it a few times with your hands. roll it back into a 1/4 inch thick disc.)
- Use a round cookie cutter to cut as many cookies as you can from the dough. Cut the centers out with a smaller cookie cutter. (*see note for alternative method) Place each cookie onto a greased baking sheet. Press the remaining dough into a ball, roll into a 1/4 inch disc again and repeat cutting process. Do this again until you have used as much of the dough as you can.
- Bake cookies at 350 for 10-12 minutes until cookies look “dry” and very slightly golden in color. Place cookies (on a baking sheet) in the fridge or freezer.
- In a medium pan over medium heat, continually stir coconut flakes until lightly browned (about 3-5 minutes). Set toasted coconut flakes aside.
- In a microwave safe bowl, combine caramels and heavy cream and microwave on high 2 minutes. Stir, and return to microwave for 20 seconds at a time, stirring between each, until caramel is fully melted and smooth. Stir in salt and vanilla.
- Spread about 1-2 teaspoons of caramel on top of each shortbread cookie. Chill for 2-3 minutes to let the caramel set.
- Stir coconut flakes into remaining caramel. Spread coconut-caramel mixture onto each cookie. Chill again while you prepare the chocolate.
- Add chocolate chips to a microwave safe bowl. Microwave on medium power for 2 minutes. Stir, then return to microwave for 20 seconds at a time, stirring between each, until fully melted and smooth.
- Carefully dip each cookie in the melted chocolate so that the bottom is well-coated. After all cookies have been dipped, drizzle remaining chocolate over the cookies.
- Store in an airtight container or ziplock bag chilled or at room temperature up to 1 week.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe adapted from Just A Taste —> p.s. this link will take you to some really awesome step by step photos in case you need them!
Im a bit confused about the recipe, it says 1 cup and 4 table spoons of flour do you put all that in the dough or use the 4tbs for the kneding in if the dough is to sticky? Also in the ingredients it says to use baking powder but in the recipe it say baking soda so i dont know what one to use…
I don’t have a microwave:/ any suggestions for a stove top method instead?
I found that melting chocolate chips in the microwave just burned the chocolate and ended up wasting a full bag! So I’m headed to the store to her chocolate bark which seems to work better for me!
Hi Jess! I’m sorry to hear that your chocolate burned! Did you microwave the chocolate chips on half power? It’s important to microwave them on half power for 2 minutes, then stir, then microwave 20 seconds at a time (still on half power) stirring between each 20 seconds, until smooth. 🙂
Do you think I could just make some caramel instead of melting the candies? Or would I have to be a caramel master to make sure it wouldn’t be too runny? I intend on sending the cookies through the mail.. so they can’t be too gooey..
YUM! I’m so glad we can eat these year round now (even though my skinny jeans say otherwise). They’re beautiful and I know they’ll be awesome!
Oh my sweat pants have already made an appearance after eating um….. like 15 of these! hahaha, too good to resist!
These look delicious!! Great pictures! 🙂
Thanks Jessica!! 🙂
Those look awesome! You did such a great job recreating them!
My favourite kin of cookie! What more could you want!
Keep up the awesome recipes! Love the blog!
Thanks Aaron!!! 🙂
I used to love these girl scout cookies! Though I was always more of a thin mint girl, the samoas were very addicting as well. How great they can be had at any time of the year, not just during girl scout season!
I’m dying to try these! I’ve been wanting to make them but was thinking they were too hard as well. They look so perfect!