Samoa Cookie Bars

Thin Mints may be the number one selling Girl Scout cookie in America, but my absolute favorite treat those tiny cookie pushers sell are the Samoas -- or are they called Caramel de Lites now? Regardless of the name these days, I've been known to eat an entire box of those caramel, chocolate, coconut morsels of heaven in one day all by myself.  And maybe, just maybe one time I ate two boxes. This year, in an attempt to control my cookie binging I opted not to order any Girl Scout cookies, including my beloved Samoas. However, now that it's March I'm jonesin' for my cookies and I found a loop hole. It is called the Internet. Have you heard of it? Yeah, well you can pretty much find anything on it, including a copy cat Girl Scout cookie recipes. Now, I don't need to wait to be a glutton, I can do it anytime I feel like it!

Even though this is a bar cookie recipe it is a little time consuming with all the melting, cooling and dipping involved, but trust me, it is totally worth the effort. Found a recipe for Thin Mints too, so maybe I'll give that one a try sometime soon.

Ingredients

Cookie Base
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup softened butter
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

Topping

3 1/4 cups shredded sweetened coconut 

12 oz of caramel candy such as Kraft Caramels -- about 50 square candies

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 Tablespoons milk

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

Cookie Base

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• In a large bowl cream together with a mixer sugar, butter, egg and vanilla.
• Still using a mixer, gradually add the flour and salt until mixture is moist and a little crumbly. The dough does not need to come together.
• Press the dough evenly into a 9×13-inch baking pan that is lightly greased or lined with parchment paper. 
• Bake for 25 minutes, until the edges are lightly browned. 
• Cool completely before topping.

Topping

• Toast the coconut in a large skillet over medium heat until golden brown. Once toasted, set aside and allow to cool.
• Unwrap the caramels and place in a microwave safe bowl with milk and salt. Cook in the microwave 3 minutes until caramel is smooth. I recommend stopping every every minute or so to stir the caramel to help in melt evenly. WARNING: Watch the cooking caramel closely closely as the caramel can boil over.
• Once the caramel is melted fold in the toasted coconut with a spatula. Sparing approximately a 1/4 cup of coconut to sprinkle on top later.
• Spoon the coconut and caramel mixture over the cooled cookie base, then spread the topping evenly with a spatula. Sprinkle with the remaining toasted coconut.
• Let topping set until cooled then cut into bars with a large knife or a pizza cutter 
• Once bars are cooled and cut, melt the chocolate in a small bowl. Heat in the microwave in 45 second intervals, stirring thoroughly to prevent burning. When I melt 2 cups of chocolate in my microwave it takes about  2 minutes.
• Once chocolate is completely melted. dip the bottom of each bar into the chocolate and place on a clean piece of parchment or wax paper.
• Pipe or spoon drizzle the remaining chocolate over the top of the bars to finish.
• Put in the refrigerator to set.
• Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to one week.

Servings
30 Bars

A Broken Oven Tip
This may not sound like a good tip, but trust me it is! Share these cookies with family, friends, neighbors, hair stylist, mail carrier...the kid who bags your groceries, etc.  This is to prevent you from eating all the cookies by yourself.

Cookie Dough Bites

Most people over 12 years of age will find this recipe absolutely repulsive. However, people who still like to lick the beaters or are 12 years of age and under will love it. Will and Sophia found this candy in a gift shop on an overnight excursion to a nearby water park and asked if I could make them at home. Don't freak out about eating raw egg because this is an eggless cookie dough batter often used in ice cream recipes.

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tbsp. vanilla extract

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips for dough

4 to 6 tbsp. water

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips for dipping

1 teaspoon vegetable oil

Sprinkles (optional)

Directions

• Cream together the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl. 
• Stir in the flour, salt, vanilla and 1 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips. 
• Add the water, one tablespoon at a time, until you have reached a cookie dough consistency. 
• Place dough in refrigerator until ready to use.
• Melt remaining 2 cups of semi sweet chocolate chips in a double boiler -OR- melt 30 to 45 seconds at a time in the microwave.  
• Stir vegetable oil into the chocolate once melted.
• Scoop cookie dough 1 tablespoon at a time and form into balls.
• Dip cookie dough balls into melted chocolate until coated and top with sprinkles.
• Store in the refrigerator up to 1 week.

Servings

Makes 2 cups of dough and approximately 2 dozen tablespoon sized balls.

A Broken Oven Tip

Know someone with an egg allergy? Drop tablespoon amounts of  this dough on a cookie sheet and bake in a 375 degree oven for 10 minutes or until golden brown. 

Chocolate & Peanut Butter Gobs

Some people may call them whoopie pies, but they'll always be gobs to me. Nearly every year from the time I was a toddler to a young teen, my sister and I spent our Summers with my grandma in Western Pennsylvania -- "Hi Grandma!". During our visits we not only spent time with our grandma, but also with our many aunts and older cousins, all of whom are fabulous bakers. -- "Hi Evanko and Skoff aunts and cousins!". The one treat I looked forward to all summer were Chocolate Gobs. A combination of sweet sticky fluffy white frosting sandwiched between chocolate cake.  An absolutely delicious rear end widening treat.  While most of my aunts made these delights at one time or another my fondest memories are the day long assembly lines in Aunt Edith's kitchen. Generations of women mixing, baking, frosting and wrapping each gob with love. Grandma would always let us lick a frosting laden spoon and Aunt Joan would always grab a dozen or so to freeze for us so we could take them home back to Ohio at the end of our visit.

I make the traditional chocolate and marshmallow gobs quite often, but I've seen lots of different recipes for them lately and they definitely seem to be the latest dessert craze around here. Martha Stewart I am not, but boy do I love her recipes and when I found this peanut butter gob one I had to try it. The recipe below deviates a bit from her original, but it's still her inspiration. 

Cookies

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoon softened unsalted butter

1/4 cup vegetable shortening

1/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed dark-brown sugar

1 large egg

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Peanut Butter Filling

2/3 cup creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup softened unsalted butter

3/4 cup confectioners' sugar

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. 
• Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a small bowl; set aside.
• Put butter, shortening, and sugars into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on high speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. 
• Add egg; mix until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Mix in half the flour mixture, then the milk and vanilla. Mix in remaining flour mixture.
• Drop 2 tablespoons of batter onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing 2 inches apart. Bake until cookies spring back when lightly touched, 12 to 14 minutes. 
• Let cool on sheets on wire racks 10 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks using a spatula; let cool completely.
• While cookies are baking start on the filling. Put peanut butter and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on high speed until smooth. Reduce mixer speed to low. Add confectioners' sugar; mix until combined. Raise speed to high, and mix until fluffy and smooth, about 3 minutes. Season with salt, if desired.
• Once cookies are cooled completely. Spread or pipe a generous tablespoon of filling on the bottom of 1 cookie. Sandwich with another cookie. Repeat with remaining cookies and filling. Cookies can be refrigerated in single layers in airtight containers up to 3 days. 
• Bring to room temperature before serving.

Servings

Makes 18 - 24 Gobs

A Broken Oven Tip

The Peanut Butter filling is a little more dense than a traditional gob filling. If you would like to fluff it up a little bit, add 1/3 cup of Marshmallow Fluff to the recipe.

Rainbow Sugar Sandwich Cookies

Baking from scratch is great and all, but if I'm being honest, most of the time I'm more of a semi homemade kind of gal.  Why bake a cake from scratch when both Betty and Duncan have mastered it quite nicely? So, although every once in a while I may go a little nutty and make homemade fudge, cheesecake, even a tart. I find absolutely no shame in cutting a few corners using prepared baking mixes, crusts or frostings. These fun sandwich cookies were made for an event at Sophia's school.  The kids bee lined for these brightly colored treats and quickly gobbled them up. I can guarantee you the kids could have cared less the cookies were prepared from a mix and frosting from a can.

Ingredients
Sugar Cookie mix -- Better Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix is my favorite
Ingredients to prepare the dough per package instructions
Gel food coloring
Canned frosting -- Better Crocker Whipped Fluffy White is my favorite for this recipe
Sprinkles

Directions

• Prepare sugar cookie mix per package instructions. You can always make your favorite sugar cookie recipe or go the other extreme and buy a pre-made dough such as the Pillsbury sugar cookie dough in the tube.
• Divide the dough into 5 equal parts and color each part a different color.  I chose red, yellow, green, blue and purple.
• Place the dough on a floured surface and roll out to a 1/4 of an inch thickness. Cut the dough with a round cookie cutter.  A small juice glass works well too.
• Bake according to package directions.
• When cookies are done baking and cooled, generously frost one half of cookie with frosting and top with another cookie to make a sandwich.
• Put sprinkles in a bowl and roll the frosted edges of the sandwich cookies in sprinkles.

Servings
Servings will vary based on the sugar cookie mix or recipe you choose to use. The Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix makes 18 - 2 inch sandwich cookies.

A Broken Oven Tip
Use the dough scraps to make these fun tie dyed cookies. Just combine the dough, roll out and cut with a cookie cutter.  The key is not to over mix the dough.