Somoa Girl Scout Cookies

First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. While the oven is preheating, begin by mixing the butter and sugar together in a large sized bowl.

Next, add in the flour, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and baking powder to the mix.

Finally, add the vanilla extract and 1 Tablespoon milk and you should have batter that isn’t too sticky but forms a ball.

Roll the dough out (on top of parchment paper so it doesn’t stick to the table). Make sure it is about 1/4 of an inch thick.

Now the next step is probably easiest with a round cookie cutter, but since we didn’t have one we improvised with a small votive candle holder.

Make as many round cookies as you can. The dough is easy to work with, so re-roll the scraps as many times as you need to. After cutting the 1 1/2 inch circles out, make a small hole in the middle of each cookie (you may use a straw, knife, finger, etc.).

Place on a cookie sheet and bake in the oven for about 10-12 minutes or until browned.

While these are baking, begin getting your ingredients ready for the topping!

Unwrap the caramels. Place in a bowl with the remaining milk and salt and microwave for about 3 minutes stirring occasionally (if your microwave is more powerful, use less time).

Next, spread the coconut on a baking sheet and toast in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes. Stir it every 3-5 minutes. Hang in there with me…I know there are lots of small steps with this recipe but the end result is worth it!

Once the caramel is melted and coconut is toasted, fold the coconut into the caramel mixture and stir well. Using a small spoon, place the mixture on top of the cooled cookies (about 2 tablespoons per cookie).

Finally, melt the chocolate in a small bowl in the microwave. Heat for about 30 seconds then stir, and repeat until melted completely. Dip the base of the cookies into the chocolate and place onto parchment paper. Once all cookies have been dipped, place any remaining chocolate into a zip top bag and cut a small hole off of the corner. Pipe the chocolate onto the cookie in a zig-zag pattern.

Place in the refrigerator for about 5 minutes to allow the chocolate to harden. And then you’re done! All of your hard work has paid off-because you now have more than a dozen Somoa Girl Scout cookies!