Samoa Girl Scout Cookies

I Love, LOVE,  LOVE! Samoa Girl Scout cookies!!!! Every spring when the girl scouts come out and sell their delectable cookies I always cave in and end up buying the ridiculously expensive box of Samoa cookies! I was browsing through some recipes online and found this cookie recipe and couldn’t pass it up! I ended up making them into bars, which is much speedier than the cookie version! The coconut caramel mixture is good and the melted chocolate is also pretty tasty!

Oven Temp: 300 @ first to brown coconut then 350 to bake cookies

Bake time 10-12 minutes

Ingredients:

Cookie Base:

• 1 cup of butter

• ½ cup sugar

• 2 cups flour

• ¼ tsp baking powder

• ½ tsp salt

• ½ tsp vanilla extract

• About 2 tbsp of milk

Cookie Topping:

• 3 cups of shredded coconut (sweetened)

• 12 ounces of good chewy caramel (I used Werther’s soft caramels but most any will do)

• ¼ tsp of salt

• 3 tbsp milk

• 8 oz of chocolate chips ( semi or milk work just fine)

• 2 tsp of milk to help keep chocolate from getting to hard

Cookie Base

1. In a bowl cream together butter and sugar. Slowly mix in flour, baking powder and salt.

2. Next stir in vanilla and milk, adding the milk in as needed to make the dough come together without being sticky. The dough should come together into a soft not really sticky ball. You can add extra flour if your dough is too sticky.

3. Roll your dough out in batches (2-3 batches). You can roll between pieces of wax paper to make it about ¼ inch thick. Use a 1 ½ inch round cookie cutter to make your rounds. Place it on wax paper. You can use a knife or something smaller to make the center hole.

4. Bake cookies 10-12 minutes until bottoms are lightly browned and cookies are set. Let cool

Cookie topping:

1. While making cookies Preheat oven to 300 and put coconut in a pan to brown. Toast for about 15-20 minutes and stirring it about every 3-5 minutes, until coconut is golden brown. Set aside and let cool in baking sheet

2. Unwrap caramels and place in large microwave safe bowl. Add milk and salt. Cook on high for 3-4 minutes and stopping it to stir it up a few times to help the caramel melt and mix in the milk evenly. When it is smooth fold in toasted coconut with spatula. You will want to wait for this until you know most of your cookies are cooled off. If you need to you can reheat caramel mixture in the microwave.

3. Once when caramel is soft take about 2-3 teaspoons of caramel to put on the cookies.

4. While letting the topping on the cookie cool off melt chocolate in a small bowl. I added about 2 teaspoons of milk to the chocolate so when it cools it won’t be hard as rock!

5. Transfer remaining chocolate into a Ziploc bag. Snip the corner off and drizzle chocolate on the finished cookies.

If you want to make these into bars, all you do is roll out the dough onto a cookie sheet with wax paper. Let it bake until golden brown. Take the caramel topping and use a spatula to spread across. Cut with a pizza cutter to sizes you want. After it cools top with chocolate and if you want dip the bottom in chocolate!

Enjoy!!! These are highly addicting and yummy!

(pictures courtesy of bakingbites.com)

Cake Batter Cookies With Colorful Frosting (Easy!!)

This recipe is super easy and scrumptious! Let’s just say that I am a sucker for things on sale. :) When I see things that I like or see that I could use, I buy a few and store them away until I need them. At times is comes in handy, but there are times where things just sit in my cabinets! This recipe was spurred because I had too many cake mixes in my kitchen! They are like sugar cookies but they are really moist and addicting! Keleen, they remind me of the cookies you buy in the summer from Fred Meyer with the delicious frosting that is caked on the top!

Preheat oven to: 350 degrees

Bake for: 15 minutes

Makes: About 4 dozen

Decorating: Varies in length depending how adventurous you are!



Ingredients:



• 1 package of cake mix. Any flavor will do. I usually use the Funfetti cake mix, its colors are fun!

• 1 large egg

• ¼ cup of oil

• ¼ cup of water

• 2 containers of vanilla frosting

• Various food colorings for cookies

Directions:

1. Put cake mix in a large bowl and add the water, oil and egg. Stir until well blended. (I always use my kitchen aid, but hand mixing works just as well!)

2. Drop a teaspoon of the mix down on a cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. ( I usually drop them in rows of 3 and columns of 3)

3. Bake them anywhere between 10-15 minutes. My oven is kind of sketch, so for you it might be more in the time of 15 minutes. But check them at around 10 minutes just incase!

4. Let them cool and then decorate as you so desire! I used stared tips with my cake decorating bags. It took a long time but the outcome is beautiful! :)