Don't wait for the once a year Girl Scout Cookie sale. Make your own Samoas at home with this recipe.
Cookies:
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 c. sugar
2 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
2 T. milk
1/2 t. vanilla extract
Coconut topping:
3 c. shredded sweetened coconut
15 oz. store-bought or homemade soft caramels
3 T. milk
1/4 t. salt
8 oz. dark chocolate
Preheat oven to 350ºF.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. In three increments, add flour mixture to creamed butter, mixing between each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add milk and vanilla extract, blending until combined and dough begins to come together in large pieces.
Use your hands to divide the dough in half, pressing it together to compact it into two disks. Wrap disks securely in plastic wrap and refrigerate them until firm, about 1 hour.
Once dough has chilled, roll each disk out onto a lightly floured surface until it is 1/8-inch thick. Cut out as many cookies as possible with a doughnut-shaped cookie cutter. Place cut-out cookies on a Silpat or parchment paper-lined baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough.
Bake cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the baking sheet half-way through, until cookies are pale golden brown. Transfer cookies to a wire wrack to cool completely.
Coconut topping:
Spread coconut flakes onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake coconut for about 10 minutes in a 350º oven until toasted, stirring frequently to ensure even browning and so that it does not burn. Remove the toasted coconut from the oven and set aside.
Melt caramels, milk and salt in a double-boiler by placing caramels in a medium saucepot set over a large saucepot of simmering water. Cook, stirring, until caramels are fully melted. Remove saucepot from heat and combine 3/4 of the caramel with the toasted coconut in a large bowl.
Carefully spread remaining 1/4 cup caramel atop the cooled cookies then press on a portion of the coconut mixture. Let the cookies cool for 30 minutes. If caramel-coconut mixture thickens too much at any point while pressing it onto the cookies, return it to the double-boiler and warm it until it's spreadable again.
Melt dark chocolate in a double-boiler or in the microwave. Dip the bottoms of the cookies in the chocolate and place them on a wax paper-lined baking sheet. Use a fork to drizzle the tops with chocolate. Let the cookies sit until the chocolate hardens fully.
**If the dough is too firm to roll out after being refrigerated, let it rest at room temperature for 10 minutes before rolling and cutting out the cookies.
Makes about 4 dozen