As you probably (or should) already know it is Girl Scout cookie season!! Jeff and I bought our first ones of the season a few weeks ago at a grocery story near my parent's house. How can you say no to the little girls selling them? I used to be one of those girls, so I always feel bad for them and have to buy a box (or 2 or 3). Today Jeff and I decided that $3.50 was far too much money for a box of a few cookies, and made our own!
We took a lot of pictures for this post, so hopefully you can follow along! First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. While the oven is preheating, begin my mixing the butter and sugar together in a large sized bowl.
Next, add in the flour, salt and baking powder.
Finally, add the vanilla extract and milk and you should have batter that looks something like this (who needs spoons when you have hands?):
Now the fun begins! 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 it as many times as you need to. After cutting about 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 you may want to begin getting your ingredients ready for the topping!
Unwrap the caramels. Place in a bowl with the 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 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). Please note: those are not my manly fingers...they are Jeff's.
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 the remaining chocolate into a zip block bag and cut a small hole in 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!
This recipe could put those cute little Girl Scouts out of business ;)
We are heading to Chipotle (our favorite) for dinner with my sister and brother-in-law tonight. Waking up bright and early to pick up our new puppy Ollie! Pictures will most definitely be posted tomorrow of our new little family. Hope you're enjoying your weekend as much as we are!
