Homemade, gluten free Samoas Girl Scout cookies

One thing I absolutely love and have totally missed since being on a gluten-free diet are girl scout cookies.  I haven’t had one in over 6 years and it kills me every time I see those boxes around.  When I saw a recipe on Pinterest I just had to give it a shot and adapt a version for them to be gluten-free. I am not the best cook around but I was determined to make these cookies and they turned out pretty good.  They are not very pretty but to me it is the taste that makes all the difference so don’t judge my decorating skills. It was my first attempt at these but I just had to share them right away so everyone can enjoy these amazing cookies.

When looking at the original recipe that I found the cookie that they were making was a shortbread and after looking up some recipes online and through my cookbooks I couldn’t really find a recipe that I liked very much.  Also, out of all the cookies that I have made I have never made gluten-free shortbread before so it was going to be trial and error for me.  I decided to just adapt the recipe that was on the website and see how it goes.  I substituted the flour for Pamela's Baking and Pancake Mix, which I love to make cookies with because they always turn out good.  I love the different flours that are used in it and it just gives the cookies and great flavor.  Since the mix already has baking powder in it, I just omitted that from the recipe and pretty much followed it from there with a few small changes here and there.  All in all I was very pleased with how it turned out and can’t stop eating them! I have had to give them away as much as I can because they are just too good for words and they have definitely satisfied that craving for those Samoas Girl Scout cookies that I have been missing so much.  So if you are gluten-free and are like me, missing these in your life, I hope these satisfy you as much as they have me.

 

Homemade Gluten-free Samoas Girl Scout Cookies

Ingredients:

 

For the cookies:

 

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature

1/2 cup of sugar

2 1/2 cups of Pamela's Baking and Pancake Mix

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 Tablespoons milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

sweet rice flour for rolling

 

For the coconut topping:

 

3 cups shredded sweetened coconut

15 ounces of store bought caramels

3 Tablespoons milk

1/4 teaspoon salt

8 ounces (1 1/3 cups chocolate chips) dark chocolate

 

Directions:

 

Make the cookies:

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

 

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

 

In a separate bowl, whisk together the baking mix and salt. Slowly add mix to the creamed butter making sure to scrap down the sides of the bowl when necessary.  Add the milk and vanilla extract, blending until combined and the dough begins to come together.

 

Use your hands to divide the dough in half, pressing it together to compact it into two disks. Wrap the disks in plastic wrap and refrigerate them until firm, about 1 hour.

 

Once the dough has chilled, roll each disk out onto a lightly floured surface. (Gluten-free dough can be a little tricky and what worked best for me was to work it a little bit with my hands to warm it up slightly.  Make sure the surface and the rolling pin both have flour on it or it will stick and fall apart. Just play with it until it’s warm enough to roll out.) Roll out each disk until it is 1/8 inch thick. Cut out as many cookies as possible with a doughnut-shaped cookie cutter. (I didn’t have a doughnut cookie cutter so I just found stuff in my kitchen and improvised and it worked great.) Place the cut-out cookies on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough.  The dough will be fragile so be careful when transferring to the baking sheet.  It is a good idea to have well floured hands.

 

Bake the cookies for 10 minutes until the cookies are a very pale golden brown.  (Once you see any kind of brown on them take them out or they will be over done.) Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

 

Make the coconut topping:

 

Spread the coconut flakes onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake the coconut for about 10 minutes in a 350 degree 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 it aside.

 

Melt the caramels, milk and salt in a double-boiler by placing the caramels in a medium saucepot set over a large saucepot of simmering water.  Cook, stirring, until the caramels are fully melted.  Remove the saucepot from the heat and combine 3/4 of the caramel with the toasted coconut in a large bowl.

 

Carefully spread the remaining 1/4 cup of caramel atop the cooled cookies, then press on a portion of the coconut mixture.  Let the cookies cool for 30 minutes. If the 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 the dark chocolate in a double-broiler 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 cookies sit until the chocolate hardens fully.