I am SO excited for today’s post! I posted these homemade Girl Scout cookies in my Instagram stories about a month ago and my DMs blew up asking for the recipe! I am thrilled to share the recipe and video for you! Let me tell you…these cookies are AMAZING! Seriously, perhaps my favorite cookies I’ve ever made. Which means you should make them too. Immediately.
In December of 2019, I began a major health change. When I was in middle school I was diagnosed with alopecia. I didn’t think much of it then. The dermatologist said that I would probably grow out of it, and to be honest, I didn’t really know what it was. However, in February of 2019, I started loosing a lot of my hair, and had multiple bald spots appearing on my head. I was really stressed out. We were in the middle of performing Swan Lake, and Nutcracker of 2018 was particularly stressful for me. Stress is a major trigger for autoimmune diseases.
My hair wasn’t growing back after 6 months like it normally did in the past. I tried seeing dermatologists which always resulted in discouragement and immense physical pain. They all told me there was no cure and the solution was steroid injections into my scalp every 4 weeks. I did not want to live that way.
I started researching autoimmune diseases and correlated diets, and I started seeing a gut specialist in Ft. Collins, CO. I completed a variety of tests, which confirmed a damaged gut microbiome. I was diagnosed with SIBO (small intestine bacterial overgrowth). I changed from being vegan to paleo which can aid autoimmune diseases. That means no grains, no gluten, no dairy, and no legumes.
As a baker, this was devastating news! I love food! Good food. We plan whole vacations around what we will eat! I didn’t want to only eat cardboard! Thankfully the evolution of our diet has revealed delicious variety and a lot of flavor, and these Homemade Samoas are one of those discoveries!
These cookies are grain-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free and refined sugar-free. Don’t let the absence of normal ingredients deter you! These are better than the real thing! Immunocompromised folks rejoice: we can eat cookies!
This recipe is adapted from Halfbaked Harvest’s Homemade Samoas and Danielle Walker’s Homemade Samoas. Enjoy!! xo, BB
HOMEMADE SAMOAS
Makes about 24 cookies
Shortbread:
-1 cup + 2 Tablespoons Almond Flour
-2 Tablespoons Arrowroot Powder
-1/8 teaspoon baking powder
-1/8 teaspoon sea salt
-2 Tablespoons Maple Syrup
-3 Tablespoons Vegan Butter (*I love the Miyoko’s European style Cultured Vegan Butter)
Coconut Topping:
-2 cups shredded unsweetened Coconut, toasted
-3/4 cup Maple Syrup
-1/2 cup canned full fat Coconut Cream (*use only the cream, not the coconut water in the can. This works best when you refrigerate the can of coconut milk or cream the night before you plan to make them and allow the cream to rise to the top. Then just scoop out the coconut cream!)
-1 Tablespoon Tahini (*you can also use cashew butter or almond butter, but the tahini adds such a lovely flavor to these cookies, I highly recommend you use it!)
Topping
-1 12oz. Bag of Vegan Chocolate Chips
-Flaky sea salt for sprinkling (*trust me, this will elevate these cookies to off-the-charts!)
Directions:
Make the Shortbread. Begin by preheating the oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet with a silpat or parchment.
In a food processor combine the almond flour, arrowroot powder, sea salt and baking powder. Pulse a few times. Then add the Maple Syrup and pulse again to combine. With the mixer on low, drop the butter in small 1 Tablespoon increments. And continue to mix until you have a ball of dough and the butter in completely incorporated. You may need to take it out and kneed a little bit by hand.
Use your hands to press the dough together to form a ball. Roll the ball of dough out between 2 sheets of parchment paper until it is about 1/8” thick. Using a 2” circle cookie cutter, cut out as many circles as you can. For the inner circle I used a large round piping tip. You are aiming for a donut shape. Carefully transport the cut out cookies to your baking sheet and gather your remaining scraps of dough and continue to roll out and cut as many cookies as you can.
Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, until they are just golden brown and firm. Allow them to cool.
While the oven is still on, place your shredded coconut on a baking sheet and toast. This takes about 5 minutes. Keep your eye on it because coconut can go from toasted to burnt in a matter of seconds! It will become fragrant and usually that is your cue for it being done!
Prepare the coconut topping by combining the maple syrup and coconut cream in a medium pot and bring to a boil. Boil until it has thickened (5-8 minutes). It will begin to look caramel-like in color and should coat the back of a spoon and sides of the pot as you stir. Remove from the heat and stir in the tahini. Let cool and then stir in the coconut.
Gently press the coconut mixture on top of the cookies and form a domed shape with your fingers. You should use about 1-2 teaspoons of coconut mixture per cookie. Place your finished cookies in the freezer for 15-20 min to chill and firm up. This will make the chocolate dipping easier!
Melt your chocolate in a heat proof bowl in the microwave in 30 sec increments. Pull the cookies out of the freezer and dip the bottom of the cookies in the melted chocolate, scrapping away the excess on the side of the down as you pull them out. Place them back on the baking sheet with parchment paper. Once you have dipped the bottoms, fill a pastry bag with the remaining melted chocolate and either cut a very small hole in the tip or use a piping tip that is very small, and drizzle the cookies with the chocolate. Don’t forget to sprinkle with the sea salt!
Eat and ENJOY! If you don’t eat them right away, these cookies store well in both the freezer for months, or the fridge for a couple of weeks.