It’s that time of year again; time to buy your Girl Scout cookies. Except now you can make your own! Enjoy these homemade versions of Samoas and Tagalongs all year round.

Samoas

Ingredients:

Cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

½ cup sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons milk

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Coconut Topping

3 cups shredded sweetened coconut

15 oz store-bought caramels

3 tablespoons milk

¼ teaspoon salt

8 oz dark chocolate

Prep time: 2 hours

Cook time: 20 minutes

Makes 4 dozen

Cookies:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Use a stand mixer to cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. In small increments, add flour mixture to creamed butter, mixing in between each addition. Add milk and vanilla extract, blending until combined and the dough begins to come together in large pieces. Use your hand to divide the dough in half, pressing it together to compact it into two disks. Wrap the disks securely in plastic wrap and refrigerate them until firm (about 1 hour).

After the dough has chilled, roll each disk out onto a lightly floured surface until it is ⅛ inch thick. Cut out as many cookies as possible with a doughnut-shaped cookie cutter. Place the cut-out cookies on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough.

Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes, rotating the baking sheet halfway through, until the cookies are pale golden brown. Transfer the cookies to a wire wrack to cool.

Coconut Topping:
Spread coconut flakes onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake the coconut for about 10 minutes in a 350°F oven until toasted. Stir frequently to ensure even browning. Remove toasted coconut from oven and set aside.  Melt caramels, milk, and salt in a double-boiler by placing the caramels in a medium sauce pot set over a large sauce pot of simmering water. Cook, stirring until the caramels are fully melted. Remove the sauce pot from the heat and combine ¾ of the caramel with the toasted coconut in a large bowl.

Spread the remaining ¼ cup of caramel atop the cooled cookies then press on some of the coconut mixture. Let cookies cool for 30 minutes. If caramel-coconut mixture thickens too much at any point, put it back in the double-boiler and warm until it becomes spreadable again.

Melt dark chocolate in a double-boiler or in the microwave. Dip the bottoms of the cookies in the chocolate and then place cookies on wax paper-lined baking sheet. Use a fork to drizzle the tops with chocolate. Let cookies sit until chocolate completely hardens.

Tagalongs

Ingredients:

Shortbread Cookie

¾ lb. salted butter, room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

3 ½ cups all purpose flour

Salt, if desired

Peanut Butter Filling

1 ¼ cup all natural peanut butter

1 cup powder sugar, sifted

Chocolate Coat

1 lb. milk chocolate dipping candy

Prep time: 45 minutes

Cook time: 30 minutes

Makes 2 – 2 ½ dozen

Shortbread Cookie:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix together the butter and 1 cup of sugar until they are just combined. Add the vanilla. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and salt if wanted, then add them to the butter-and-sugar mixture. Mix on low speed until the dough starts to come together. Dump onto a surface dusted with flour and shape into a flat disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.

Roll the dough 1/2-inch thick and cut with a 3 by 1-inch finger-shaped cutter. Place the cookies on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 14-16 minutes, until the edges begin to brown. Allow to cool to room temperature.

Once cool, take out peanut butter balls from the fridge. Using a spatula, remove the peanut butter from the pan. Place 1 ball in the middle of the shortbread cookie and use a butter knife to spread the peanut butter around the cookie. Repeat with remaining peanut butter balls and cookies. You will have some left over cookies (8-10) – just dip those in the left over chocolate.

Peanut Butter Filling:

In a small mixing bowl, mix together peanut butter and powder sugar until it’s completely blended and no sugar can be seen. On a cooking sheet, lay wax paper or grease the pan with cooking spray. Place ½ tablespoon of the peanut butter mixture on the prepared pan. I use my cookie dough scooper and use only ½ of scooper full of the peanut butter (I just eye ball it). Set in the refrigerator while making the cookies.

Chocolate Coat:

Melt chocolate per directions of the package. Once melted, place the cookie on a fork and dip into the chocolate. Remove the cookie from the chocolate once it is fully covered while still on the fork. Let the excess chocolate drip off and transfer on to wax paper to cool or greased cooling rack to harden.