Gluten and Casein Free Samoa Cookies

Longing for a Girl Scout Samoa Cookie? 

My family gives this recipe five stars! 

Cookie Ingredients

• 1  1/4 cup butter (Earth Balance for CF)
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 3 1/4 cup gluten free flour (we used our Favorite Gluten Free Flour Recipe)
• 3/4 t xanthan gum

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F and line cookie sheets with parchment paper. 

Beat the butter and sugar on medium speed for 5 minutes.  The mixture will become light in color and very soft and fluffy.

Fold in the flour by hand.  (It may not seem like it, but just keep folding it in and it will all stick together).

Roll the dough into tablespoon-sized balls and flatten with the bottom of a glass that has been dipped in sugar to prevent the dough from sticking.  Cut out the middle of the cookies with an apple corer. 

(The shape of the cookie is really up to you, but my daughter really wanted cookies that were round like the original Samoa’s and I figured I was already doing this much work, so we might as well go ahead and make them donut shaped.  However, to make this recipe less time consuming, you could just make round cookies).

Bake for 18 minutes until they are a very pale golden color.  Yields about 4 dozen cookies.  They tasted fantastic as this point, so you may want to save some like this to eat.

For the Chocolate Bottoms

• 1 cup melted chocolate (Enjoy Life semi-sweet chocolate chips are both  gluten and casein free)

Melt in the microwave on 50% stopping to stir every 30 seconds.  These do not take long to melt.

Flip the cookies over and coat the bottom with a layer of chocolate.  We found it easiest to do this with a spatula.  Put in the refrigerator or the freezer to set the chocolate.  

For the Topping

• 6 T butter (Earth Balance for CF)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup corn syrup
• 1/2 cup condensed milk (or 1/4 cup almond milk for CF)
• 1/2 t vanilla
• 2 1/2 cups toasted coconut

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.  Spread coconut evenly on a cookie sheet and toast for 12 minutes or until it is golden brown.  Check to make sure it does not burn.

In a 2 quart saucepan over medium low heat, combine the butter, sugar and corn syrup. 

Stirring constantly, heat to a full boil.  Boil 3 minutes.

Continuing to constantly stir, add either the condensed milk or the almond milk.

Cook over low heat until candy thermometer reaches 220 degrees.

Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.

Beat with an electric mixer for 4 minutes then stir in the toasted coconut and mix well.

Top the cookies with the mixture.  We used a butter knife.  The mixture sets fast so if it gets hard warm in the microwave or keep it in a warming drawer.

The Grand Finale

• 1 cup melted chocolate (Enjoy Life semi-sweet chocolate chips are both gluten and casein free)

Melt in the microwave on 50% stopping to stir every 30 seconds.  These do not take long to melt.   Use a pastry bag or a Ziploc bag with a small whole cut in the corner and add the signature chocolate swirl across the top of the cookies.  Store in the refrigerator.

This recipe takes quite a commitment, but it was worth it for my daughter who had not eaten Samoa’s in three years.  You can cut the work in half by not cutting out the round center.   Not only was it time consuming to cut out the centers, but the donut shape made it a lot harder to add the chocolate on the bottom and coat the tops of the cookies.