Homemade Vegan Samoas Cookies

Did you know there are now FIVE vegan Girl Scout cookies? What a time to be alive! They are: Lemonades (ABC Bakers), Peanut Butter Patties (ABC Bakers), S’mores (ABC Bakers), Thanks-A-Lots (ABC Bakers), and Thin Mints.

Learn more about GSA and their cookies here!

These vegan treats support young girls and women as they build essential life skills and friendships. What’s sweeter than that?

If you wondered why I specified some of the cookies are only vegan when ABC Bakers makes them, you’re not alone! The first time I bought Girl Scout cookies after becoming vegan, I assumed the chocolate-covered peanut butter coin cookies were safe. Imagine my surprise and disappointment when I brought Tagalongs home and found whey and milk in the ingredients and allergy list. There are two bakeries the GSA uses for their cookies– Little Brownie Bakers and ABC Bakers. For whatever reason, ABC Bakers makes more cookies without animal products.

Unfortunately, neither coconut and caramel cookie–Samoas by Little Brownie Bakers or Caramel DeLites by ABC Bakers– are vegan. I love the combination of a crisp biscuit cookie with rich chocolate and caramel. But Samoas/Caramel DeLites both use condensed milk, so I set out to make my own.

It was surprisingly fun and relatively simple to make these, though there is some work involved in cutting and layering the shortbread cookies. If you wanted to make it easier, I recommend cutting the dough as a circle rather than a ring. You could also skip the chocolate drizzle, but I think that what makes it look the most like these iconic and delicious cookies.

Time: 1 hour

Serves: 2 dozen

Shortbread Cookie Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup vegan butter
• 1/4 cup sugar
• splash of dairy-free milk
• 1 cup flour
• 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Topping Ingredients:

• 1 cup dark chocolate morsels (dairy-free brands like Enjoy Life chocolate chips would also work!)
• 3/4 cup shredded coconut
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon vegan butter
• 1/4 cup coconut milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Prepare your work station with 3 bowls, a blender, parchment paper, a roller, and tools for cutting cookies.
2. Beat vegan butter (I often use Earth Balance sunflower or coconut butter in dessert recipes) sugar and dairy-free milk in a medium bowl.
3. Add flour, baking powder and salt, kneading into a ball. Let it set in the fridge for about 15 minutes.
4. On a clean, floured surface, roll out to dough to be between 1/4 and 1/2 inch thick. Cut the dough into your desired shape– for the design most recognized as Samoas, I pressed down a regular mason mouth for the circle shape and a water bottle mouth the make it into a ring.
5. Place cookies on sheet an inch apartment from each other, and bake for 10 to 12 minutes.
6. Melt dark chocolate in the microwave at increments of 30 seconds. Dip underside of fully-cooled cookies in chocolate, and place back in the fridge, bottoms up, to harden.
7. To make the caramel, melt sugar in a pot on medium heat. As the sugar melts, it will get sticky and slightly change colors, add vegan butter and coconut milk when it starts smoking.
8. Stir into bowl with shredded coconut and vanilla extract.
9. By now, the chocolate bottom of your cookies should be set. Take them out and cover the top side (without chocolate coating) with coconut caramel spread.
10. Option but encouraged: Drizzle with more chocolate!