Samoas

I cannot even express how excited I am right now. I made Samoas (or Caramel de-Lites depending on which region of the USA you live in)!! But not just any Samoas, VEGAN, GLUTEN-FREE, REFINED SUGAR-FREE SAMOAS. Not only do you get Samoas year-round now, but they also won't kill you. You can go ahead and say thank you right now. ;)

Now, if you aren't from amurrica, you probably have no clue what I'm talking about or why I'm typing in all-caps. Samoas are a type of Girl Scout Cookie. The best Girl Scout Cookie, in my humble opinion (which also happens to be the truth). Many people will try to tell you that Thin Mints are the best Girl Scout Cookies, but they are either sadistic liars or lack taste-buds.

What are Girl Scout Cookies, you ask? Oh, right. Girl Scout cookies are sold once a year by Girl Scouts (little ragamuffins who do stuff, earn badges, and camp occasionally. tbh, their real purpose in life is to sell Girl Scout Cookies once a year. that's really all anyone cares about). These cookies are evil. Not only do the cookies try to kill you, but they are also only available ONCE A YEAR. So, you buy five thousand boxes of them, because they are no joke the BEST cookies in the entire world, to stockpile for the upcoming year. However, you fail miserably to refrain from devouring them the first day, and then you are on your way to developing type 2 diabetes and dying (okay, that's a bit dramatic, but you'll feel like crap).

 Samoas themselves are chocolate covered shortbread cookies with caramel coconut on top. And they're just JFIUFISBFIWBIbiewribgsgoidgfooioenfowfNJBNIDSBIIgssf. Like I can't even. Just go ahead and try the recipe. Of course, they aren't authentic cookies, but I, as a Samoa-connoisseur, can barely tell a difference (except that I don't get awful food-sensitivity symptoms after eating one).

You'll need:
for the cookies: 1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tablespoon almond milk
1 cup buckwheat flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Pre-heat the oven to 180 C. Line a tray with baking paper or oil a baking tray. Mix up the wet, add the dry. Flour a surface and, using a rolling pin, roll out the dough. Then cut the cookies into doughnut shapes (I didn't have any suitable cookies cutters because I'm sorry, but I'm not Betty Crocker, but I used a mason jar for the large ring and a bottle cap for the small ring). Bake for 5-10 minutes, until they turn a light golden-brown.

for the coconut caramel: 1 1/4 cup shredded coconut
13 medjool dates
almond milk

Leave the oven on 180 C and line a baking tray with baking paper. Spread the coconut evenly on the tray and cook for about 2-5 minutes, constantly checking on the coconut (because it burns REALLY fast) and stirring it around so it cooks evenly. You want it to be just slightly brown. Remove from the oven and let it cool. Remove the pits from the dates. Blend the dates and almond milk in the food processor (you'll want a little bit less almond milk than it would take to cover up the dates, but start with a little and add more. you want the caramel to be pretty thick in this case). Add your date caramel and shredded coconut to a mixing bowl and combine.

for the chocolate: 2 tablespoons cocoa/cacao powder
1/2 tablespoon agave
water

Combine cocoa/cacao powder and agave and slowly add water until you get a thick chocolate sauce. Dip the bottoms of the cookies in the chocolate sauce and place them back on the baking paper. You should still have some chocolate sauce left to drizzle on top of the Samoas, but if not, just make a bit more.

Press the caramel coconut mix on top of the cookies and then drizzle the remaining chocolate sauce. Put the cookies in the freezer overnight so the caramel and chocolate hardens up. And enjoy eating vegan, gluten-free, refined sugar-free Girl Scout Cookies anytime of year!