3 Girl Scout Cookies 1 Dough!

Once a year Girl Scouts (Girls ages 5-18) Practice Fundraising They sale these magic iconic cookies. People buy boxes to freeze to enjoy all year. Feel free to dazzle family and friends this holiday season. The base cookie is shortbread. Each cookie has it own unique spin. This year I’m setting up a cookie bar with all the toppings. By Claire Saffitz of BA.

Somas are my fav.... yummy toasted coconut. wrapped in caramel and chocolate.

Tagalongs..... Peanut butter and chocolate.

Classic Thin Mints. lite cool mint wrapped in chocolate.

Ingredients 

Flour

Cornstarch

Kosher salt

Baking powder

Unsalted butter (room temperature)

Egg white (room temperature)

Natural smooth peanut butter Splash of vanilla

Salt

Sugar 

Vanilla

Black cocoa

Dutch processed cocoa

Peppermint extract 

Milk/Dark Chocolate bar 

cocoa butter 

Shredded unsweetened dry coconut flakes

Corn syrup

Heavy cream

coconut oil 

Dough: Tagalongs 

1 1⁄2 cups flour

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 sticks of unsalted butter (room temperature) 

1⁄2 cup of powdered sugar

1 large egg white (room temperature)

2 teaspoons of vanilla 

Whisk together dry ingredients and set aside. 

Beat the butter until smooth, add the 1⁄2 cup of powdered sugar beat until light, add the egg white and 2 teaspoons of vanilla beat until fluffy and smooth. 

Add the dry ingredients and mix on low until combined. Form into a disc and chill until cold. 

Bake cookies at 350 degree Fahrenheit until very lightly golden on the bottoms, about ten minutes. 

Tagalongs 

Without having access to the silicon she used, I’m not sure how to manage this. My best guess would be to scoop 1-2 tablespoons of the batter and create a shallow thumbprint like cookie. They won’t look identical but I do think it needs the well like space to hold the peanut butter. 

1 cup of natural smooth peanut butter Splash of vanilla

Pinch of salt

1⁄2 cup granulated sugar 

3 tablespoons water

Powdered sugar, to sweeten if desired 

Add the 1 cup of natural smooth peanut butter, splash of vanilla and pinch of salt to the mixer. Mix briefly to combine. 

Bring 1⁄2 cup of granulated sugar and 3 tablespoons of water to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Boil until the sugar syrup reaches 348 Fahrenheit. Turn the mixer on medium high and slowly stream all but a couple of tablespoons of the sugar syrup into the peanut butter. Transfer to a bowl and let cool, stir in more powdered sugar to sweeten if desired. 

Once the cookie base is cooled, use an offset spatula to fill the well with peanut butter. Chill the cookies. 

ASSEMBLY: 

12 ounces of milk chocolate (Note: this is enough for both Samoas and Tagalongs) 1.2 ounces of cocoa butter 

Gently melt the chocolate and cocoa butter in a double boiler over medium heat. Dip a chilled cookie one at a time and fully enrobe the cookies in chocolate, using a fork or chocolate dipping tools, allowing the excess to drip off. 

Place cookies on a sil-pat or parchment line chilled baking sheet. 

Dough: Samoa 

1 1⁄2 cups flour

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 sticks of unsalted butter (room temperature) 1⁄2 cup of powdered sugar

1 large egg white (room temperature)

2 teaspoons of vanilla 

Whisk together dry ingredients and set aside. 

Beat the butter until smooth, add the 1⁄2 cup of powdered sugar beat until light, add the egg white and 2 teaspoons of vanilla beat until fluffy and smooth. 

Add the dry ingredients and mix on low until combined. Form into a disc and chill until cold. 

Bake cookies at 350 degree Fahrenheit until very lightly golden on the bottoms, about ten minutes. 

Samoa topping

Roll half of the dough into a 1/8th of an inch thick slab, punch out Samoa sized cookies, using a round cutter for the larger circle and the wide end of a pastry tip for the smaller circle. Use an appropriate sized cutter or bottle to make an imprint running around each wreath (Claire said this was important for the caramel to stick to the cookie?! Seems a bit overkill for me, but I dunno.) 

1 cup of finely shredded unsweetened dry coconut flakes 3⁄4 cup of sugar

2 tablespoons corn syrup

2 tablespoons of water 

1⁄2 cup of heavy cream

2 tablespoons virgin coconut oil 

Toast 1 cup of finely shredded unsweetened dry coconut flakes in a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven, tossing once, until golden brown all over. 

Combine 3⁄4 cup sugar, two tablespoons corn syrup and 2 tablespoons of water in a small sauce pan and stir over medium heat to dissolve the sugar, bring to a boil and cook while swirling the pot and washing down the sides with a wet pastry brush until the mixture turns a deep amber color. Slowly stream in 1⁄2 cup of heavy cream, pour carefully as the mixture will sputter, followed by 2 tablespoons of virgin coconut oil, stir until the mixture is smooth. Cook until the mixture is 250 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Once the cookie base is cool, work a small amount of chilled caramel onto the Samoa cookie base, using an offset spatula to evenly smooth the caramel. Dip the cookie caramel side down into the toast coconut. Chill the cookies. 

ASSEMBLY: 

12 ounces of milk chocolate (Note: this is enough for both Samoas and Tagalongs) 1.2 ounces of cocoa butter 

Gently melt the chocolate and cocoa butter in a double boiler over medium heat. Carefully dip just the bottom of the cookie into the melted chocolate, using a fork or chocolate tools to shake off the excess. Place cookie on a chilled sil-pat or parchment lined cookie sheet. Once you are done coating the Tagalongs and dipping the Samoas, scrape all the excess chocolate into a piping bag and carefully zig zag lines across the top of the Samoa cookies. 

Dough: Thin Mints 

3⁄4 cup flour

1 tablespoon black cocoa

1 tablespoon dutch processed cocoa

1⁄2 teaspoon kosher salt

1⁄2 teaspoon baking powder

1 stick unsalted butter (room temperature)

1⁄4 cup of powdered sugar

Approx. half an egg white (I guess, she just said to halve the first recipe for the Thin Mint recipe?) 1 teaspoon vanilla

1⁄4 teaspoon peppermint extract 

Whisk together dry ingredients and set aside. 

Beat the butter until smooth, add the 1⁄4 cup of powdered sugar beat until light, add the half egg white and 1 teaspoon of vanilla and 1⁄4 teaspoon of mint and beat until fluffy and smooth. 

Add the dry ingredients and mix on low until combined.

Form into a disc and chill until cold.

Roll into a 1/8th of an inch thick slab, punch out thin mint sized cookies Bake cookies at 350 degree Fahrenheit for about ten minutes.

ASSEMBLY: 

8 ounces of dark chocolate .8 ounces of cocoa butter Peppermint extract (to taste) 

Gently melt the chocolate, cocoa butter and peppermint extract in a double boiler over medium heat. Once melted, dip the cookies in one at a time to fully enrobe them. Using a fork or chocolate tools shake off the excess chocolate and place on a chilled sil-pat or parchment lined cookie sheet.