Gluten-Free Samoa Girl Scout Cookies

Katie found this recipe on a gluten-free blog recently. I love trying new things and I'm always experimenting to try to make the most delicous treats without using wheat flour or gluten. These cookies are just like our favorite Girl Scout Cookies, but homemade and gluten-free. These have always been my mom's favorite Girl Scout cookie too, which is fitting since today is her birthday! Happy Birthday, Mom!!!

I think the Girl Scouts have changed the name of the Samoa cookies, but they still look and taste the same as they always did. You could make these cookies with regular wheat all-purpose flour, but I don't think the flavor would be as good. The flour combination makes the shortbread cookie base so tasty.

Gluten-Free Samoa Girl Scout Cookies
1 stick plus two tablespoons butter at room temperature
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup almond flour
1/2 cup plus two tablespoons coconut flour
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 cup chocolate chips

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

Beat the butter and sugar using an electric mixer on medium speed for 5 minutes until the mixture becomes light and fluffy. Mix in the flours and xanthan gum, finishing by hand if necessary.

I use a small cookie scoop to get uniform amounts of dough (about 1 1/2 tablespoons each). Roll the dough into balls and flatten with the the palm of a clean hand onto the cookie sheets.  I cut out the middle of the cookies with a pastry bag tip, but you could skip the hole in the middle if you like.

Bake for about 18 minutes or until light golden brown.

Remove the cookies from oven and allow to cool.

Melt half of the chocolate in a small bowl in the microwave at 30 second intervals using the 50% power setting until smooth. Using a knife, spread the melted chocolate on the bottom of each cookie. Place the cookies in the refrigerator or freezer to allow the chocolate to set.

In a small saucepan, melt 3 tablespoons butter, 1/4 cup sugar, and 1/4 cup corn syrup. Bring to a boil and boil for 3 minutes, stirring continuously. Add 2 tablespoons almond milk (or 1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk) and cook until the mixture reaches 220 degrees on a candy thermometer. Remove from heat and stir in 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Using an electric mixer, beat for about 4 minutes, then stir in 1 cup toasted coconut. Check out this post for how to toast coconut.

Using a knife, spread the coconut mixture onto the top of each cookie. This is the hardest part because the mixture cools very quickly and becomes too stiff to spread. You can heat it up a little in the microwave or sit your bowl over a pot of barely simmering water to keep the temperature warm while "frosting" the cookies.

Melt the remaining chocolate in the same way you did earlier. Place the melted chocolate into a ziplock bag and cut a small hole on one corner. Drizzle each cookie with the chocolate. Store in the refrigerator.

Enjoy!!!



recipe slightly adapted from glutenfreemom.com