Introducing a new cookie...

my son calls it the Boy Scout's Turtle Cookie. The cookie experiment came about with the timing of the Girl Scout's annual cookie sale. One of our family's favorite is the toasted coconut caramel and chocolate cookie called the 'Samoas'. We have included a link to a Samoas recipe from Nicole's Blog site call Baking Bites Nicole has many other wonderful recipes, including recipes from other 'Girl Scouts' cookies.

This is a 3 part recipe for making this cookie. The cookies are fairly time consuming to make, if you take your time and have fun, the results will be well worth it. Your time will be well rewarded.



Step 1: Shortbread Cookie base recipe

1 cup unsalted butter, soften
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups AP flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup finely chopped toasted pecans
up to 2 tbsp milk

1. Cream together butter and sugar in large mixing bowl.
2. Mix in sifted flour/baking powder/salt at low speed, followed by vanilla and milk as need. Add in finely chopped pecans.
3. The dough should come together as a not too sticky ball.
4. Place the dough on a large piece of parchment or wax paper.
5. Smooth and shape the dough into an evenly shaped log that is about 8 inches long. Then thoroughly wrap the shaped log in the parchment or wax paper, twists the ends of the paper to seal the log, and place in the refrigerator to chill for at least three hours, or up to three days. (The log can also be frozen for about one month. If freezing, it is best to let the log stand at room temperature about 15-20 minutes before slicing.)
6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F with the rack in the center of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
7. Using a thin bladed knife, slice the log into 1/4 inch (5 mm) thick slices. Place the cookies on the prepared baking sheets, spacing about 2 inches (5 cm) apart. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until lightly browned. Remove from oven and cool completely on a wire rack.

Caramels

2 cups white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup corn syrup
1 cup evaporated milk
1 pint heavy whipping cream
1 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Grease a 8"X8" pan or line the pan with parchment paper.
2. In a medium-size pot, combine sugar, brown sugar, corn syrup, evaporated milk, whipping cream, and butter. Monitor the heat of the mixture with a candy thermometer while stirring. When the thermometer reaches 250 degrees F (120 degrees C) remove the pot from the heat.
3. Stir in vanilla. Transfer 1/2 of the mixture to the prepared pan and let the mixture cool completely. When cooled cut the Carmel into small squares and wrap them in wax paper for storage.

Step 2: Caramel Coconut topping with toasted pecans

1/2 pan of Caramel recipe
1 cup toasted unsweetened shredded coconut
2 cups toasted pecans halves

For the Caramel Coconut topping, add the following to the caramel mixture left in the pot:
1 cup shredded toasted unsweetened coconut**

**For toasting coconut, preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Spread coconut on a parchment lined baking sheet with sides and toast 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes, until coconut is golden. Cool on baking sheet, stirring occasionally. Set aside.

1. While caramel/coconut mixture is still warm, use a small offset spatula to spread the mixture on the center of the shortbread cookie base.
2. Pat on the toasted pecans on top of warm caramel mixture.
3. While the caramel/coconut and pecans set up on the cookie base. Prepare the chocolate topping.

Step 3: Chocolate coating:

8 ounces chopped dark or semisweet chocolate chips

1. Melt chocolate in a small bowl. Heat on high in the microwave in 45 second intervals, stirring thoroughly to prevent scorching. Dip the base of each cookie into the chocolate and place on a clean piece of parchment paper. After dipping all the cookies, transfer the remaining chocolate to a small Ziploc sandwich bag with the corner snipped off and drizzle finished cookies with chocolate.
2. Let chocolate set completely before storing in an airtight container.

The recipe makes about 3 dozen cookies.