Samoa Cookie Dupe
Recently the other night I was looking for a sweet treat before bed and luckily found a box of Girl Scout Mint Thins that I had bought a few months back. As much as I loved snacking on them, my heart had always been drawn to the Samoas Girl Scout cookies. You know what I’m talking out right? The chewy cookies with caramel, coconut, and chocolaty stripes that are oh so good, but unfortunately far from vegan. Back in high school I would eat them by the handful, but since I went vegan so many years ago, I had to give up this guilty dessert.
That’s when I had an idea, why not try making a homemade vegan, gluten-free version of a Samoa Girl Scout cookie as a fun and tasty recipe. The result was way better than I could have ever intended because these turned out to be a wildy delicious and minimal ingredient treat that captured the flavors and textures of the classic Samoa cookie. Best part is you can make these in under 30 minutes and is perfect for whipping up a yummy dessert last minute. Don’t forget, I of course made them all refined sugar free, dairy free, and gluten free too. Duh!
This recipe is:
only 7 ingredients
dairy free and gluten free
kid friendly
simple & easy
a girl scout cookie dupe
Don’t forget to tag me over on IG @chef_bai and I’ll repost your beautiful creations for everyone to see!
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Makes about 18-20 cookies:
The Goods:
15 dates, pitted
1/3 cup almond butter
1/4 cup agave
1 cup almond flour
1 cup coconut flakes
1/2 cup melted chocolate
1 tsp coconut oil
The Method:
Preheat oven to 350.
Grab a food processor and add the 15 dates, almond butter, and agave first. Start by pulsing for about 10-20 seconds, then blend on high for 60 seconds until all the dates are shredded into tiny little bits.
Next, sprinkle in the almond flour and coconut flakes, and like you did before, start by pulsing it for about 10-20 seconds to get everything moving. Then blend on low for 1-2 minutes until you have a sticky and clumpy consistency. If it clumps up on the sides, just turn it off and use a spatula to scrap down the sides and blend again until it’s all mixed into a thick paste. If you try on a high setting I found that it clumped up faster, so the low setting works best here. When you reached the desired consistency, set aside.
Line a large (lighter colored) baking sheet pan with parchment paper. (The lighter colored baking sheet will help bake the cookies the right amount. If you have a darker sheet pan, your cookies may be slightly more crispy on the bottom.)
Using a small ice cream scooper, scoop out about a tablespoon size ball of batter onto the sheet pan. Keep them slightly spaced out and repeat until you have used up all the batter. (About 18-20 cookies.)
Now, with clean hands, take each ball and roll them into perfect little balls with your palms. After you rolled them out into balls, place them back onto the parchment paper. Gently squash them down with your palm until each ball has a flat top. Not too much that they break apart, but just a little bit to get an oval shape.
Take the round end of a spoon handle or use a chop stick, and make a hole in the center of each cookie by poking it though while they are on the baking sheet. Look at the picture above and below for reference.
When all your cookies have a small hole punched through, bake them 12-13 minutes. They will still be soft and chewy, which is exactly what we want here for this recipe.
Remove them from the oven and let them cool completely on the sheet pan. As the cookies are cooling, the hot sheet pan will keep cooking the bottom of the cookies. This means they will have a soft top and slightly tougher underside.
As the cookies are cooling, grab your chocolate chips, coconut oil and heat them up in a microwave safe bowl in 30 second increments until you have melted chocolate. Stir with a spoon in between each cooking cycle. When the chocolate is fully melted, just keep the bowl in the microwave to keep warm until the cookies are cooled off.
After the cookies are fully cooled, grab your melted chocolate and carefully drizzle the chocolate over all the cookies with spoon, and don’t be shy, more chocolate the better! (Bai’s Tip: If you don’t want to drizzle, you can take each cookie and dip half of it into the chocolate to have a half cookie/half chocolate effect.)
When all the cookies are ready, place them into the fridge for about 5-10 minutes uncovered to harden the chocolate.
Transfer the cookies into a large bowl and keep in the fridge until it’s snack time! Serve as a cold treat for your next dessert, or just eat them by themselves with your favorite plant milk of choice.
Consume within 5-7 days for optimal freshness.
Thanks so much for checking out our recipes! I hope you find something here that satisfies your cravings or encourages you to try something new. Make sure to check back every week to see our new recipes!
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