Homemade Girl Scout Tagalong cookies

These are A's favorite Girl Scout cookies and my second most favorite cookie. Because I adore Chocolate and peanut butter! HOLY BATMAN!! I have died and gone to heaven and seriously will never waste $4.25 on Tagalong cookies again!
I have fell in love with this blogger because she has found the perfect Girl Scout cookie recipes and more importantly she has shared them with the whole world!
The basic cookie dough is like a thimble cookie recipe.
I chose not to melt the peanut butter and add it to a pastry bag. I chose to pat
mine out. It works beautifully, why add another step if it is not needed?? But, if you would like to melt it down, put in a bag and cool it down and then pipe it on your cookie then knock yourself out! I also chose to melt the chocolate into a very fluid state and have the cookies lined up on a wire rack on top of a cookie sheet butted next to each other and I chose to pour the chocolate right over the top of them. (like a candy factory) Once they cooled I then dipped the bottoms into melted chocolate. If I needed more chocolate I chilled the cookie sheet, scraped it into the bowl and heated in the microwave again!

Homemade Tagalongs (a.k.a. Peanut Butter Patties)
Cookies
1 cup butter, soft
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp milk

Preheat oven to 350F.
In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Mix in flour, baking powder and salt at a low speed, followed by the vanilla and milk. The dough should come together into a soft ball.
Take a tablespoon full of dough and flatten it into a disc about 1/4-inch thick. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough. Cookies will not spread too much, so you can squeeze them in more than you would for chocolate chip cookies. (Alternatively, you can use a cookie cutter, as described in the post above).
Bake cookies for 11-13 minutes, until bottoms and the edges are lightly browned and cookies are set.
Immediately after removing cookies from the oven, use your thumb or a small spoon to make a depression in the center of each cookie
Cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Filling
1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter (natural or regular)
3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar*
generous pinch salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
about 8-oz semisweet chocolate

In a small bowl, whisk together peanut butter, confectioners’ sugar, salt and vanilla. When the mixture has come together,
(I chose to omit the microwave part)

heat it in the microwave (again in short intervals, stirring frequently), until it is very, very soft. Working carefully with the hot filling, transfer it to a pastry bag (or plastic bag with the tip cut off) and pipe a generous dome of the filling into each cookie’s “thumbprint”.
(Once the mixture has come together just pat out and put on top.)

Chill cookies with filling for 20-30 minutes, or until the peanut butter is firm.
Melt the chocolate in a small, heat-resistant bowl. This can be done in a microwave (with frequent stirring) or on a double boiler, but the bowl of melted chocolate should ultimately be placed above a pan of hot, but not boiling, water to keep it fluid while you work.
Dip chilled cookies into chocolate, let excess drip off, and place on a sheet of parchment paper to let the cookies set up. The setting process can be accelerated by putting the cookies into the refrigerator once they have been coated.

Makes about 3-dozen
*You might need slightly less sugar if you’re using the conventional peanut butter, as it tends to be a bit sweeter. Taste the filling before using to make sure you like the sweet/savory balance.

Samoa or Caramel Delights Girl Scout Cookie bars

These have always been my favorite Girl Scout cookie. I adore these cookies. So imagine my joy when I stumbled across this recipe. This recipe is the same recipe everywhere. The caramel is soft and chewey and the cookie is light, airy and crunchy. mmmm...
I found this recipe on foodgawker.com, and more specifically here.

They are fairly simple to make but they take a bit of time because you need to toast your coconut and melt your chocolate but you must also wait for ingredients to cool between each step. I quickened the process by putting it in the fridge to cool. However, they are every bit worth the time. They will definitely be a welcomed addition to my Christmas cookie trays!

This is a three step recipe. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

STEP 1. COOKIE CRUST
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened ( i use 1 cup softened butter)
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
Preheat oven to 350F.

Add sugar and butter to mixer and mix until light and fluffy.

Beat in egg and vanilla extract.

Add flour and salt. At a low mixer speed until mixture is just blended. It does not have to come together. It will look like wet sand.

Lightly grease a 9×13-inch baking pan, or line with parchment paper.

Press crumb mixture evenly into pan and bake for 20 to 25 minutes.
Until edges are lightly browned.

Cool completely in pan on wire rack before adding next step.
While cookie crust is cooling, reduce oven to 300 degrees.

STEP 2.
3 cups shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened) I used the entire bag
12-oz chewy caramels (my bag was 14 oz. I used the entire bag)
1/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp milk
10 oz. dark or semisweet chocolate (I used a bakers sweet semi chocolate in a bar but choc. chips will work)
Paraffin wax or 1 tbsp. butter. I felt the chocolate was too thick, so I thinned it by adding a tbsp butter. If you have paraffin wax you can add this if you like.


a. Spread coconut flakes evenly onto cookie sheet and place on middle rack. Every 5 minutes turn the flakes until they are lightly brown and toasted.
Remove from oven and allow to cool.


b.
While coconut flakes are cooling unwrap caramels and place in med to large microwave safe bowl.
Add 3 Tbsp milk
1/4 tsp salt
Place in microwave and stir every 35 to 45 seconds until smooth.

c.
When smooth stir in toasted coconut flakes until well blended.

Pour over cooled cookie crust. Use a greased spatula to spread coconut flakes evenly over crust.
Allow this to cool and set completely.


When cooled cut with a large knife or pizza cutter into even bars. Remove bars from pan and place on lined cookie sheet with wax or parchment paper.

STEP 3.
Melt 10 0z. of chocolate in a microwave safe bowl. Stirring every 10 seconds until melted. (Once again, I thinned my chocolate slightly by adding 1 Tbsp. butter.)

Drizzle with spoon chocolate over cookie bars going in one direction, (side to side)

Drizzle with spoon chocolate over cookie bars going in opposite direction, (up and down)

Place cookie sheet in refrigerator until hardened.

Once chocolate has hardened remove from fridge and Dip the bottoms of each cookie into melted chocolate and place back on lined cookie sheet.

Return back to fridge to set. Cookies are ready to eat and should be stored in an air tight container in refrigerator or freezer.