A girl scout classic but homemade and healthier! Samoa Cookie Bars with a date caramel coconut filling and dark chocolate drizzle. Vegan and paleo!
SPONSORED BY HU
Another Girl Scout cookie classic getting a healthier twist! And this time easier too because we turned cookies into bars, so there is no rolling and individual cookie cutting involved.
Bake the shortbread base, top with a generously thick layer of homemade salty-sweet date caramel jam packed with toasted coconut, slice into squares, and then drizzle all that gooey decadent goodness in our favorite dark chocolate – Hu Gems. If that description didn’t already clue you in, yeah these are better than the original.
Happy samoa in square form (more officially known as Samoa Cookie Bars) making to you!
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A girl scout classic but homemade and healthier! Samoa Cookie Bars with a date caramel coconut filling and dark chocolate drizzle. Vegan and paleo!
Ingredients
Shortbread Cookie
- 1/3 cup (65g) coconut oil*
- 2 tbsp (40g) maple syrup
- 1 cup (120g) almond flour
- 1/4 cup (30g) coconut flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
Caramel Coconut Layer
- 1 1/2 cups (105g) unsweetened shredded coconut, toasted**
- 1/2 cup (125g) almond butter (or nut/seed butter of choice)
- 1 cup (180g) pitted medjool dates, soaked for 10 mins
- 1/4–1/3 cup water
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup (80g) Hu Gems
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
- Mix together all the cookie ingredients.
- Press the dough into the bottom of a loaf pan lined with parchment paper. Alternatively you can roll/cut or press into individual cookies.
- Bake for 13-15 minutes (a little less for cookies, try 11-12) at 350ºF until golden brown. Cool.
- Combine the soaked and drained dates, almond butter, vanilla, and salt in a food processor. Process slowly adding water as needed until you have a thick smooth paste.
- Pulse in the toasted coconut.
- Spread on top of the cookie base. Refrigerate or freeze until firm.
- Melt the Hu Gems.
- Slice the bars into 8-12 squares (depending on how big you want them).
- Dip the bottom of each in the melted chocolate. Drizzle the tops with remaining chocolate.
- Chill until set, then eat!
- Keep leftovers in the fridge.
Notes
*For an oil-free cookie base, use this recipe instead.
**I toasted mine in the oven at 350ºF for about 5 minutes, stir/toss, then 5 more minutes until golden brown. Watch it carefully, it can burn quick!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 square
- Calories: 342
- Sugar: 16g
- Sodium: 103mg
- Fat: 23g
- Saturated Fat: 12g
- Carbohydrates: 25g
- Fiber: 5g
- Protein: 5g
Keywords: vegan, paleo, chocolate, Girl Scouts, baking, healthy, easy, cookies, coconut, caramel, dates
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OMG…one of my fave GS cookies that I haven’t been able to eat in y-e-a-r-s! I cannot wait to try this recipe! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
YAY!! I hope you love them and they hit the Girl Scout cookie spot Kimi 🙂 Let me know what you think!
Could I use avocado oil instead of coconut?
Yes that will work for this one!
I’ll have SAMOA those please! 😬😬😬 Thank you, that is all (I’ve been chuckling into my date-coconut caramel covered crumbs of sheer YUM since that thought first occurred to me)! I’ve never tasted the original version of these cookies, but I’m guessing that it pales in comparison with this delicious reboot! Thank you for cheering us up with such a yummy treat, Natalie!
★★★★★
What very kind compliments to these beautiful bars, I am SOOOOOOO happy you loved them!! Lol and the pun, top notch comment content happening here😂😂 I personally think these are much more indulgent than the original (but I might be biased) but who even cares when dates and coconut and caramel are involved🤗
I don’t have almond flour – it’s quite expensive. does anyone know if another flour can be used? I do have bob’s red mill all purpose GF, buckwheat, brown rice, teff flours & rolled oats I can grind.
Almond flour has a much higher fat content than any grain flour and any that you listed, so if you swap those in the bars will be drier and not as “buttery”😕 You could try grinding up a cheaper nut like walnuts to make your own nut flour though!
thanks much for the explanation & very prompt reply! I might give that a try.
OMG! This is so indulgent! Such a fun recipe! This is the the fourth recipe of yours that I’ve made. Thank you for the great content!
My cookie base was a little too crumbly. It seems cooked through. Well, I struggled with dipping into the melted chocolate and had to use a little extra chocolate to compensate 😉
★★★★★
I am so happy you are enjoying them Nick! Hmm the cookie should hold together quite sturdily, how dry/crumbly was your dough?
Hi!! The cookie was pretty moist. I weighed the ingredients. Thank you for providing the weights! I didn’t know almond flour needed packing.
It may come down to a little skill. This was just my first attempt. I’ll try again!
★★★★★
Hmm I don’t really pack it, but if you are going by weight should be fine. Maybe try a little less flour next time just to be safe!
what is the fat free crust name; the link isn’t working for me…
This recipe: https://feastingonfruit.com/vegan-magic-cookie-bars/
I attempted these as I have several friends who are GF and Paleo and I am No sugar sooooo, the crust was so so oily and did not set up until after the oil drained off, and I even tried making it into cookie shapes, but that did not work either. Not sure what Is going on…. I am a seasoned baker, and was excited to make this. Wish I had done the oat crust instead. I haven’t given up, that date/almond butter caramel layer is so good from my taste test in the processor.
Hi Laura! I so sorry the crust isn’t working for you, perhaps I can help troubleshoot. Are you measuring by weight or volume? And is your coconut oil solid or liquid? You can a) start with just 1/4 cup coconut oil and add more only if needed or add more coconut flour to offset or b) chill the dough after mixing for 15 mins or so. I have tested these measurements by weight multiple times so they should work, hard for me to say why they are not for you without being in your kitchen. But I hope that helps!
Thanks for the tips, but I had already made it as listed, and YES the coconut oil was oozing out of the crust, so I tried it as cookies, and it oozed some more. I ended up putting 1 cups of the toasted coconut into it, and pressing into 24 mini muffin tins, and topping with the caramel , and 1/2 tsp remaining coconut each and then, freezing, They are cookie shaped, and now topped with chocolate. I was determined not to waste this recipe or the expensive ingredients. Love your site as I shift my baking to recipes without sugar. Again, Thanks for replying and your amazing blog.
Can’t wait to try these! Should the coconut oil in the shortbread base be solid/room temp or melted?
Mine was melted but either will be fine! Melted is a little easier to mix in 🙂 Hope you love them!
If I wanted to use compressed dates already mashed how much would I need? I don’t have medjool dates!
I’ve never worked with compressed dates so I’m not sure what the cup equivalent would be, but if you go by weight (same 180g) that would be the most accurate way to swap it!