A healthier spin on girl scout cookies! Homemade tagalongs with crispy shortbread, SunButter center, and dark chocolate coating. Vegan, gluten-free, paleo!
THIS POST IS SPONSORED BY SUNBUTTER
Look, I love when the offer of COOKIES literally comes knocking at my door just as much as the next human, but if I’m being honest homemade is always more my style. Because homemade means I get to choose what’s in them, what’s not in them, and make more any time I want not just for a few months of the year.
I haven’t inspected the back of a box of tagalongs maybe ever, but I can promise you the ingredients in these SunButter Tagalongs are much more wholesome than the original and simpler than you might expect.
These cookies are many things:
- crunchy
- chocolate-covered
- salty and sweet
- vegan, gluten-free, and paleo
- completely nut free if you swap the almond flour shortbread for this deliciously crunchy cookie recipe
- made with just 8 ingredients
- a truly idyllic mix of textures
- equally as hard to resist/share as the original
- at their best cold (fridge or freezer!)
The shortbread. The cookie base is a classic shortbread texture, but with very non-classic ingredients and only 6 of them. Almond flour, coconut flour, maple syrup, coconut oil, vanilla, and salt. And we’re not fancy, so this is a dump in one bowl and mix sort of situation. And then, to continue the un-fancy theme, roughly shape balls of dough by hand into cookies with a gentle well in the center (the back of a teaspoon measure helps for this part). After baking, you will have a golden pan full of crispy buttery cookies perfect for filling with…
The SunButter. Instead of peanut butter we are swapping in SunButter for the filling because a) I am obsessed b) I know many of you are too and c) DIY-ing your Girl Scout cookies means there are no rules. I used my go-to variety, the No-Sugar Added (orange jar), because I find the cookie and chocolate coating to be sweet enough. But feel free to use a sweetened variety here too. And next comes decadence in the form of…
The chocolate coating. What is a tagalong if not encased in a layer of chocolate? Dark in this case, and thin for the proper SNAP contrast to the crunchy shortbread and lush SunButter center. (FYI. Watch the video for my easy method to coat the bottoms cleanly too!)
I cannot promise they are as easy as buying a box outside the grocery store, but I can promise you a delicious bite (or 27) of cookie.
SunButter Tagalongs
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 14 minutes
- Total Time: 44 minutes
- Yield: 12 cookies 1x
- Category: cookies
- Method: baking
- Cuisine: american
Description
A healthier spin on girl scout cookies! Homemade tagalongs with crispy shortbread, SunButter center, and dark chocolate coating. Vegan, gluten-free, easy!
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup (50g) coconut oil*
- 1/4 cup (80g) maple syrup**
- 1 cup (120g) almond flour***
- 1/4 cup (30g) coconut flour
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/3 cup SunButter (any variety works, but I used the No-Sugar Added)
- 1 cup (180g) dark chocolate chips, melted
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
- Whisk together the coconut oil, maple syrup, and vanilla.
- Add the flours, baking powder, and salt.
- Mix to form a sticky dough.
- Roll into balls, flatten into cookies, use a teaspoon to create an indentation in the center of each cookie.
- Bake for 12-14 minutes at 350ºF until golden brown.
- Cool completely.
- Spoon a dollop of SunButter into the center of each cookie.
- Freeze until the SunButter is firm.
- Coat in melted chocolate. Chill until set.
- Eat! Keep leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container for up to a week.
Notes
*Or 1/3 cup coconut butter for oil-free
**Or agave/honey works too
***For a nut-free cookie, try THIS recipe instead
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 235
- Sugar: 10g
- Sodium: 51mg
- Fat: 16g
- Saturated Fat: 7g
- Carbohydrates: 17g
- Fiber: 4g
- Protein: 4g
Keywords: vegan, gluten-free, healthy, Girl Scout, cookies, shortbread, chocolate, dairy free, dessert, baking
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I very made tagalongs but these look so delicious! Love the addition of Sunbutter, it must be so creamy and gooey! Beautiful close-up shots Natalie! 🙂
★★★★★
Well, I wanted to say NEVER, not very lol. 😀
Hahaha don’t worry I understood you, but thanks autocorrect😆 Appreciate you checking them out Ela, and you know I love a good close up!
These look fantastic! Any idea what I can substitute for almond flour to make these nut-free?
Hi Maria! I linked these cookies in the notes for a nut-free option: https://www.feastingonfruit.com/sunbutter-sandwich-cookies/
Hi Natalie,
I’ve been following you for a while now and must have tried a dozen recipes – so I needed to send you a BIG thank you!
Your blog and also your videos are just amazing! Thank u for sharing them, everything single recipe turned out super great, delicious also to me family and friends that are eating “everything” 🌸
Ps I am super curious about how you do your food photography, do you use artificial light, and what kind of backdrop do you use?
I’ve struggled with a lot of health issues and after changing my diet I’d like to start a blog as well. Id like to share your and other great blogger recipients with German speaking folks as there is nothing out here ( I’m from Germany) 🙂
Every advise will be appreciated 🙈😘
Love to you here from and thanks for your work! ❤️
Edona
Aw that makes me so happy to hear, thank you for all the kind words I am so happy you love and use the recipes☺️ As for food photography, I use all natural light actually, and for backdrops I use a mix of a white IKEA table, a new backdrop I just bought from Woodville, and my wall…very un fancy haha. I very much encourage you to start your own blog if you feel compelled to share, but most bloggers (myself included) don’t like you re-sharing their own original recipes since a lot of time and effort and creativity goes into creating them. But you could come up with your own recipes and share those on your site! That’s where I would recommend you begin😊
Hehe 😜 I don’t think I’ve ever looked at the ingredients list on those boxes and it’s been ages since I’ve had Tagalongs!! But now I’ve got a healthier version to try and I can’t wait!! What a great hack for getting the chocolate on the bottom…SO important to have full chocolate coverage 😉😍 these look incredible and pretty much a perfect remake of those classics with those varying textures of crunchy/crispy cookie, gooey nut/seed butter and the melted chocolate. YUM!! Hope all is well in your world, sweet friend! Lots of love! ❤️❤️❤️
I googled the ingredients while I was writing this and it was more processed than I even expected😆 Ah well, plus they don’t have SUNBUTTER so we are definitely winning all around over here🤗🤗 I trust you to not skimp on the chocolate coating…never😉 Love you my dear, can’t wait to catch up soon❤️ xo
Holy moly these are DANGEROUS!!!! 😍 I’m sad to say that I was completely out of SunButter and was too impatient to wait another day, so I used PB 😬 that just means when I restock my SunButter supply, I’ll have to make them again 😉 I LOVE every layer of this cookie!! The shortbread was so wonderfully buttery and crisp (magic of coconut oil) and gooey PB….and you better believe I fully coated these babies in chocolate! So much so that I had to melt more than a cup of chocolate chips 😂😂 I wish I would have taken a video of Willow eating one because her eyes lit up and her face was covered in chocolate!! Huge thumbs up from the three of us ❤️ SO GOOD!!!!
★★★★★
I truly do not care what kind of buttery stuff you used because YOU MADE THEM woohooooooo🤗🤗 I actually haven’t tested them with real PB yet, just AB and sunbutter, but I am so happy to her they were a success! That shortbread is so good right? And hehe I wish I had that on video too, but I can imagine it was adorable😂 So happy she loved them and Josh proved too! You are the best, thanks for trying them Mandy🥰❤️😘
Can I use all purpose flour instead of almond flour and coconut flour?
Neither will give it that same “buttery” richness as almond flour unfortunately or sub in 1-for-1. Sorry! Another nut flour would work!
Can I use more almond flour to sub for coconut flour?
Yes that will work, but you will need probably double the amount!
Hi! I am making this recipe this weekend and was wondering if the coconut oil needs to be melted and cooled? or just straight from jar? Thanks in advance!
Melted! Sorry I live in FL where it is in a permanently melted state haha so I forget to mention that😆