I’ve got a very special treat for you today! Gluten-Free Samoa Cookies. That’s right, what dreams are made of.
When my sweet friend Brittany Angell, gluten-free baker extraordinaire, asked if she could share one of her recipes with you all here on Zenbelly, my answer was obviously HELL YES PLEASE. So very happy to have her here as a guest! I’ll let her take it from here…
gluten-free samoa cookies
Hey Zenbelly readers! My name is Brittany Angell. I specialize in Allergen Free/ Special Diet Baking & Cooking! I cover everything from Gluten Free to Paleo, AIP and Keto! A few years ago I authored a cookbook called Every Last Crumb. You can find hundreds more free allergen free recipes on my site BrittanyAngell.com
I was diagnosed with Hashimotos disease back in 2007. For several years I had to eat a super restrictive diet while I was working to get my health issues into remission. I’ll never forget that feeling of being deprived and missing out on my favorite things. That motivated me to jump into the kitchen and spend many years mastering my baking skills using new allergen free ingredients! 11 years later and Im still at it.. recreating everyones favorite foods in a healthier way for various allergies and diets!
I came up with this Samoa cookie recipe for a sweet little girl scout named Abby with gluten and dairy allergies! They turned out better than the original cookies from the box!
Substitution and baking notes:
Need to avoid Dairy? For the caramel and the crust you can use earth balance dairy free butter. For the chocolate I like the brand Enjoy Life. (note from Simone: Guittard chips are soy and dairy-free as well)
Preparing your sugar is important. If you select a grainy sugar (like Sucanat or Palm) I really recommend you take the time to run it through a coffee grinder or blender to powder it before using it in the crust. It just works so much better that way. This extra step is not needed if you are using Cane Sugar. Just Sucanat or Palm I have found to be extra course. None of this extra powdering treatment is needed for the caramel as its all going to melt anyways.
Use a donut cookie cutter! Due to the fact that this is a shortbread cookie crust- it is on the crumbly side. I found that it was a little bit difficult to cut out each cookie and then also cut out the inner circle. That was- until I tried using my donut cutter! This tool cost me maybe $3 at a local cooking store in my area- it made the cutting-out process a dream. Here is the link to my donut cutter on amazon. If you don’t want to bother sourcing this tool or something similar- you can just cut the cookies into circles without a hole in the center.
Yield:
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Just like you remember, but grain- and dairy-free!
Ingredients
Crust:
- 2 Cups Blanched Almond Flour
- 1 tablespoon Tapioca, Arrowroot or Potato Starch
- 3 tablespoons Butter or Earth Balance Butter
- 1/3 Cup Granulated Sugar, Organic Cane Sugar, Coconut Palm Sugar or Granulated Maple Sugar. *See note!
- 1/8 teaspoon Salt
- 1/4 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1 tablespoon Vanilla Extract
- 1 tablespoon Applesauce
Caramel:
- 6 tablespoon Butter OR Earth Balance dairy free butter
- 3/4 Cup Coconut Palm Sugar
- 4 tablespoons heavy Coconut Milk OR Heavy Cream (note: for best results chill the can of coconut milk and skim the cream portion of the top to put into this caramel!)
- Pinch of salt
Topping:
- 1 cup Chocolate Chips (dairy or nondairy)
- 1 cup Toasted Unsweetened Coconut Flakes. (Sweetened is fine too- but the cookies will end up extra sweet!)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Make the shortbread crust:
- In a food processor (or by hand) combine all of the crust ingredients. The dough should hold together. Roll the dough out between 2 sheets of parchment paper to about 1/4 inch thick. Cut into rings or circles (see note above) Cut out the dough soon after you make it, as it sits out it will begin to feel oily and it won’t hold together quite as well.
- Carefully place the cut-out cookies on a parchment covered baking sheet and bake 10-12 minutes. Keep a careful watch on them the last few minutes to avoid burning. (note: cookies will come out soft and somewhat chewy- they will gain their shortbread texture as they cool!)
- Remove from oven. While they are cooling, Toast the coconut and make the caramel.
To toast the coconut:
- Place 1 cup of coconut flakes into a dry frying pan and slowly cook over medium -low heat and stirring often. Remove from heat when golden. Set aside.
To make the caramel:
- Combine all of the Caramel ingredients in a heavy bottomed sauce pan and bring to a gentle boil. Let it gentle boil for 3-4 minutes whisking often! Turn off heat and set aside.
- Carefully Spoon the hot caramel onto the cookies..you will only need a few tsp’s at the most. Sprinkle the toasted coconut flakes on top of the hot caramel before it cools.
- Melt chocolate chips in your microwave (stirring every 30 seconds until smooth). Note: if you want your chocolate a little bit thinner for drizzling you can add a tsp of coconut oil to it.
- Dip the bottom of each cookie into the melted chocolate. Place the cookies on a sheet of clean parchment paper. Drizzle the tops with some more chocolate to give the Samoas their classic look.
- Set aside and let the chocolate set. You can also stick them in the freezer to make the chocolate and caramel set quickly.
Notes
- Substitution and baking notes:
Need to avoid Dairy? For the caramel and the crust you can use earth balance dairy free butter. For the chocolate I like the brand Enjoy Life. (note from Simone: Guittard chips are soy and dairy-free as well) - Preparing your sugar is important. If you select a grainy sugar (like Sucanat or Palm) I really recommend you take the time to run it through a coffee grinder or blender to powder it before using it in the crust. It just works so much better that way. This extra step is not needed if you are using Cane Sugar. Just Sucanat or Palm I have found to be extra course. None of this extra powdering treatment is needed for the caramel as its all going to melt anyways.
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Marytheresa says
Yay thanks for sharing can not wait to make these! Thank you so much for sharing.
Dani says
Thanks for sharing. The link for the cutter seems to be missing. I would like to make this purchase. Please fix the link. Thanks.
zenbelly says
fixed! Thanks for letting me know about that.
Stacy says
Is there a printer friendly version of this recipe?
zenbelly says
there is not because my recipe card plug in was not working when i posted the recipe and typing is painful with my neck injury. sorry.
zenbelly says
okay there is now! Recipe card plug in is working again 🙂
Jennifer says
can I make this without applesauce? my Girl Scout is Gluten/Dairy/Apple allergic
Brittany Angell says
Homemade pear sauce could be used as a sub.
zenbelly says
you should be able to use any fruit sauce, but of course some will impart more of a flavor than others. I hope your Girl Scout loves them!
Saranya says
Cookies my favourite!!! Thanks for sharing the recipe. Expecting more
★★★★★
Donna in Inwood says
Would it be insane to sub yogurt for the applesauce in the crust? I was planning on making this tonight but have no applesauce (nor any kind of fruit sauce!)
I make Simone’s naan bread with yogurt. Would it be ok here?
zenbelly says
I have no idea, apple sauce and yogurt aren’t very similar, but you could definitely try!