Samoas chocolate chip cookies that are loaded with brown butter, chocolate, toasted coconut, toffee, and topped off with a samoas cookie.
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samoas chocolate chip cookies
Hello hello! ☺︎ Samoas (or Caramel deLites) are my favorite Girl Scout cookie because caramel, coconut and chocolate is simply a top tier flavor combo. These are my samoas chocolate chip cookies, which turn samoas into a regular delish chocolate chip cookie. They’re made with brown butter for an extra toasty flavor, toasted coconut, homemade toffee for the caramel flavor, pools of chocolate, aaaand they’re topped off with a samoas cookie, because why not.
why you’ll love these small batch samoa chocolate chip cookies:
- They’re super flavorful: brown butter, brown sugar, toffee, and toasted coconut all add a delicious toasty depth of flavor to the cookies.
- Easy to make: the cookie dough all comes together in one bowl – no hand mixer or stand mixer required.
expert baking tips
Weigh your ingredients:
My recipes are all written in grams because it is the most accurate way to bake. When you use a kitchen scale, you ensure that your baked goods turn out as close to the written recipe as possible. Plus, the cleanup is way easier when using a scale! I will provide standard cup measurements but please note that I have not tested the recipe using cup measurements and therefore can not guarantee your recipe will come out how mine did. Here is my favorite kitchen scale.
Mix the dough carefully:
When adding in the flour, only fold the mixture just until no flour streaks remain. Over mixing the dough leads to more gluten formation, which can make the cookies thicker and more tough in texture.
chill the cookies prior to baking
I know, I know – it’s frustrating to have to wait! However, because we’re using melted brown butter, we want to give the dough time to firm up. Letting the cookie dough chill just a little bit in the fridge means that the cookies will bake up thicker. This also gives the flavors a little bit of time to meld together.
Under bake for perfect cookies:
Cookies continue baking after they have been taken out of the oven. Once the edges turn slightly golden brown, and the cookies look just a little wet on top still, they are ready to come out. Let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for an additional 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool.
The secret to perfectly round cookies:
Wanna know the secret to perfectly round cookies? It’s cookie scooting! Right when the cookies come out of the oven, take a bowl, cup, or biscuit cutter that is just slightly larger than your cookies and place it over one of the cookies. Gently swirl the bowl around the cookie to make the cookie perfectly round (and slightly thicker). And that’s all there is to it!
A note on oven temperature:
Ovens vary and fluctuate in temperature and might not always actually be at the temperature they claim to be at. If you love to bake like I do, I highly recommend getting an oven thermometer. They are super helpful for letting you know when your oven might be lying to you! I use this one.
ingredients for samoas chocolate chip cookies:
- All-purpose flour: for structure and chewiness.
- Baking powder & baking soda: for helping the cookies rise.
- Salt: to help balance and bring out the sweetness of the cookies
- Unsalted butter: for tenderness and flavor. You can use salted butter in place of the unsalted, just be sure to omit the extra salt from the cookies. We’ll also be browning the butter for some extra delicious toasty flavor. If you’re looking to make this dairy-free, Miyoko’s Creamery vegan butter has the ability to brown just like regular butter and works like a charm. We’ll also use butter for the toffee.
- Granulated sugar & light brown sugar: a combination of both gives us cookies with crispy edges and soft and chewy centers. We’ll also use light brown sugar for the toffee.
- Egg: for binding and for moisture.
- Vanilla: for flavor. I use and love this vanilla extract!
- Semi-sweet chocolate: I recommend semi-sweet or dark chocolate. Please note that if you use all chocolate chips, the cookies will bake up a little thicker, and if you use all chopped chocolate, they will be a tad thinner.
- Sweetened coconut flakes: for flavor.
- Samoas: to top off the cookies.
how to make samoas chocolate chip cookies
Here’s a little look into the process of making these small batch chocolate chip cookies. The full recipe is at the end of this blog post!
- Brown the butter, then set it aside to let it cool down.
- While the butter is cooling down, make the toffee and toast the coconut.
- Mix in the wet ingredients, followed by the dry ingredients.
- Chill the dough for 30 minutes, then bake and enjoy!
samoas chocolate chip cookies recipe q&a
What is brown butter?
Brown butter is super simple to make so don’t worry! It’s just regular butter that is cooked on the stove until some of the moisture evaporates, allowing the milk solids in the butter to be toasted. The result is this butter with an amber hue and little speckles that has a toasted and slightly nutty aroma.
can I double this recipe?
Definitely – I’ve tested this recipe up to quadrupling it with no problem. Please be sure to use grams for the best results.
can I make these cookies ahead of time?
Definitely – cookie dough really only gets better with time. You can keep the cookie dough tightly covered in the fridge for up to 2 days before baking. For longer term storage, you can also freeze the cookie dough balls. Just be sure to take the dough out of the fridge at least 30 minutes to 1 hour before you want to bake, so that it becomes soft enough to scoop again.
How to store chocolate chip cookies
Store these cookies in an airtight container at room temperature. They will keep for up to 5 days, but will taste the best 1-3 days after baking.
why did my cookies turn out more dry/crumbly/thicker than pictured?
- Measuring error: Typically, the #1 culprit for this is always not measuring the flour properly. If you use cup measurements, you run the risk of adding too much flour to the dough which can make it super dry. If you’re using cup measurements, make sure that you fluff up your flour and then spoon it into your measuring cup, rather than scooping up the flour with the measuring cup. Measuring will also be sure that you end up with the right amount of brown butter and that you cooked it for the proper amount of time.
- Overmixing: if you over-mix the dough, you will introduce more gluten into the cookies which will lead to tougher, thicker cookies. Make sure to only fold in the flour just until that last streak of flour disappears into the dough.
- Oven temperature: Like I said before, it’s possible that your oven isn’t at the temperature that it claims to be at – which is, unfortunately, more common than it should be. If your oven is hotter than 350F without your knowledge, you’ll end up with thicker, more dry cookies.
Why did my cookies spread so much?
- Chilling the dough: The #1 reason for this would be that you didn’t chill the cookie dough. Although it can be frustrating to wait, the cookie dough does need to chill to give time for the butter to firm up and the ingredients to meld together so that they don’t completely spread out in the oven.
- Browning the butter: Another reason I recommend measuring your ingredients. When you brown the butter, moisture cooks off of it. So, if it wasn’t cooked for long enough then there would be extra moisture in the dough, which would make the cookies spread out more.
- Oven temperature: It could also be that your oven temperature is running lower than it claims to be. For that reason, I recommend always using an oven thermometer.
tools and ingredients:
You can find all my favorite tools and ingredients that I use on my Amazon Storefront page, here!
other small batch recipes you might enjoy:
did you make this recipe?
I’d love to see and know your thoughts! please leave a comment and review below, and tag me on instagram @freshbeanbakery. #freshbeanbakery
Samoas Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
Samoas Chocolate Chip Cookies
- 113 g unsalted butter (8 tbsp.)
- 45 g sweetened coconut flakes
- 100 g light brown sugar (½ c.)
- 50 g granulated sugar (¼ c.)
- 1 egg room temperature
- ½ tsp. vanilla
- 150 g all-purpose flour (1 ¼ c.)
- ¼ tsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp. baking soda
- ½ tsp. salt
- 110 g semi-sweet chocolate** (⅔ c.)
- 8 samoas cookies
Homemade Toffee
- 28 g unsalted butter (2 tbsp.)
- 50 g light brown sugar (¼ c.)
- ⅛ tsp. salt
Instructions
- In a small saucepan set over medium heat, brown the butter. Stir the butter occasionally until it turns amber in color and develops little brown specks.
- Transfer the brown butter to a medium sized mixing bowl and set it aside at room temperature to cool down. You should be left with at least 90g of brown butter, if you have a little less, just add in some water until you reach 90g.
- In the meantime, make the homemade toffee. Prepare a small baking sheet by placing a sheet of parchment on it. Add the butter, brown sugar, and salt to the saucepan you browned the butter in and set it over medium heat.
- Stir the mixture often until it melts and starts to bubble. Continue stirring until the mixture reaches 300°F / 148°C. Pour the toffee on to the parchment paper and smooth it out into an even layer. Set the toffee aside.
- To the same saucepan, add in the coconut flakes. Set the pan over medium heat and stir it occasionally until the coconut flakes start to brown. Remove them from the heat and set them aside.
- Add both sugars into the brown butter and mix until combined. Then, add in the egg and vanilla and whisk until well combined.
- Add in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Use a rubber spatula to fold the mixture together just until a few flour streaks remain.
- The toffee *should* be room temperature at this point, but if it’s not, just pop it in the freezer for a couple of minutes until it is. Use a rolling pin, heavy bowl, or your hands to break up the toffee into a ton of little pieces. Set some toffee aside for topping off the cookies.
- Add in the toffee, chocolate, and toasted coconut and fold the mixture together just until no flour streaks remain. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for 30 minutes to firm up.*
- Preheat the oven to 350°F / 175°C.
- Scoop out heaping 3 tbsp. scoops of the cookie dough. (If you chilled the dough for longer, you may need to wait 10-20 minutes for it to become soft enough to scoop.)
- Evenly space out the cookie dough balls on a parchment lined cookie sheet and top them with the extra toffee and chococlate, if desired.
- Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies start to turn golden brown.
- Once the cookies come out of the oven, I recommend "scooting" them. This just means take a bowl, cup, or biscuit cutter that is slightly larger than the cookie, place it on top of the cookie, and swirl the bowl around to make the cookie a little more round. Immediately press a samoas cookie into the tops of each of the cookies.
- Let the cookies sit on the hot baking tray for at least 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt, serve and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Please note that the nutrition facts are only an estimate and may vary based on different brands of ingredients and any substitutions made.
