cookie nirvana

When I was a kid, the only kind of Girl Scout cookies my mom ever bought were Samoas. Do you remember these? They were sweet, rich, and gooey cookies, with caramel, chocolate and coconut. As much as I loved those cookies, there's no way I'd eat them now. Not only are they not vegan, they are chock full of hydrogenated oil and sugar. I have sure missed them, though!

Well, imagine my excitement at seeing this post on Kati's blog a while back. She said she had made cookies that were reminicent of a certain Girl Scout cookie and as soon as I read through the recipe I knew exactly which ones she meant... Samoas!

Well, I tried them and they were... AMAZING. I've never been this excited about a cookie that I baked. The best part? These cookies are extremely healthy and even detox-friendly, with 100% whole grain flour, no refined sugar, and no refined oil. (Except for the tiny amount of chocolate chips I threw in there, of course.) The brown rice syrup shines here, imbuing these cookies with a deep caramel flavor. To make them look even more like Samoas, you could drizzle them with some melted chocolate, but these cookies are so rich, they don't need any embellishment.

Here is Kati's recipe, with my notes in orange. **Make these NOW!**

Pseudo-Scout Cookies - Vegan Samoas!
(adapted from Cooking the Whole Foods Way by Christina Pirello)
yield: 25-30 cookies (I got around 20 cookies)

1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 3/4 cup white whole wheat flour (or whole wheat pastry) I used whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup ground pecans
1/2 cup chopped pecans I decreased this to 1/4 cup and threw in 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
1 cup brown rice syrup (or a combination of brown rice syrup and maple syrup) I used 1/3 cup agave nectar and 2/3 cup brown rice syrup
1/2 cup extra virgin coconut oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix all ingredients, using your hands at the end if necessary. Drop rounded spoonfuls onto lightly oiled baking sheet (I used parchment paper- watch out, these cookies spread out quite a bit during baking!) and bake for approximately 14 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

Tips:

When working with coconut oil, be sure that all other ingredients are at room temperature or else you will get oil lumps. It may help to mix the oil with shredded coconut before adding other ingredients. My coconut oil was solidified, so I microwaved it for about 10 seconds.
Do not overmix! Your cookies will be very tough if you do. Mix until ingredients are just combined.
Do not overbake! Your cookies will be hard as rocks. Brown rice syrup tends to make cookies crunchy, so be aware of this and proceed accordingly. Increase the proportion of maple syrup to create a chewier cookie or decrease baking time. When you take out your cookies after 14 mintues, they will be so soft, you will be tempted to let them bake some more, but don't do it! These will firm up quite a bit. I'd say definitely use agave or maple syrup as part of your sweetener if you want a more chewy cookie.

Thanks, Kati!!