Allergy friendly samoas

Unbalanced

% Daily Values based on a 2,000 calorie diet

Step 1

Cookie base: Preheat over to 350 degrees. Line a 13"x9" rectangular pan with aluminum foil. Grease with canola oil or cooking spray. Cream together vegan margarine, sugar, and vanilla. Add flour and salt to wet mixture and combine thoroughly. If the mixture is too dry, add a little more vegan margarine or some milk substitute until dough can come together. Press dough into the bottom of foiled pan. Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool in pan. Chocolate dip: While cookie base is cooling, heat semisweet chocolate chips (about 2 minutes in microwave). Add vegetable shortening and stir until mixture is smooth. Spread a layer of chocolate to completely cover the cookie base. Cool until completely hardened. After the pan is cool, you can pop it in the refrigerator to set the chocolate. Keep your leftover chocolate dip -- you'll need it for drizzling over the top of your bars. Caramel Coconut Topping: Toast 3 cups coconut in preheated 300 degree oven for 15-20 minutes or until it begins to turn golden brown. Check coconut every five minutes -- I burned a lot of coconut at 350 degrees! While coconut is toasting, make your caramel sauce. Combine all sauce ingredients in a small saucepan. (Add 1-2 teaspoons of corn starch if you want to ensure thickening.) Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly to dissolve sugars. When sauce boils, cook an additional few minutes and make sure everything has dissolved. Remove from heat to cool. Remember that it will be a runny sauce. (It reminds me of what the sauce looks like at the bottom of a takeout box for Chinese noodles!) Meanwhile take cookie base out of refrigerator. Over a surface lined with plastic wrap or parchment paper, carefully remove foiled cookie base from the pan. Turn cookie base over --the chocolate top will now be on the bottom of your bar-- and peel off the foil. Toss toasted coconut and 1/2 cup of caramel sauce together until well coated. You might not need all the caramel sauce (remember, it's runny!). Add more sauce as needed to fully coat coconut. Spread caramel coconut mixture on the "new top" of the cookie base. Reheat leftover chocolate sauce. Add additional melted chips mixed with shortening if needed. Drizzle over coconut topping. Let chocolate drizzle and coconut set. Then cut into bars and enjoy! Overall I thought the shortbread crust, while delicious, didn't remind me of the slightly chewy Samoa cookie. My husband thought there was too much crust per bar, so next time I might opt for spreading the base on a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan, and upping the toasted coconut/caramel mixture. The caramel coconut topping and chocolate accents were excellent-tasting substitutes. You can be sure I will be dairy-freeing this cookie version in the near future...after I can fit into my jeans again.