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    Home / Recipes / Cookies

    No Bake Samoa Cookies (Homemade, Girl Scout Copycat)

    Jan 2, 2023 · Updated: Sep 12, 2023 by Dee Dine · Affliate links disclosure.

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    Samoa Cookies

    No bake samoa cookies, with a chewy buttery base, caramel coconut topping, and rich chocolate coating, are a delicious Girl Scout copycat cookie with only 5 ingredients, a melt-in-your-mouth texture, and high in fiber and iron.

    No bake Samoa Cookies stacked and leaning on each other.
    These no bake samoa cookies are delicious with a buttery shortbread base, melted chocolate base and drizzle and fresh coconut caramel topping. These dairy free no bake cookies are easy to make precisely because you don't have to use the oven, and use only a few ingredients that are high in healthy benefits.

    These homemade samoa cookies are only one of a long list of Girl Scout copycat cookies as well as more commercial brands that I offer as recipes on my blog. I have a healthy recipe of delicious Entenmann's small vegan chocolate chip cookies. I also have a recipe for milano cookies and Girl Scout copycat thin mint cookies.

    ano bake Samoa Cookies on a table with a bite.

    Jump to:
    • What Is a Samoa Cookie?
    • Main Ingredients
    • How to Make
    • Recipe Tips
    • Substitutions
    • FAQS
    • More Copycat Dessert Recipes
    • 📖 Recipe

    What Is a Samoa Cookie?

    A Samoa cookie is a round, buttery shortbread base topped with a layer of creamy caramel, sprinkled with toasted coconut, and dipped and drizzled with dark chocolate. The cookie was made famous in 1970s by the Girl Scouts, a USA-based youth girls' organization, when they sold the cookie during their annual food drive.

    How do Samoa Cookies Taste?

    Samoa cookies have a strong caramel and coconut flavor, with a chocolate finish. One bite and the coconut and caramel become a candy that has both a crunch and a melty texture. The chocolate base makes the whole cookie taste like a candy bar.

    Stacks of no bake samoa cookies.

    Main Ingredients

    Dates: Full of iron and fiber, as well as add sweet flavor and binding. I used Medjool, but you can use the kind you can find. Look in your grocer's produce area for packaged dates, not dried.

    Maple Syrup: A sweetener with a healthier panel than sugar so we can use less brown sugar.

    Nut Butter: This ingredient is important as a binder and instead of processed oil. I have made these with cashew butter but any flavor works.

    Shredded coconut: Use shredded coconut that is unsweetened and as fresh as you can buy it.

    Chocolate: I use chocolate chips but you can also chop chocolate. I use Enjoylife chips for their clean ingredient panel, or HU gems.

    samoa cookies ingredients.

    How to Make

    Step 1: Bake the shredded coconut for 5 minutes until brown. Drop the dates in just boiled water for 3 minutes to soften enough to pit them.

    Step 2: Make the cookies by processing the browned shredded coconut and dates into a sticky mixture. I used a food processor but a blender will also work.

    Step 3: Press the mixture into a mold or the bottom of a cupcake pan. Chill while you make the caramel center.

    overhead of first steps to make no bake samoa cookies.

    Step 4: Put the nut butter and maple syrup in a pyrex measuring cup and microwave for 15 seconds, stir until smooth. Pour on chilled cookies.

    Step 5: Sprinkle more browned coconut on cookies and drizzle with chocolate.

    Step 6: Store Cookies in a sealed container at room temperature for 4 days or freeze for three months.

    overhead of steps to make samoa cookies

    Recipe Tips

    Tip #1: Make sure the Medjool dates are fresh and soft. Find them packaged in the produce section of the grocery store, and always check the date. Before use in this recipe, drop them into just-boiled water for 5 minutes to soften them up, then pit.

    Tip #2: Make sure the shredded coconut is fresh for best flavor, and from a reputable company such as Bob's Red Mill and Let's Do Organic.

    Tip #3: To produce the classic iconic flat chocolate base found on the original Samoa cookie, dip and place the cookie immediately on wax paper. Parchment paper might work but I find wax works better. Once the chocolate is set, peel the cookie off the paper.

    Substitutions

    Replace the dates. Dates are pretty crucial to this recipe for binding the coconut and chewy sweet flavor. But if you can't access dates, you can replace them with rolled oats and maple syrup.

    Instead of dates, stir 5 tablespoon of rolled oats and 3 tablespoon of maple syrup together in a bowl, and fold in the toasted shredded coconut as you would the dates. You don't need a food processor for this though if you use oats, just bring the mixture together in a bowl.

    Maple syrup. Instead of maple syrup in the caramel layer, you can use date paste or date syrup, or even monksyrup.

    The shredded coconut and chocolate can't be substituted, but any type of chocolate bar or chips can be used.

    Samoa Cookies

    FAQS

    How Healthy Are Homemade Samoa Cookies

    Samoa cookies are relatively healthy as cookies go with 2 grams of protein and fiber each, and only 4 grams of sugar. The sweet flavor and texture of the cookie comes primarily from fresh dates which have a highly nutritious composition, including potassium and iron, and antioxidants which fight off disease. [source]

    The other prominent ingredient in samoa cookies is shredded coconut. The shredded nature helps the cookie bind the dates into the soft chewy texture found identical to the processed commercial version. And raw coconut brings an extraordinarily nutritious profile to the cookie, including cholesterol control, weight loss support, digestion help and blood sugar stabilization. [source]

    Why did they change the name of Samoa cookies?

    The Girl Scout's recently had to change the name to Caramel Delites because the Girl Scouts switched manufacturers, and the original manufacturer of Samoa cookies had a federal trademark on the name.

    Samoa Cookies

    More Copycat Dessert Recipes

    • Entenmann copycat Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
    • Girl Scout copycat Thin Mints
    • Entenmann copycat Milano Cookies
    • Homemade Hostess Chocolate Cupcakes
    • Hostess copycat Ring Ding Cakes (Ding Dongs)

    If you tried this recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. Thanks for visiting!

    📖 Recipe

    Samoa Cookies

    No Bake Samoa Cookies (Girl Scout Copycat)

    Created by Dee Dine
    No bake samoa cookies, with a chewy buttery base, caramel coconut topping, and rich chocolate coating, are a delicious Girl Scout copycat cookie with only 5 ingredients, a melt-in-your-mouth texture, and high in fiber and iron.
    5 from 3 votes
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe SaveSaved! Rate Recipe
    Prep Time 5 minutes mins
    Cook Time 45 minutes mins
    Total Time 50 minutes mins
    Course Dessert, Snack
    Cuisine American
    Servings 12
    Calories 74 kcal

    Equipment

    • bowl, spoon
    • baking tray
    • mini donut mold

    Ingredients
      

    Cookie base

    • 8 dates* soaked and pitted
    • ¾ cup shredded coconut unsweetened

    Caramel filling

    • 4 tablespoon nut butter or sunflower seed butter to make nut-free
    • 1 tablespoon maple syrup

    Coconut sprinkles

    • ¼ cup shredded coconut, unsweetened

    Chocolate coating

    • 1 cup chocolate chips melted
    • 1 tablespoon coconut oil
    Prevent your screen from going dark

    Instructions
     

    Prep

    • Preheat your oven to 375 F.
    • Line quarter cookie sheet with parchment paper
    • Drop the dates in just boiled water for 3 minutes to soften enough to pit them.

    Make Cookie base

    • Toast coconut by spreading 1 cup on to the parchment paper and bake for 5 minutes or until browned.
      ¾ cup shredded coconut
    • Add ¾ cup toasted shredded coconut and pitted dates to a food processor and process mixture until sticky.
      8 dates*, ¾ cup shredded coconut
    • Press 1 tablespoon per well into a mini donut mold. If you don't have a mold, press into a paper-lined cupcake pan.
    • Freeze while you make caramel center

    Make Caramel Center

    • Mix the nut butter (or sunflower seed butter) and maple syrup in a pyrex measuring cup, microwaving for 15 seconds to make it smooth.
      4 tablespoon nut butter, 1 tablespoon maple syrup
    • Spread over the cooled cookies while still in the mold (or cupcake pan).
    • Sprinkle tops with fresh shredded coconut.
      ¼ cup shredded coconut, unsweetened
    • Place the mold (or cupcake pan) in the freezer for 30 minutes to allow the caramel to set.

    Dip the Cookies

    • Remove the cookies from molds.
    • Melt the chocolate chips and coconut oil in the microwave for 1 minute.
      1 cup chocolate chips, 1 tablespoon coconut oil
    • Dip the cookies bottoms until coated. Because they are frozen, the chocolate should set fast but set them on a cooling rack up side down until that chocolate bottom is set.

    Drizzle the tops

    • When the bottoms are set, drizzle the tops with melted chocolate. I use a frosting bag with the tip cut off but you can use a ziplock sandwich bag as well with the tip cut off.

    Store Cookies

    • Store in a sealed container at room temperature for 4 days or freeze for three months.

    Video

     

    Notes

    Make sure the Medjool dates are fresh and soft. Find them packaged in the produce section of the grocery store, and always check the date. Before use in this recipe, drop them into just-boiled water for 5 minutes to soften them up, then pit.
    Make sure the shredded coconut is fresh for best flavor, and from a reputable company such as Bob's Red Mill and Let's Do Organic.
    To produce the classic iconic flat chocolate base found on the original Samoa cookie, dip and place the cookie immediately on wax paper. Parchment paper might work but I find wax works better. Once the chocolate is set, peel the cookie off the paper.
    *Instead of dates, stir 5 tablespoon of rolled oats and 3 tablespoon of maple syrup together in a bowl, and fold in the toasted shredded coconut as you would the dates. You don't need a food processor for this though if you use oats, just bring the mixture together in a bowl.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 74kcalCarbohydrates: 7gProtein: 2gFat: 4gSaturated Fat: 2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 2gSodium: 15mgPotassium: 89mgFiber: 2gSugar: 4gVitamin A: 1IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 21mgIron: 1mg
    Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

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    About Dee

    Hey! I'm Dee Dine, and on my blog, I share healthy recipes with wholesome ingredients. I'm also a chocolate and ginger enthusiast, animal lover, an avid blender juicer, and am probably making no bake brownies in my Washington DC kitchen right now. Read about me → »

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Peter Angles

      June 30, 2022 at 1:09 pm

      5 stars
      No bake and the ingredients are so healthy and delicious!

      Reply
      • Dee Dine

        June 30, 2022 at 1:10 pm

        Thank you!

        Reply
    2. Rochelle Joanne Gettings

      April 06, 2022 at 3:38 am

      5 stars
      Hello I am going to make Samoa Cookies . Can you advise of the type of baking mould you have used please?

      Reply
      • Dee Dine

        April 07, 2022 at 12:27 pm

        I used a mini donut mold, linked in my ingredients and here .

        Reply

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    Samoa Cookies
    dee dine

    I'm Dee! Welcome to GSG! Eating healthier and lighter, with plenty of fruits and veggies, can be delicious, especially when chocolate and desserts are involved. Here you'll find wholesome recipes that everyone will love. About Dee →

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