This recipe for gluten-free Paleo Girl Scout cookies is based on one from the wonderful cookbook Paleo Indulgences
My favorite part of this gluten-free Paleo Girl Scout cookie recipe? The vegan caramel sauce recipe that Tammy includes in it, which is a true piece of culinary genius. There are dozens of other treats that you’ll want to have at hand as well, so I recommend getting yourself a copy of this delightfully healthy cookbook.
For about a week I was calling these cookies Samoras instead of Samoas. I’m not really sure what got into me as I used to call them by the correct name. If you like cookies with toasted coconut, vegan caramel sauce and dark chocolate, then these are right up your alley, regardless of the name.
Paleo Samoas
Ingredients
Cookies
- 2 cups blanched almond flour (not almond meal)
- ½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ cup honey
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 3 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
Topping
- 1 cup chocolate chips, 6 ounces
- 1 cup coconut sugar
- ¼ cup coconut nectar
- ½ cup full fat coconut milk
- ½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut, toasted
Instructions
Cookies
- In a food processor combine dry ingredients
- Pulse in wet ingredients until dough forms
- Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes
- Roll dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper to ¼-inch thick
- Use a 2 inch cookie cutter to cut out rounds
- Use a knife to cut holes in center of rounds if desired
- Bake at 350°F for 6-8 minutes
- Cool cookies completely on baking sheet
Topping
- Melt chocolate over very low heat
- Dip base of each cookie into chocolate
- Place on parchment paper to set
- To make caramel, place coconut sugar, coconut nectar and coconut milk in a saucepan
- Bring mixture to a boil, then decrease heat and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring frequently
- Remove mixture from heat and stir in toasted coconut
- Use a small spoon to drizzle caramel-coconut mixture onto cookies
- Drizzle additional chocolate over cookies and sprinkle with extra coconut if desired
- Place cookies in refrigerator to set, then serve
While the ingredients for these homemade Paleo Girl Scout cookies are based on a recipe from Tammy Credicott’s Paleo Indulgences, much of the method is based on that from the Samoa recipe by David Leite at Leite’s Culinaria. Leite has one of the best cooking sites around. His photography is beautiful and the instructions for his recipes are full of detail, yet at the same time quite simple.
Finally, a bit of Girl Scout cookie trivia –did you know that in 2002 Bruce Willis purchased 12,000 boxes of Girl Scout cookies and had them sent to troops in Afghanistan?
What is your favorite Girl Scout Cookie recipe? If you could see another gluten-free Girl Scout cookie recipe over here which one would it be?
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Kathy says
Hi Elana! Excited to try this recipe! I cannot find coconut nectar. Can I use a sweetener substitute?
Thanks
Elana says
Kathy, feel free to experiment :-)
Burnt Caramel Mcgee says
I was so excited to try this recipe but it is flawed. 10 minutes was too long for my caramel and it smelled burnt but I couldn’t try to to make sure because it was too hot. Then the caramel solidified in a matter or 30 seconds to 1 minute. There should be a note to act fast putting it on the cookies. SO MUCH WORK and so many steps. Not worth it.
Elana says
Mcgee, thanks for your comment! We make this caramel quite often and it turns out perfectly. It sounds like your heat was too high and the caramel may not have been stirred enough. Let me know if you have any other questions :-)
Lisa says
If I made these, do you think I would be able to mail them? (1day trip)
Or do they need to stay refrigerated before eaten?
Elana says
Lisa, I keep mine in the refrigerator :-)