These gluten free Samoa cookies are a delicious way to treat yourself to a Girl Scout cookie in a way that is Paleo and Gaps friendly!
No matter what your favorite Girl Scout cookie, finding a healthier, gluten free version of those cookies is a win-win! Since we are following a Paleo / GAPS diet right now, these gluten free, honey sweetened, Samaos are a real treat!
It’s Girl Scout season here right now, so every where I go I’m met with adorable girls selling delicious cookies. The only problem is, I can’t enjoy them any more!
Many years ago, before I was aware of my numerous food allergies, I used to love Thin Mints. I especially loved them straight out of the freezer. Oh man, SO delicious!
But now I make my own Thin Mints with almond flour and honey sweetened mint chocolate. Delicious and completely food allergy free for my family!
And while I was loving my frozen Thin Mints, my husband was loving the Samoa Cookies! So last year I started making gluten free Samoas for him!
Homemade Gluten Free Samoa Cookies
Almonds, coconut, honey, and butter baked to perfection and dipped in chocolate. What’s not to love?!
Originally I created this recipe as a Paleo / GAPS alternative to granola. It was AMAZING! Then I realized how much it actually tasted like Samoa Cookies and decided to try shaping them in rings and dipping this in chocolate…
Talk about an instant winner! That first batch of cookies was gone in just a few minutes – so delicious!
A few notes to remember before making this recipe:
1. Chopped almonds are not the same thing as almond flour. If you use almond flour (which I have) you may need to add a bit more to have the same affect on the taste.
2. The chocolate doesn’t have to be homemade. While we like to use this honey sweetened chocolate recipe, you don’t have to! You can use any kind of dipping chocolate you like. You can even use chocolate chips, melted.
3. You must let the cookies cool completely!! <-- See the 2 exclamation points... that's how serious I am about that one. Let the cookies cool ALL THE WAY before you try to move them or even taste them. If you don't, they will likely fall apart as the binding factors will still be hot from the oven.
4. Poke the hole AFTER baking them, but before they have cooled. You can do this with the end of a wooden spoon or a chopstick for best results. You can also do it before baking, but it’s easier afterwards and I’m all about easy ;-)
Storing Your Homemade Samoa Cookies
We like to store these cookies at room temperature, in an air tight container, and with an moisture absorber.
This helps the cookies stay crisp. Otherwise they do loose a bit of their crispness as they absorb moisture from the air.
You can pop them back in the oven at 300° for about 10 minutes, then let them cool again completely to get them crisp again. If you had chocolate on the cookies it will obviously melt and then re-harden as the cookies cool.
Bake on a piece of parchment to avoid loosing all the chocolate if you do re-bake them.
Copycat Girl Scout Samoa Cookies
Paleo and gluten free copycat samoa cookies!
Ingredients
- 3 cups chopped almonds, finely
- 2 cups shredded coconut, unsweetened
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/3 cup butter, melted
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup dark chocolate, melted (we use this honey sweetened dark chocolate)
Instructions
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Combine all ingredients except the chocolate and mix well.
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Preheat oven to 300° and line a sheet tray with parchment paper.
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Scoop 1/4 cup of mix onto parchment and flatten firmly.
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Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes then form a hole in the center of the cookies. Allow to cool fully before moving from tray.
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Melt chocolate in a double boiler (or if you made the honey chocolate, use while still melted), dip the base of each cookie in the chocolate and place on wax paper. Use a spoon to drizzle chocolate across the top as well.
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Melanie Johnson says
This looks great but I don’t understand. You mix all ingredients, but then melt the chocolate and dip the cookies in after baking? How does that work?
Victoria says
Hi Melanie! Good catch! That should have read “combine all ingredients except the chocolate”. I’ve updated the recipe. Thanks!