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!
Angie says
Do you know if I could use coconut oil instead of butter?
Victoria says
Absolutely! It’s delicious and adds a bit of extra sweetness! :-)
Angie says
One more question – how finely should the almonds be chopped – fine slivers? or almost into a flour? Would briefly pulsing in a food processor work?
Victoria says
Hi Angie! I like to just hand chop them roughly, but you can do whatever you like. I find that something between half almonds and slivers works the best! Enjoy and let me know how they turn out!
Angie says
Since you asked me to let you know … my first pass at them didn’t work out too well, though they tasted delish! I actually subbed maple syrup for the honey (as I’ve done in many other recipes; perhaps that was part of the problem, should’ve asked you about that first!) – the cookies didn’t hold together at all, and were hard to form. Also, 1/4 c. was making a much too.ginormous cookie so I used 1/8!c. At a tad under 30 minutes they were already overdone. And 10 mins. after removing from the oven they were much too hard to be able to poke a hole in. I have yet to dip them in the chocolate – given how crumbly they are I’m not sure it’s going to work! But again, they taste fabulous!
Victoria says
Hey Angie! I’m glad they were delicious at least! Sounds like the maple syrup may have made the difference. You might try pressing them with a cup and using a chop stick to make the hole while they are super hot, then also cooking them maybe 5 minutes less with the maple syrup.
Even if they crumble, drizzle some chocolate on and it’s amazing cereal! <3
Angie says
Yes! Thank you for your help and the great recipe! 👍🏼