Girl Scout Cookies, Part Duex: Caramel de Lites

Chocolate.
Caramel.
Coconut.


Are you onboard yet, because you need to be.  How can you go wrong with homemade Girl Scout cookies? And while I may have rambled on incessantly about my love of these seasonal treats here, I forgot to mention one thing: 

In my world, only two types of Girl Scout cookies exist.  Thin Mints and Caramel de Lites.  The End.

I love you, but I'm sorry- If you think your Do-Si-Dos can hold a candle to mint chocolate goodness, you're wrong.  And don't even get me started on Shortbreads.  No chocolate. No caramel. No fun. 

I've honestly been waiting ALL week to get the chance to make these and now I can finally share it with you.   You ready for this- because its gonna be A.MAZ.ING.

Coming at ya courtesy of Baking Bites.com.





How Long Is This Gonna Take:
I'm not gonna lie- you're going to need a decent amount of time.  There's rolling and cutting and baking and topping involved.  So turn up the radio and get your wooden spoon microphone ready.  You'll be dancing around your kitchen for about 2 hours. 


Oh, I'm the only one that kitchen dances? No wonder my dog looks at me funny.....

What You'll Need:
For The Cookie Base:
2 sticks Butter, softened
1/2 cup Sugar
2 cups AP Flour
1/4 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Vanilla
about 2 tbsp Milk


For The Topping:
3 cups Shredded Coconut
12 oz Chewy Caramels
1/4 tsp Salt
3 tbsp Milk
8 oz Semi-Sweet Chocolate


What To Do:
1. Preheat oven to 350F.  Cream together butter and sugar.  On a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.  Slowly add to butter/sugar mixture.  Add vanilla and enough milk to make the dough come together- I only had to add 1 tbsp. Its should be a soft, not too sticky dough.  If incredibly hard to work with, add a bit more flour. 

2.  Roll out dough between 2 pieces of wax paper to about 1/4 in thick (May be best to halve or third the dough prior to rolling).  Cut 1 1/2 inch rounds with a cookie cutter and place on a wax paper lined cookie sheet.  Then use a wide straw to cut the center hole (This step ended up being useless for me because I ended up covering the hole with the topping).  Bake for 10-12 minutes.  Transfer to wire rack to completely cool.

3.  For the topping, preheat oven to 300F.  Spread coconut on a wax paper lined baking pan (one with sides) and toast for 20 minutes, stirring every 5, until golden.  Cool on sheet, still stirring occasionally.  Melt caramels, milk, and salt in the microwave, stirring occasionally.  Fold in toasted coconut.  Use a spatula to spread topping over cookies.  You'll need to reheat the caramel/coconut several times as it firms up quickly.

4.  Once the topping sets, melt the chocolate in the microwave. 2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds.  Dip the bottom of each cookie in chocolate and set on wax paper to cool.  Transfer the remaining chocolate plus more if needed into a piping bag or a ziplock bag with the corner snipped off and drizzle finished cookies with chocolate.