Secret Recipe Club: Samoa Bars

Confession: I was assigned Ewa's blog Delishhh for the Secret Recipe Club this month and I spent more time looking at the pictures than reading the actual recipes.  The pictures are so gorgeous and in all honesty, my pictures don't even do this dessert justice, so please go to her blog and eat with your eyes.  You'll thank me for telling you to go there.

This month, while I was looking at Ewa's pictures, I had a hard time deciding.  Ewa has a passion for healthy, simple, delicious, and fun recipes.  While I set out to find a healthy and simple recipe, I ended up getting hooked on a delicious and fun one.

In my mind, the problem with Girl Scout Cookies is that they are only available at certain times of the year. Sometimes you just have a day where you really need those delicious cookies, and they are totally out of season.  I honestly had that kind of month where I needed BOXES of those cookies, so these Samoa Bars were screaming at me.  I know, I know, it isn't Girl Scout season.  Actually it is about 6 months from Girl Scout season.  Luckily, the Keebler Elves saved my life and provided me with Coconut Dreams (aka Samoas) and Sandies (aka Trefoils or however you spell them).

Samoa Bars
barely adapted  from Delishhh
Ingredients
Crust
4 tablespoons of melted butter
1 box (9 oz) of shortbread cookies

Filling
2 boxes of Samoa Girl Scout cookies (or Coconut Dreams from Keebler)
16 oz semi sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup jarred caramel sauce


Directions
1) Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Grease a 9 by 9 baking pan.  Line the pan with parchment paper, allowing the excess to hang over the sides of the pan.
2) For the crust: Pulse the shortbread cookies in a food processor until the cookies resemble the texture of bread crumbs.  Melt the better, and pulse with the crumbs to incorporate.  Press the mixture into the baking pan and bake for 12 minutes until golden brown.
3) Melt the chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl by microwaving for 30-second increments and stirring after each increment, until completely melted.
4) Pour the chocolate on the shortbread crust, reserving 2 tablespoons.
5) Pulse coconut cookie until they are 1/2 inch pieces.  Press Samoas on top of the chocolate layer.
6) Sprinkle coconut on top of the cookie layer, and then layer caramel sauce and chocolate drizzle.
7) Refrigerate 30 minutes to set.

These bars are incredible.  Ewa has a recipe for caramel on her blog, but mine turned out horribly wrong and I ended up having to cheat and use the jarred caramel.  I love how these bars have Samoa cookies in them, but then the bar themselves is a bar-like form of the cookie.  These are definitely fun and delicious.  I can't wait to try them with the real Girl Scout Cookies.  Check out what all the other swap participants made for this swap.