Homemade Caramel Delights

I have been trying to go through all of my saved recipes and make all of them...and there are a lot.  This particular recipe was the oldest saved thing I had, and I was really craving them: Homemade Caramel Delights.  Some people call them Samoas, some call them caramel delights, whatever you call them, they are fantastic and I wanted to make them.

One of my best friends, Caryn, had her 21st birthday this week and I went to the Wisconsin Dells for my fraternity's formal.  Obviously, I needed to stock up on cookies.  

Caryn's birthday was a fun time, and people loved the cookies.  We went to the Nitty Gritty for dinner, after all it is the birthday place of Madison, and then everyone who was able to, went out to celebrate with her for her 21st.  I, unfortunately, headed back to my house to watch Revenge in my PJs and get ready for middle school in the morning.  I really can't believe how old I am getting.  This was my third time at the Nitty for Caryn's birthday.  I feel really grateful to have made such great friends in college and it's really shocking to me how fast time is flying by.

The birthday crew

In the Dells we went to the Wilderness and we had a whole cabin to ourselves.  After playing in the water-park all day, we headed back to the cabin to shower and get all dressed up for our fancy dinner to Field's at the Wilderness.  We had some time to kill before our reservation and people were getting hungry.  Needless to say, the cookies (that I brought for everyone for dessert) were gone before dinner.

All ready for dinner :)

Homemade Caramel Delights (adapted from Once Upon a Plate)

 Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
0-2 tbsp skim milk
12 oz caramel sauce
3 cups sweetened coconut flakes
1/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp milk
8 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips (or more)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy.  Beat in the flour, baking powder, and salt.  Next, mix in the vanilla.  Then, add milk (a half tbsp at a time) until the dough comes together.
3. Roll out the dough on a piece of parchment paper until it is about 1/4 inch thick. Use a 2 inch sized round cookie cutter to cut out circles from the dough (I used a cup from my kitchen) then use a smaller circle (a large straw or a small cap from a bottle will work) to cut out the little holes in the cookies. Repeat until you use all the dough, re-roll as needed.

4. Place the prepared cookies on the parchment lined pan and bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool completely.
5. Once cookies are cooled, preheat oven to 300, spread the coconut out on a rimmed baking sheet, and bake for 20 minutes.  Stir the coconut after every 5 minutes to make sure that it is evenly toasted.

6.  When coconut is ready, place in a medium bowl and mix with the jar of caramel sauce.  Spread this mixture evenly on all the cooled cookies.

7. Melt the chocolate, milk, and salt in a microwaveable-safe bowl for 45 seconds, stirring after 30.  Dip each cookie into the chocolate and then place on a parchment lined baking sheet.  Drizzle the remaining chocolate over the tops of the cookies.  You may need more chocolate.  Let the cookies set completely, and chill in the fridge before removing from the parchment paper.

Enjoy :)