These samoa cookie bars are a top tier holiday cookie! Buttery shortbread topped with salted caramel, toasted coconut and drizzled with chocolate for an elevated version of the famous Girl Scout cookie.

I first made homemade Samoas earlier this year for a bake sale (generally following Bigger Bolder Baking’s recipe) and was so pleased with the results, but also exhausted. Stamping out the shortbread cookie circles and carefully forming the caramel mixture on top of each cookie before drizzling with chocolate took FOREVER.

These bars take a fraction of the time and are possibly even more delicious!

How I created this recipe

For the base, I referenced the shortbread bake off to select a brown sugar shortbread that I thought would pair nicely with the caramel in the coconut topping. It’s an easy 3-ingredient recipe (I just add salt) and bakes up in less than 30 minutes.
For the coconut topping, I used Bigger Bolder Baking’s bars as inspiration, but I chose to make my own salted caramel to mix in with the toasted coconut rather than storebought caramels.
For the salted caramel, I used Sally’s Baking Addiction but reduced the amount of heavy cream to 1/4 cup because I wanted a less runny caramel to mix into the coconut topping.

And that’s it! To finish, it’s just a matter of drizzling chocolate and sprinkling on some flaky salt if desired.

Ingredients

Unsalted butter: I almost always use unsalted butter so you can control the level of salt in the rest of the recipe.
Kosher salt: I always use Diamond Crystal kosher salt. If using table salt or Morton’s kosher salt, use about half the amount called for in the recipe.
Sweetened shredded coconut: Updating this amount to 7 oz, which is a more standard bag quantity in the U.S.! This is an approximate amount; a little more or less is totally fine. You can also use a mix of unsweetened and sweetened shredded coconut–I just prefer the coarser shred that’s usually reserved for sweetened coconut. A few readers have reported this recipe working well using entirely unsweetened coconut.
Heavy cream: Also sometimes sold as heavy whipping cream or just whipping cream. This is key to help cool down and loosen up the caramel.
Melting chocolate: I used Ghiradelli’s chocolate melting wafers, which melt and firm up beautifully. You can also use chocolate chips or chopped chocolate. Milk, semisweet, bittersweet and dark all work–just choose according to your flavor preference.

A note on caramel: if you’re not confident in making a dry caramel for the homemade salted caramel sauce, there are a few easy substitution options:

Instead, you can use 1 cup of storebought caramel sauce
Or you can follow Krolls Korner’s directions to use storebought caramels in the topping

If you’d still like to tackle the dry caramel method, I’ve updated the method below to include detailed steps and visual cues for making the salted caramel sauce!

How to make samoa bars

These bars come together fairly quickly. As you bake the shortbread, you can toast the coconut, then make the caramel and then assemble the bars!

These do require a minimum of 20 minutes of chilling to set the topping, so they also work well as a make-ahead cookie if you want to chill them in the fridge overnight or a few days ahead of when you plan to serve them.

Step 1: Make the shortbread: Cream the butter, sugar and salt together with a mixer. Mix in the flour until you have a soft dough.

Step 2: Bake the shortbread: Press the dough into a prepared pan and dock all over with a fork. Bake at 325 for 25-30 minutes or until browned around the edges and matte on top.

Step 3: Toast the coconut: Spread 7 oz sweetened shredded coconut onto a baking sheet. Bake for 18-22 minutes, stirring once, until golden brown.

Step 4: Make the caramel: Make sure you have your butter, cream and salt measured out and ready on the side as you’ll need to work quickly. Add 1 cup sugar to a small saucepan and heat over medium heat until the sugar starts to melt into an amber syrup around the edges. Stir occasionally (sugar will clump together) until mostly melted. Depending on the strength of your stove, this might take around 5 minutes or less.

Step 5: As you stir, the sugar should melt into a mostly cohesive amber syrup. If it starts to smoke, turn the heat down to medium low. Once you have a moderately amber syrup, you’re ready to add the butter (a few remaining sugar clumps are okay here–you don’t want the syrup to get too dark at this point or your caramel will be hard).

Step 6: Add the butter all at once and quickly whisk it in until incorporated. I like to use cold butter, which will help bring down the temperature of the caramel at this point–but the cold butter will make the mixture will bubble up vigorously, so be careful of splatters.

Step 7: Once you whisk in the butter, the mixture should look several shades lighter in color and there may be a bit of oil separating at the top. That’s okay–quickly proceed to the next step!

Step 8: Add the heavy cream all at once and quickly whisk it in–again, the mixture will bubble up vigorously, so be careful of splatters.

Step 9: Once the heavy cream is fully incorporated, let the mixture simmer for about 10 seconds, then turn off the heat.

Step 10: Quickly whisk in the salt. At this point, the caramel should be a very thin and runny consistency–it will thicken as it cools. If your caramel is looking thick and viscous at this point, try whisking in 1-2 tbsp warm cream (off the heat) until you have a runny mixture.

Caramel being poured into a bowl of toasted coconut.

Step 11: Make the topping: In a large bowl, pour the salted caramel over the toasted coconut and fold to combine.

Step 12: Evenly press the coconut mixture over the top of the shortbread. Chill for at least 20 minutes or up to a few days, covered well.

Step 13: Cut into bars.

Step 14: Drizzle with melted chocolate and top with flaky salt, if using!

Storage and make ahead

Covered well, these baked bars will keep at room temperature for up to 3 days. You can store them in the fridge for up to a week (but I recommend letting them come to room temperature before eating). These will also freeze nicely for at least a couple weeks.

If you’d like to make these ahead of time, you can bake the shortbread and keep it, covered well, for up to 3 days in the fridge. You can also make these through step 6 (chilling to set the topping) and keep it covered in the fridge for another few days (or frozen for a week or two) before finishing with chocolate and flaky salt.

A coconut chocolate shortbread bar on a white plate.

Samoa Cookie Bars

Erika Kwee

A salted caramel coconut topping drizzled with chocolate over a buttery shortbread crust for the most irresistible homemade version of the Samoa girl scout cookie!

3.65 from 14 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 1

Cook Time 25

Course Dessert

Servings 8×8 pan

Equipment

1 8×8 or 9×9 pan

Ingredients

For the shortbread

12 tbsp unsalted butter, softened slightly or cold 170g
6 tbsp brown sugar 80g
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 2/3 cup all-purpose flour 200g

For the caramel coconut filling

7 oz sweetened, shredded coconut
1 cup granulated sugar 200g
6 tbsp unsalted butter, cold 85g
1/4 cup heavy cream 57g
1 tsp kosher salt

For assembling

2.5 oz semisweet, milk or dark chocolate chips or bars 70g
Flaky salt, for finishing (optional)

Instructions

For the shortbread

Preheat oven to 325 and line an 8×8 or 9×9 pan with parchment paper lining the bottom and sides.
Cream together the 12 tbsp unsalted butter, softened slightly or cold, 6 tbsp brown sugar, and 1/2 tsp kosher salt on low speed to incorporate, then on medium speed for 2-3 minutes or until light and fluffy.
Add 1 2/3 cup all-purpose flour and mix on low until flour is combined and dough has mostly come together–a few crumbly bits are okay. Press the dough evenly into the prepared pan, then dock all over with a fork. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the edges are turning golden and the top looks matte.

For the coconut filling

With the oven still at 325, spread 7 oz sweetened, shredded coconut evenly onto a baking sheet. Bake for 18-20 minutes, stirring halfway, until coconut is golden. (Uneven browning is totally fine–just make sure no parts get scorched). Pour the toasted coconut into a large mixing bowl.
In a medium saucepan, add 1 cup granulated sugar over medium heat. Let cook until the sugar starts to liquify around the edges. Stir occasionally to evenly distribute the unmelted sugar until the sugar has mostly melted into a golden syrup (a few clumps of sugar are okay).
Turn the heat down to medium low if the mixture starts to smoke or is darkening past a golden amber while there's still unmelted sugar. You do NOT want to let the sugar reach a dark amber color at this point–overcooking the sugar will lead to an excessively firm caramel.
Once the sugar is almost entirely melted (again, a few clumps are okay) and is the color of light maple syrup or a golden amber, add 6 tbsp unsalted butter, cold all at once and quickly whisk until incorporated. The mixture will sputter and bubble up, but just keep whisking until the butter is melted and the mixture mostly comes together.
Once the butter has melted, immediately add 1/4 cup heavy cream (again, mixture will bubble up) and whisk until fully combined. Let simmer for about 10 seconds, then remove from heat and whisk in 1 tsp kosher salt. The caramel should look very fluid and thin; it will thicken as it cools.
Pour the warm caramel over the coconut and fold together until well combined.

To assemble

Immediately spread the caramel coconut caramel evenly on top of the shortbread crust. Chill for at least 20 minutes or overnight in the fridge to let mixture set.
Once set, cut the shortbread into bars (I usually cut 21 bars in a 3×7 grid but you can even cut into smaller squares if you like). Melt 2.5 oz semisweet, milk or dark chocolate chips or bars and drizzle over the top. Finish with flaky salt if desired. Let the chocolate set in the fridge for 15 minutes (or room temperature for 30 minutes) before serving.