Recipe #8 - Homemade "Tagalong" Girl Scout Cookies

In all their chocolate nakedness glory!

Hey all!

My husband was upset with me because I don't really bake anything with his particular tastes in mind.  Unfortunately, this is true!  I'm usually making things for others or trying recipes that look good to me.  It's not that he doesn't enjoy some of these things, but he was feeling left out.  So on Saturday I decided I was going to bake for him.  My husband loves Tagalong Girl Scout Cookies.  I have tried to find a reasonable substitution at the grocery store forever and there just isn't one.  Then I came across this recipe in a blog and decided to give it a try. 





Naked NO MORE!

1 cup butter, soft
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp milk

Preheat oven to 350F. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Mix in flour, baking powder and salt at a low speed, followed by the vanilla and milk. The dough should come together into a soft ball.  Take a tablespoon full of dough and flatten it into a disc about 1/4-inch thick. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough. Cookies will not spread much. Bake cookies for 11-13 minutes, until bottoms and the edges are lightly browned and cookies are set. Cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Filling
1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter (natural or regular)
3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar*
generous pinch salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 TBS cooking oil or shortening
about 8-oz semisweet chocolate

In a small bowl, whisk together peanut butter, confectioners’ sugar, salt and vanilla. When the mixture has come together, heat it in the microwave (again in short intervals, stirring frequently), until it is very, very soft. Working carefully with the hot filling, transfer it to a pastry bag (or plastic bag with the tip cut off) and pipe a generous dome of the filling onto each cookie. Chill cookies with filling for 20-30 minutes, or until the peanut butter is firm.
Melt the chocolate in a small, heat-resistant bowl. This can be done in a microwave (with frequent stirring). Add oil to thin the consistency of the chocolate for smoother dipping.   Dip chilled cookies into chocolate, let excess drip off, and place on a sheet of parchment paper to let the cookies set up. The setting process can be accelerated by putting the cookies into the refrigerator once they have been coated.

What did I think? I am not a good judge of these cookies because they are truly not anywhere near a cookie I would pick or enjoy for that matter.  But these were awesome because they turned out amazing and I had to do very little tweaking.  This is unusual for a recipe you pull off the Internet.  Except for mine of course!! The cookies even baked for the amount of time the recipe called for.  As per my usual though I had to be the expert and ended up putting my test batch back in the oven 3 times before finally believing the recipe.  So yes truly cook these cookies for the full 11-13 minutes.  The filling was really easy and surprisingly creamy.  I piped it onto the cookies with my handy dandy cupcake decorating gun of magic!  Wow did that make it easier.  I flattened the peanut butter onto each cookie, forming a flat patty before dipping them in chocolate.  They were really beautiful cookies once done.  They are far better than the purchased variety and you can have them all year long.  I believe even the fairly inexperienced baker can pull these off and look like a master.

"They are DEEELICIOUS!"

What did "The Critic" think? 4.5 out of 5 stars  He absolutely loved these cookies.  He was so excited that I thought of him and made him his own cookies.  Not to mention that he has been searching for these cookies forever.  So I scored some serious points Saturday for a couple hours worth of work.  He requested I try a graham cracker crust with these.  Still trying to figure out how to get the crust to stay in one piece, but I will keep you updated.  He said that would bring them to a 5.  Never satisfied I tell you!  But I love him anyway. 

I believe this recipe has become my #1 success this year so far and I don't even like the cookies.  It was a well written recipe and easily executed.  Thank you to the generous blogger who posted it...sorry I didn't write your name down!  She also had a recipe for Samoas, so if I can find it I will be trying those next I think.

Happy Baking!