Homemade Samoa Bars

Last week flew by, and I barely had time to bake. I think I made up for it last night, though, with this 2-for-1 recipe. I made Baking Bites Samoa Bar recipe last year with great success. I brought the leftovers into the office and nearly witnessed a fist fight over the last one. This year, I wanted to give them as holiday gifts, but I couldn’t find the chewy-style caramels needed for the recipe. I decided to make the caramel from scratch, and, as so often happens, I tipped my hand into the bar for a last minute substitution.

Feel free to make these bourbon caramels on their own, or as a part of the Samoa Bar recipe.

Full disclaimer: this recipe is time consuming, and/or requires a fair bit of multitasking. Make sure you read it through first, and have all your ingredients ready and measured before you start.

Bourbon Caramels

1 cup butter
1 lb brown sugar (light)
14 oz condensed sweetened milk
1 cup cane syrup (Lyle’s golden syrup will do, since I can’t seem to find Steen’s in the Boston area)
1/8 tsp salt
1 tbsp bourbon

Chop 1 cup (2 sticks) of butter into 1 tbsp sized chunks. Place into a large, heavy saucepan and melt over medium heat. Add brown sugar and stir. While stirring, add cane syrup then condensed milk. Increase heat to high, and bring candy to 235-240F. Once the temp is reached, continue to boil for 2 minutes while stirring constantly. You may need to reduce the heat a notch to maintain the same temp. Remove from heat, and add 1 tablespoon bourbon (or 2 tsp vanilla). Reserve 1.5 cups for the Samoa bars, and pour the remainder into a parchment-lined 8×8 baking dish. Let cool to room temp, then slice into candy size rectangles with a pizza cutter.

Samoa Bars with Bourbon Caramel

3/4 cup butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
3 cups shredded coconut
1 1/2 cups bourbon caramel (see recipe above)
14 oz chocolate chips (semi-sweet or dark, depending on your preferences)

Preheat oven to 350F. In a stand mixer with whisk attachment, cream softened butter and granulated sugar together until fluffy, a few minutes on a med-low speed (I soften the butter on a dish on the stove top while the oven is preheating). Add the egg, then vanilla, into bowl of stand mixer while reducing to a low speed. In a large measuring cup, stir salt into the flour. Slowly add flour to sugar mixture, about 1/4 cup at a time, with stand mixer continuing on a low speed. Scrape down sides as needed, and continue mixing until flour is incorporated. Roughly work with fingers to make sure mixture is consistent.

Dough for Cookie Base

Turn dough onto well floured surface and roll out to roughly 13×9 rectangle. Place into the baking dish lined with parchment paper and press into corners with your fingers. Bake for about 20 minutes, until lightly browned around edges. Remove from baking dish and cool on baking rack.

While the cookie is baking, make the bourbon caramel on the stove top (see recipe above).

When the cookie base is done, reduce oven heat to 300F. Toss coconut into the same parchment lined baking dish you used for the cookie, and toast for 15-20mins, stirring 3-4 times, until golden brown.

While the coconut is toasting, melt the chocolate in a metal bowl set over a saucer of boiling water (or a double boiler if you have one). Once the chocolate has completely melted, remove bowl from heat and set aside.

Pour the toasted coconut into a bowl, and toss with 1.5 cups of caramel.

Caramel and Coconut Topping

Spread over the cookie base, pressing down a bit with the flat side of a spatula to get it even. Let cool completely.

Cut cookies with pizza cutters into desired size (1×1 inch squares will make about 50 bite sized cookies), and dip each cookie into melted chocolate.  Don’t skimp on the chocolate– hold each cookie at the bottom and dip so that the cookie base is completely covered.

Dipping in Chocolate

Then, set onto a clean piece of parchment paper. Optional – take remainder of melted chocolate, or melt more if needed, into a pastry bag, or a plastic baggie with the corner snipped. Drizzle remainder of chocolate onto cookies. Let set at room temp until chocolate is set. Refrigerate in an airtight container.

Samoas with Bourbon Caramel

brown butter and pumpkin cookie

I tried these cookies a few ways – some with a pinch of crystallized ginger, some with a swirl of baking cocoa. Depending on whether your fancy swings towards sweet or savory, give either a try.

Brown Butter and Pumpkin Cookies
makes 3 dozen 2″ round cookies

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, browned
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt

1 cup pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 tbsp bourbon (or vanilla)

* optional flavoring *
2 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp diced crystallized ginger

Brown the butter: chop into tablespoons and melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Whisk constantly, as soon as you see brown flecks appear, remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes. The butter should be a rich brown, with a nutty aroma, but not burned.

brown butter

Add brown sugar and sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer, and pour brown butter into mixture. Cream together. Add egg, beat, then add pumpkin and bourbon and whip until fully combined, a few minutes.

pour brown butter into sugar

In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt. Once thoroughly combined, add to the egg/sugar mixture in the bowl of your stand mixer. Blend together. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

left: pumpkin batter with cocoa right: pumpkin batter with ginger

While your cookie batter is setting in the refrigerator, preheat oven to 375F. Cover your baking sheet with parchment paper, or a silicone baking mat if you have one. Drop the batter by heaping tablespoons onto the baking sheet. Press down on each cookie evenly with your fingers or palm to flatten.

ready for the oven

Bake for 12-15 minutes. The top of the cookie will be just set. Let cool on a baking rack for a few minutes, if you can.

brown butter pumpkin cookie with cocoa

sweet rolls

I love the slight bitterness of an orange marmalade. And, while thinking about the rinds that add that bitterness, I thought of cocktail bitters. Specifically, the bottle of Angostura orange bitters sitting on my liquor shelf. I grabbed that bottle impulsively and added it to the frosting, and I couldn’t have been happier with the results.

Sticky buns require a yeast dough, so if you’re planning on making these for a weekend brunch, make the dough the night before and let rise in a covered bowl in the refrigerator.

Marmalade Sticky Buns with Orange Bitters Frosting
makes approx 20-24 rolls

Dough
1 package or 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups milk
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), cut into tablespoons
2 eggs
4 1/2 cups flour, plus extra for dusting
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tbsp salt

Filling
10 ounce jar orange marmalade
1 cup brown sugar

Frosting
2 cups confectioner’s sugar
2 tbsp melted butter
2 dashes orange bitters
2 tbsp orange juice

Bring milk and 1/2 cup sugar to 110F-100F in a sauce pan over medium heat. While heating, stir to dissolve sugar. Once 110F is reached, remove from heat and add yeast. Let rest for 5 minutes. During this time, the yeast should bubble up.

In a large mixing bowl,  stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Pour yeast mixture into the flour, and knead (or mix with a dough hook) until well combined. Add butter 1-2 tablespoons at a time, until worked in. Beat in eggs, and knead until dough is elastic with a slight sheen.  Cover and let rise until doubled – 4 hours, or overnight in the refrigerator.

Punch down dough and turn onto a well-floured surface. Roll out to 1/4 inch thick, in a large rectangle approximately 30 inches by 15 inches.

dough rolled out

Spread marmalade across surface of dough.

marmalade on dough

Sprinkle brown sugar on top of marmalade. Pinch up the long edge of the dough

pinched dough

and roll tightly into one long log.

a less than tight roll

Slice log into 1 inch rolls. Pack tightly into two 9 inch round pie plates, lightly greased. Let rise again, in a warm draft-free place, for about 40 minutes.

tightly packed buns

Bake at 375F for 18-20 minutes, until filling is melted and edges just barely browned. While baking, mix your glaze. In a mixing bowl, whisk orange juice, bitters and melted butter into confectioner’s sugar, and set aside.

When rolls are done baking, set on cooling rack. Allow to cool 15 minutes (if you can). Brush on glaze and serve.

Now, having made these rolls in glass pie plates and dealt with the cleanup, I would be tempted to make this in disposable aluminum tins next time. Did I mention they are worth the effort and cleanup anyway? So very worth it.

marmalade sweet rolls with orange bitters frosting