Also known as…
Samoas Fudge Babies!
No, not the spicy Indian potato thing. That’s a samosa. This is a samoa. You don’t want to get the two confused! 
Awhile back, I posted a recipe for Raw Thin-Mint Brownies.
In that post, I vowed to someday try making raw samoas, my favorite girl-scout cookies as a child.
Gosh, my children are pretty.
Certainly prettier than those poor Thin Mint Brownies!
Samoas Babies
- Packed 1/2 cup dates (90g)
- 2 tbsp unsweetened shredded coconut (30g)
- 1/16 tsp pure vanilla extract
- scant 1/8 tsp salt
- 1-2 tbsp chocolate chips or bar (14-28g)
Put all the ingredients together in your food processor, and blend. (I like to make 1/2 a batch and use the Magic Bullet short cup.) You can reserve a few of the chocolate chips to add, post-blending, if you so desire. See below for nutrition information.
Nutrition Facts for Samoas Babies:
Serving Size: 45 grams (the size of a Larabar)
- 175 calories
- 8 g fat
- 2 g protein
- 5 g fiber
- 0 g added sugars
When I set out to create a fudge baby version of the famous Samoas girl-scout cookie, the first thing I did was look up ingredients for the real Samoas.
Do you know what I found?
It wasn’t pretty: Sugar, vegetable oil (partially-hydrogenated palm kernel and/or cottonseed oil, soybean and palm oil), enriched flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), coconut, corn syrup, sweetened condensed milk (condensed milk, sugar), cocoa, sorbitol, glycerin, invert sugar, cocoa processed with alkali,cornstarch, salt, caramelized sugar, dextrose, soy lecithin, carrageenan, leavening, natural and artificial flavor
Anyone want to count how many times some form of sugar is listed in there? (Answer: six)
Sounds more like a science experiment than a cookie. Does anyone else find it upsetting that they’re allowed to produce such cookies and feed them—in bulk—to unsuspecting young girls (not to mention the rest of the population that buys the cookies from the scouts). I just don’t understand…
Why do they have to make junk?
Healthy food can taste delicious, as I say in my About Me page.
So why don’t they make a healthier cookie for the girl scouts to sell? Unfortunately, I know the answer: cost. It’s cheaper for companies to mass-produce cookies with chemical-y ingredients and preservatives than it’d be for them to use real, natural ingredients (i.e. ingredients found in cookies that people would bake at home!). Who ends up suffering? The consumers.
Don’t get me wrong…
I’m not saying that eating a girl-scout cookie every now and then is going to hurt you. I truly believe it’s perfectly healthy for people to occasionally eat unhealthy foods (as long as they don’t stress about it afterwards). Stress over achieving a “perfect” diet seems far worse for one’s health than eating processed junk every once in a while. No, what I’m upset about is the fact that manufacturers are allowed to produce said processed junk in the first place! Yes, America is a free country. But does this mean companies have the right to add to their products whatever unhealthy (and, in some cases, dangerous) ingredients they desire? And then they aggressively target these products towards children?! Marketing and deceptive advertising strategies can fool even the most well-intentioned consumers.
Ah, but I digress. Let’s get back to the fun stuff, shall we?
These are actually nut-free!
I improved upon the recipe after the photo-shoot, which is why the babies in the photos have nuts. (Please don’t take that sentence the wrong way.) Do they taste exactly like samoas cookies? No, but that wasn’t the taste/texture I set out to achieve when making these. They’re not raw samoas, they’re raw samoas fudge babies!
So what do they taste like?
Well, imagine a Samoa-flavored Larabar.
And click for a list of all the Homemade Larabar Flavors.
Hi Katie, I just tried this (using sweetened coconut flakes and Medjool dates). They were delicious! They really took care of some serious chocolate craving, and were super simple to make. I’ve recently discovered your website and wanted to thank you for all the great recipes. Well, I’m off to check on my agar base! 🙂
Anyone tried making these with a Vitamix? Don’t have a food processor but would like to make these.
Technically you can, but they will be VERY sticky…
Seriously these were SO GOOOOD! Made some yesterday, and they went too fast lol. Thank you for the recipe!
YUM! I made these this evening and they are delicious. I love the chocolate bits on mixed with coconut. Mmm!
I can’t seem to find the nutritional information on your recipes recently. Where is that located now?
Here is a recipe I got from Babycakes for thin mint cookies.
Babycake’s Thin Mints
From Babycakes Covers the Classics
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups Bob’s Red Mill All-Purpose Gluten-Free Baking Flour
1 cup vegan sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup arrowroot
1 1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup melted refined coconut oil or canola oil
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1 cup vegan gluten-free chocolate chips
3 tablespoons mint extract
Directions
For a shiny sheen to the chocolate coating, I recommend tempering the chocolate first. It takes a little bit longer, but it will make the cookies look beautiful and give them a nice snap when bitten into. I recommend freezing the cookies to keep them crisp and fresh for longer enjoyment.
1. Preheat the oven to 325° F. Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, arrowroot, xanthan gum, baking soda, and salt. Add the coconut oil, applesauce, and vanilla and mix with a rubber spatula until a thick dough forms.
3. Drop the dough by the teaspoon full onto the prepared baking sheets about 1 1/2 inches apart. Gently flatten each mound of dough, smoothing the edges with your fingers. Bake for 7 minutes, rotate the baking sheets, and bake for 7 minutes more. Let stand on the baking sheets for 15 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, combine the chocolate chips and mint extract in a small saucepan and place on medium heat. Stir until the chips are just melted. Do not overcook. Remove from heat. Dunk the top of each cookie into the melted chocolate and place in a single later on a platter. Refrigerate the cookies for 30 minutes, or until the chocolate sets.
Hope this will give you some inspiration. I love your blog and I love chocolate!
Katie, I love your website and your fabulous recipes!
Hi Katie! I’m new to your site and last night I tried these for the first time, and WOW! So delicious! I’m in college and I have a very small kitchen where I can’t do a lot of cooking, but these were such a delight to make. The dash of salt really added a delicious taste. I blogged about your recipe and linked back to you. Keep up the awesome work!! 🙂
could you post the carbs in your goodies? i am doing weight watchers and i have to have the fat, carb, fiber and protein to calculate my ww points.
thank you…alot!
Craving Girl Scout cookies after seeing the scouts trying to sell them outside Walmart. These were great, just enough of the GS taste to satisfy. Thanks!!