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.
YES YES YE SLOVE! i would much prefer these to actual samoas just saying.. and i think last time when you mentioned about these I said ‘samosa’ in the comments…. is it sad that i thought it was samosa??.. my b
another BEAUTIFUL creation!!!
Yes!! How exciting–so glad you posted this recipe. And I cannot believe the ingredients in real samoas!!! Makes me sick just thinking about it (especially because I love samoas!). If only everyone could be more informed about these issues…sigh.
Amazing job, Katie!! What is that deliciousness you drizzled on top?
Chocolate Butter: https://lett-trim.today/2010/05/20/homemade-artisana-cacao-bliss/%3C/a%3E%3Cbr /> But that was just for the photos… really, they’re so awesome and don’t even need a topping! 🙂
Katie, you’re an angel. I love somoas, but sugar doesn’t really agree with me, but I am making these ASAP.
I completely agree with you on the marketing science project foods to kids. I’ve worked with kids for years and I know they’re much likely to eat something if it’s colorful, shaped like something else, etc. and advertisers know that too. Most of the kids I’ve taught have no concept of what real food is, and it’s so sad. They’d rather eat dinosaur-shaped fruit snacks, lucky charms, pink strawberry-flavored milk, Go-gurt and Cheetos than fruits or veggies, which are colorful and delicious on their own. 🙁
Well said! I never understand, because people would be UP IN ARMS if companies put, say, nicotine or cyanide in products. And yeah partially-hydrogenated oils and other such things aren’t as bad as poison, but essentially aren’t they just another form of less potent poison?
Oooh I want these!!!! They are so pretty and I bet they taste amazing!!!
I totally agree with you about the ingredients in the real samoas. And truth be told, I bought some not so long ago and was disappointed with the flavor. Processed food lacks real flavor! I bet these are way better! Katie, you are a genius!
Omg LOVE IT! and I love when bars are in ball form so much more! maybe i’m an odd one but they are so much more fun that way!!!! =) its like a candy! <3
Ooooh girl they look delicious. It is so sad actually, I always feel so lucky that I grew up in a house where my family almost always ate healthy and not the opposite.
im excited to try these, I have to make some treats for my brothers high school graduation this week and his girlfriend is allergic to nuts so this is perfect! thanks !
That’s not sad at all! We always used to make fun of my grandma, because it wasn’t a meal to her unless there were like 10 vegetables being served! 🙂
I’m jumping up and down with joy to see a nut-free fudge baby recipe. Yaaaaayyyy!!! (Although, Peabutter makes a good replacement in the PB cookie babies)
As for those ingredients… blech… I don’t want to put those chemicals in my body thankyouverymuch. Food manufacturers could learn a few lessons from you, Katie!
Oh man I used to LOVE somoas!!! My favorite girl scout cookie for sure. These look awesome!!!