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In all honesty, my oldest daughter and I were a little bit grippy on Saturday 
(worn out from the week most likely), so we decided to cheer ourselves up in 
the kitchen.  One of the greatest blessings of celiac disease is that it has 
brought us the common interest of cooking.  A couple hours spent in the 
kitchen trying out some new recipe and not only are our spirits cheered but 
we have new, usually yummy food, to eat.  
 
It was quite an endeavor.  These are high input cookies.  After one chocolate 
explosion (the tip came off the end of the pastry bag) and four hours of finger-
licking fun, we produced almost four dozen better-than-the-original Samoas. 

Here is the recipe for Gluten Free/Casein Free Samoas.

Cookie Ingredients

1  1/4 cup butter (or Earth Balance for casein free) 
2/3 cup sugar 
3 1/4 cup gluten free flour (we used our Favorite Gluten Free Flour Recipe) 
3/4 t xanthan gum 
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and line cookie sheets with parchment 
paper.  Beat the butter and sugar on medium speed for 5 minutes.  The 
mixture will become light in color and very soft and fluffy. 

Fold in the flour by hand.  (It may not seem like it, but just keep folding it in 
and it will all stick together). 

Roll the dough into tablespoon-sized balls and flaten with the bottom of a 
glass that has been dipped in sugar to prevent the dough from sticking.  Cut 
out the middle of the cookies with an apple corer.  (The shape of the cookie is 
really up to you, but my daughter really wanted cookies that were round like 
the original Samoas and I figured I was already doing this much work, so we 
might as well go ahead and make them donut shaped.  However, to make this 
recipe less time consuming, you could just make round cookies). 

Bake for 18 minutes until they are a very pale golden color.  Yeilds about 4 
dozen cookies.  They tasted fantastic as this point, so you may want to save 
some like this to eat. 

For the Chocolate Bottoms

1 cup melted chocolate (Enjoy Life semi-sweet chocolate chips are both  
gluten and casein free)
Melt in the microwave on 50% stopping to stir every 30 seconds.  These do 
not take long to melt. 

Flip the cookies over and coat the bottom with a layer of chocolate.  We 
found it easiest to do this with a spatula.  Put in the refrigerator or the 
freezer to set the chocolate.   

 For the Topping

6 T butter (or Earth Balance for casein free) 
1/2 cup sugar 
1/2 cup corn syrup 
1/2 cup condensed milk (or 1/4 cup almond milk for casein free) 
1/2 t vanilla 
2 1/2 cups toasted coconut 
1 cup chocolate chips (Enjoy Life semi-sweet chocolate chips  are both gluten 
and casein free).
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.  Spread coconut evenly on a cookie sheet 
and toast for 12 minutes or until it is golden brown.  Check to make sure it 
does not burn. 

In a 2 quart saucepan over medium low heat, combine the butter, sugar and 
corn syrup.  

Stirring constantly, heat to a full boil.  Boil 3 minutes. 

Continuing to constantly stir, add either the condensed milk or the almond 
milk. 

Cook over low heat until candy thermometer reaches 220 degrees. 

Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. 

Beat with an electric mixer for 4 minutes then stir in the toasted coconut and 
mix well. 

Top the cookies with the mixture.  We used a butter knife.  The mixture sets 
fast so if it gets hard warm in the microwave or keep it in a warming drawer. 

The Grand Finale

1 cup melted chocolate (Enjoy Life semi-sweet chocolate chips are both 
gluten and casein free)
Melt in the microwave on 50% stopping to stir every 30 seconds.  These do 
not take long to melt.   Use a pastry bag or a ziploc bag with a small whole 
cut in the corner and add the signature chocolate swirl across the top of the 
cookies.  Store in the refrigerator. 

For more details, including step by step photos, go to my blog at 
http://glutenfreemom.spaces.live.com or check under the recipes section of 
my webstie www.glutenfreemom.com.  

Enjoy!!

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