Homemade Samoas Cookie Bars

Found this one at www.bakingbites.com

Homemade Samoas Cookie Bars

Ingredients:
crust...
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 large egg
1/2 t vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 t salt

topping...
3 cups shredded coconut
12 oz good quality chewy caramels
1/4 t salt
3 T milk
10 oz. dark or semisweet chocolate bars/chips

First, make the crust. Preheat oven to 350 and lightly grease a 9x13 pan or line with parchment paper. In large bowl, cream together sugar and butter, until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Working at low speed, gradually beat in flour and salt until mixture is crumbly. Pour dough into prepared pan and press into an even layer.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until base is set and lightly hesitates. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Preheat oven to 300. Spread coconut evenly on a parchment-lined baking sheet (or spray with cooking spray). Toast for 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes, until coconut is golden. Cool on baking sheet, stirring occasionally. Set asside

Unwrap the caramels and place in a large microwave-safe bowl with milk and salt. Cook on hight for 3-4 minutes, stopping to stir a few times. When smooth, fold in toasted coconut. Put dollups of the topping all over the shortbread crust. Using a spoon/spatula spread topping into an even layer. Let topping set until cooled.

When cooled, cut into 30 bars with a large knife or pizza cutter. Melt chocolate in a small bowl. Heat on high in microwave in 45 second intervals, stirring thoroughly to prevent scorching. Dip the base of eac bar into the chocolate and place on a clean piece of parchment or wax paper. Use a spoon to drizzle remaining chocolate across the bars to finish.

Let chocolate set completely before storing in an airtight container.

Our Review: These were great!! YUMMY! We were impatient and tried to cut them before everything was cool and set so they were a little crumbly at first so we just drizzled chocolate on the top and ate some like that. After sitting awhile they were much easier to cut.