Gluten Free Chocolate Coconut Shortbread Cookies

These Chocolate Coconut Shortbread Cookies are made with refined sugar free and gluten free shortbread cookies dipped and drizzled in dark chocolate with a honey sweetened toasted coconut topping.

It was really really hard this year to avoid buying Girl Scout cookies. I, myself, am a Tagalong and Samoa fan. Thin mints are great too, but I’m just as happy with the Keebler brand version Grasshopper cookies.

But those Samoas, those are hard to duplicate.

Which is exactly why I’m NOT trying to duplicate them here. Not to say it can’t be done. Crème de la Crumb has a pretty stellar looking version here. And there are all sorts of other homemade Samoa treats like this Samoa Cheesecake from Gimme Some Oven and these Samoa Bars from the Recipe Critic.

The list can go on and on. You just search Samoa recipes on Pinterest and you get an entire flood of copycat recipes all claiming to better than the original…which I don’t doubt they are! Anything homemade has potential of being that much better.

That being said, I wanted to make a healthier version reminiscent of the Girl Scout cookie that has taken the world by storm. A cookie that still has all the flavors of chocolatey coconuty goodness, but that also doesn’t leave you feeling guilty after you’ve binged on 2, 3, 4, or even an entire box of cookies.

And so were created these Chocolate Coconut Shortbread Cookies.

These little guys are a refined sugar free and gluten free shortbread cookie sweetened with honey and coconut sugar. The dough was super simple to make, especially since I used mostly King Arthur brand gluten free multi-purpose flour instead of mixing a slew of flour together to create my own blend.

I did add a bit of coconut flour just for that extra coconut flavor and to absorb some moisture since I wanted these cookies to have a bit of crispness.

Once you chill the dough for 20-30 minutes, it is completely painless to roll out and transfers quite easily to the baking sheet.

Instead of topping the cookies with a layer of caramel, which is oh so sinful…but oh so delicious, I opted to drizzle the cookies with honey. Not only does it add extra sweetness, but it allows the shredded coconut to stick to the cookies when baked. You will also want to drizzle another layer of honey on top of the coconut, just to assure that those coconut flakes stay in place.

As far as the chocolate goes, I’m a huge fan of Nestlé’s dark chocolate morsels. They melt in your mouth with all the smoothness that a chocolate morsel should have. And they are lower in sugar than milk chocolate. But, if you are a milk chocolate fan, feel free to substitute this sweeter version for your dipping and drizzling needs.

Both my kiddos were a huge fan of these cookies. They ate the ones I had sitting on the counter for 3 nights straight for dessert, and then ate them straight out of the freezer for another few nights until they were gone.

I don’t know what I like better about these cookies: the taste or the ring of chocolate it leaves on my kids’ faces. I do love kissing chocolatey faces!

What is your favorite Girl Scout cookie?

Gluten Free Chocolate Coconut Shortbread Cookies

 

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Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

7 mins

Total time

27 mins

 

A healthier version of everyone's favorite Samoa Girl Scout cookies with refined sugar-free shortbread cookies dipped in dark chocolate and topped with honey sweetened toasted coconut.

Author: Brielle

Recipe type: Dessert

Serves: 6 dozen

Ingredients

• 1 stick butter, room temperature
• ½ cup honey, plus extra for drizzling
• ¼ cup coconut sugar, or brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1½ cups King Arthur brand gluten free multi-purpose flour
• ⅓ cup coconut flour
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon xanthan gum
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 3 cups semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips*
• 3 teaspoons coconut oil
• ½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl or stand mixer, cream together butter, ½ cup honey, coconut sugar, and vanilla until pale and smooth. In a separate smaller mixing bowl, sift together gluten free flour, coconut flour, baking soda, xanthan gum, and salt. Add dry ingredients to wet and mix on low until combined. Beat on medium speed an additional 2 minutes. Divide dough in half. Cover and chill each half for 30 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
3. Remove dough from fridge. Generously flour work surface. Place one of the balls of dough on flour. Dust top of dough with flour. Roll out to ⅛" thickness. Cut donut shape circles using two different sized circular cookie cutters. Place donut shaped cookies 1" apart on baking sheets. Continue until all dough is used, rerolling and reshaping as needed.
4. Drizzle about 1 teaspoon of honey over each cookie (enough that the shredded coconut can stick to). Sprinkle shredded coconut over top of honey. Drizzle an additional thin layer of honey over each cookie.
5. Bake cookies for 7-9 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and slide parchment paper off of cookie sheet and onto cooling racks to allow cookies to completely cool.
6. Repeat steps with second ball of dough until all dough is used.
7. Once cookies are completely cooled, prepare to dip in chocolate. Line completely cooled cookie sheets with wax paper. Work in two batches so chocolate doesn't get too hard. Microwave 1½ cups chocolate chips in a microwave safe dish at 50% power for 1 minute. Remove and stir for one minute. Return to microwave for 15 second intervals at 50% power, stirring for 30 seconds in between until smooth. Add 1½ teaspoons of coconut oil and stir until smooth.
8. Holding cookies one at a time with index finger and thumb, dip bottom of cookies into chocolate and transfer onto wax paper. Once chocolate is gone, repeat microwave directions with remaining 1½ cups of chocolate and coconut oil.
9. Once all the bottoms of the cookies are dipped, use remaining melted chocolate to drizzle over tops of cookies.
10. Chill cookies in the fridge for 15-20 minutes or until chocolate is set. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three days or in freezer for up to 3 months.

Notes

*This ingredient does contain sugar, so for a completely sugar free cookie you will need to use sugar free chocolate chips. I, however, enjoy the lightly sweet taste of dark chocolate chips.

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