Samoas (Caramel Delight) Cupcakes

Growing up, I always looked forward to Girl Scout cookie time. But I mean, who didn't? Except instead of being excited to indulge in incredibly decadent, sinful, cookies to drool over, I was excited to sell cookies and get the fun "incentives" provided for selling a certain number of boxes. Don't get me wrong, peanut butter on a cookie covered in chocolate? Heaven on earth in my book. And over the years I have grown to LOVE caramel so Samoas (or caramel delights and they used to be called where I'm from) are more than ok in my book. But I still remember receiving all of the plush toys and "cookie credits"; almost like a gift certificate for the Girl Scout Store. I can honestly say however that I do NOT, repeat NOT miss standing out in the freezing cold repeating "Would you like to buy some girl scout cookies?" and half the time being completely ignored or being told "Oh but I just bought some from the little girl's the other day." I mean it was already hard enough to be entering my teen years and being a girl scout, without the help of the little girls making it impossible to sell cookies. For this reason, I make it a point to try to buy from the older girls at booth sales. 

Anyways, the whole reason why I decided on these cupcakes for the week was for my roommate's 21st birthday. When I asked what kind of cupcakes she wanted for her birthday, she had first decided on funfetti cupcakes (which I will be making later on in the year for someone else's birthday) until I told her I had found a few recipes for Samoas cupcakes. Of course, since they are her all time FAVORITE girl scout cookie, she changed her mind. When we were talking about her birthday/super bowl party (which is why the cupcakes are in a carrier), she had mentioned something about how she wasn't fond of chocolate cake. Unfortunately, most of the recipes I had found were chocolate or chocolate coconut. So since it was her big 2-1, I made it a point to find a recipe that was NOT a chocolate cupcake. That's when I came across this lovely recipe from Java Cupcakes. It's a coconut cupcake with coconut extract (I used imitation because I couldn't find anything else on my quick trip to freddies), coconut flakes, and coconut milk (which is slightly difficult to find, it was down the ethnic food's isle). I am not really a fan of coconut, but according to my roomie, the batter was perfectly coconuty and delicious. The salted caramel frosting was adapted from The Novice Chef, which was one of my original cupcake recipe choices (except it is chocolate!) then rolled in toasted coconut (some had drizzled chocolate underneath the toasted coconut) which was AMAZING!! After these cupcakes were made I literally sat there eating the left over toasted coconut straight out of the container. The frosting is a little on the softer side, only because my roommate is not a big fan of a lot of frosting on top. But without further ado, the recipe!

Triple Coconut Cupcake

Makes 24 cupcakes

• 1 ½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature 
• 1 cup light brown sugar, packed 
• 1/2 cup pure cane sugar 
• 1 ½ tsp imitation coconut extract 
• 4 large eggs at room temperature 
• 1 cup sweetened coconut flakes 
• 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour 
• 1 teaspoon baking powder 
• 1 teaspoon baking soda 
• ¼ teaspoon salt 
• 1 cup coconut milk

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In the bowl of a stand mixer (or a bowl with a hand mixer) cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until light and creamy looking.
2. Add in the coconut extract and give the batter a quick beat.
3. Next, add in the eggs, one at a time, making sure to fully combine after each egg is added.
4. Add the coconut flakes and mix until fully combined.
5. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
6. Add in 1/4 of the flour mixture and fully combine, then add 1/3 of the coconut milk. Keep repeating this process until all ingredients have been combined.
7. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 of the way full and bake for 15-20 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cupcake comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack until completely cooled.

Salted Caramel Frosting

• 2 sticks unsalted butter; room temperature 
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 
• 3-4 cups confectioners’ sugar 
• 1 1/3 cup caramel 
• 1 teaspoon salt 

Cream the butter and vanilla extract until light and fluffy looking. Add in 2 cups of the sugar and fully combine. Add in the caramel and beat until fully combined then add in the rest of the powdered sugar and salt. The frosting will be extremely soft and unable to pipe since I was making this frosting to spread over the top of the cupcake. To make the frosting stiffer, and pipeable (is that a word?) decrease the powdered sugar to about 2 cups and decrease the caramel to 1/3 of a cup.


For the toasted coconut on top, I placed a few handfuls of sweetened coconut on a cookie sheet and baked at 375 (under the cooking cupcakes) for 10 minutes, stirring every 1-2 minutes. After frosting the cupcakes, I melted chocolate and drizzled it on top then proceeded to roll the cupcakes in the toasted coconut flakes. For a GREAT caramel recipe(and cheaper than buying ice cream topping caramel!) and the caramel I used for this recipe go to A Year of Slow Cooking. Easiest way to make caramel I have ever seen! I hope you all enjoy!