SAMOA RICE KRISPIE TREATSfeatured

I love Girl Scout cookies in spite of the fact that I actually WAS a girl scout. Well, not exactly. I was a Brownie. Which is essentially the elementary school version of a Girl Scout. I didn’t last long. I was super into all of the crafts, baking and whatever we did, but I just couldn’t get behind wearing the uniform. Nope. No way. Not gonna happen.

We had our troop meetings on Thursdays and we were supposed to wear our uniforms to school on those days (was this a normal thing anywhere else???). Luckily my Mom was slow on the take with getting me a uniform. So weeks and weeks went by without me having to wear a poop brown uniform in front of all my classmates. However, on one Thursday after recess, my Mom was waiting for me in my classroom and she had a bag with her. My insides sank. I knew what was in that bag. She took me in the bathroom so I could change my clothes. I went into one of the bathroom stalls and pulled out the brown uniform from the bag. It even smelled awful. I slipped on the polyester pants. Of course they fit; they were elastic around the waist. The shirt and orange bow tie thingy weren’t helping matters. I opened the stall door and I must have looked horrified because my Mom instantly went into damage control telling me how nice I looked and how cool it was to be a Brownie. Whatever. I had eyeballs. I could look in the mirror and see how horrifying this situation was. Slowly I walked back to class and slinked into my seat trying to draw as little attention as possible to my new outfit.

As each week came, I found excuse after excuse to get out of wearing that ugly uniform. I think I managed to only wear it twice before I convinced my mom to let me quit Brownies all together. The ONLY downside of quitting my Girl Scouts career was not getting access to the cookies a few days earlier than the public. I mean, having access to the Samoas (or Caramel Delights as they were called in the Midwest) early was almost worth that awful uniform. Almost.

This recipe came about on a total fluke. I was making Rice Krispie Treats but craving a Samoa Girl Scout cookie so I thought I might as well try combining the flavors. And I was not sad about the results at all.

Recipe: Samoa Rice Krispie Treats  |  Soundtrack: DNCE

• RICE KRISPIES TREATS
  
• 1 cup butter
• 2 bags of marshmallows
• 12 cups Rice Krispies
• CARAMEL
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 5 tbsp butter
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup coconut
• MISC
• 1 1/2 cup chocolate chips (or more if you want it more chocolate-y)
• 1 bag marshmallows

Directions:
Grease a 9×13 pan. Set aside.

Make your first batch of Rice Krispie treats.
In a large pot, melt 1/2 cup butter and 1 bag of marshmallows together over medium heat. Stir continually until they are both completely melted. Remove from heat and quickly add in 6 cups on Rice Krispies. Stir to combine. Pour into the prepared 9×13 pan. Coat your hands with either butter or cooking spray to help press the rice krispie treats evenly into the pan. Set aside.

Make the caramel:
In a small pot, bring the cream and butter to a simmer over medium heat. Once it starts to simmer, turn off the heat and set it aside.

In a saucepan, combine the water, the sugar and the corn syrup. Stir very gently to begin to combine the ingredients. Be careful not to splash up the sides. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Boil until the mixture is a warm golden brown. Do not stir, just gently swirl the pan every so often. Once it starts to turn yellow it will go golden very quickly, keep your eye on the pot. It will go from being clear, to a light/faint yellow and then it will go golden. It can burn quickly so, like I said, keep a close eye on this.

When the sugar mixture is nice and golden, turn off the heat and slowly add the cream mixture. Be careful, it will bubble up aggressively. Stir in the vanilla with a wooden spoon, attach your candy thermometer and cook over medium-low heat for about 10 minutes until the mixture reaches 248º. Watch this like a hawk. Removing the caramel before it reaches 248º will make the caramels too soft and over 248º will make them too hard. So yeah, just stay put and watch the thermometer during this step.

When the caramel has reached 248° remove from the heat and stir in the 1 cup coconut. Pour caramel quickly over your first layer of rice krispie treats. Spread evenly.

Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top of the caramel.

Make your second batch of Rice Krispie treats.
In a large pot, melt 1/2 cup butter and 1 bag of marshmallows together over medium heat. Stir continually until they are both completely melted. Remove from heat and quickly add in 6 cups on Rice Krispies. Stir to combine. Pour over the top of your caramel and chocolate layer. Spread evenly.

You can call it good at this point, or if you are like me, you can take it one step further. If you have a kitchen torch, do this step. Add one bag of marshmallows to the top of your rice krispie treats and torch them until they are nice and golden brown all over.

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