Keto Samoa Cookie Bars! You won’t crave Girl Scout cookies with these delicious low carb bars. An almond flour shortbread crust topped with coconut caramel and chocolate, and easy to make too.
This Samoa Bar recipe was first published in 2011. Whoa, dudes, that’s a long time ago now. So they are deserving of an update, and are now lower carb. And prettier photos too!
Good old Samoa cookies. What do they call them now? Caramel Delites or some such silliness. Okay, much more politically correct and all that jazz, but practically no one know what you are talking about. However, if you say Samoa Cookies, everyone knows exactly what you mean.
So I am calling this recipe Samoa Cookie Bars. It’s got better name recognition and it rolls of the tongue much more easily. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
Why Samoa Bars?
Now, I could have made these as low carb cookies instead of bars. But let’s examine that a little more closely. The original Samoa cookie is a circular shortbread cookie with a topping of coconut and caramel. The bottom is then dipped in chocolate and more chocolate is drizzled overtop.
That’s a lot of work, my friends!
Rolling out the dough, cutting it out into circles, cutting out a hole in the middle, and then trying to top those delicate cookies with the caramel and dip them in chocolate?
Tasty and pretty, I am sure. But far too laborious for my taste.
Taking all those same elements and turning them into bars is far easier and you get the deliciousness into your mouth that much fast. Win win, I would say.
Way back when I first created this Keto Samoa Bar recipe, I thought I was being pretty darn original. I wanted that delicious coconut caramel flavor with a shortbread crust and I realized quickly that a bar cookie would be far less work.
Then I did a Pinterest search and I quickly realized that many others have hit upon this same idea. Great minds, right???
Making Keto Samoa Cookies
But while I may lack in coming up with completely original ideas, I make up for it by taking those ideas and making them keto friendly. As far as I can tell, this is the very first low carb Samoa Cookie Recipe. There are certainly more now, but my samoa bars were the first of their kind!
Does that win me any awards? Maybe in my own mind.
Obviously a lot has to change to make Samoa cookies low carb and sugar-free.
The Shortbread Base: I’ve made a fair bit of low carb shortbread in my day and almond flour makes the best crust by far. When it’s baked with butter, sweetener, and salt, it becomes both tender and crisp, just like conventional shortbread. The crust on these Samoa Bars is my favourite and I’ve used it over and over in many recipes.
The Chocolate Dip and Drizzle: To make things even easier in this recipe, I decided to do a layer of chocolate on top of the crust. Real Samoa Cookies have bottoms that are dipped in chocolate. But that would mean cutting up the bars after they were finished and carefully dipping them. It would be far messier too.
Would your tastebuds really know the difference between a layered Samoa Bar versus a dipped Samoa Bar? I think not.
So I simply poured about two thirds of the chocolate mixture over the cooled crust, before topping it with the coconut caramel.
The Coconut Filling: Samoa Cookies are now called Caramel De-Lites because of that delicious coconut caramel topping. I’ve got one of the best sugar free caramel sauce recipes and it’s perfect for these bars. Stir in some toasted coconut and spread it over top, and drizzle on a bit more chocolate.
And Voila! A delicious low carb Samoa Cookie Recipe. In bar form. Trust me, your tastebuds won’t care!
So if you’ve been missing Girl Scout Cookies on your low carb diet, try this easy recipe. You won’t regret it.
Samoa Cookie Bars - Keto and Sugar-Free
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 ¼ cups almond flour (125g)
- ¼ cup Swerve Sweetener
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup butter, melted
Chocolate Filling and Drizzle:
- 4 ounces sugar free dark chocolate , chopped
- 2 tablespoon coconut oil or butter
Coconut Caramel Filling:
- 1 ½ cups shredded coconut
- 3 tablespoon butter
- ¼ cup Swerve Brown
- ¼ cup Bocha Sweet or additional Swerve Brown
- ¾ cup heavy whipping cream
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
Crust:
- Preheat the oven to 325F. In a medium bowl, whisk together the almond flour, sweetener, and salt. Stir in the melted butter until the mixture begins to come together.
- Turn out the mixture into an 8x8 baking pan and press firmly into the bottom. Bake about 15 to 18 minutes, until just golden brown. Remove and let cool while preparing the filling.
Chocolate Filling/Drizzle:
- In a small microwave safe bowl, melt the chocolate and coconut oil in 30 second increments, stirring in between, until melted and smooth. Alternatively, you can melt it double boiler style over a pan of barely simmering water.
- Spread about ⅔ of the chocolate mixture over the cooled crust.
Coconut Filling:
- In a medium skillet over medium heat, spread the coconut. Stirring frequently, toast until light golden brown. Set aside.
- In a large saucepan over medium heat, combine the butter and sweeteners. Cook until melted and then bring to a boil. Boil 3 to 5 minutes, until golden.
- Remove from heat and add the cream, vanilla, and salt. The mixture will bubble vigorously, this is normal.
- Stir in the toasted coconut. Spread the mixture over the chocolate-covered crust. Let cool completely (about 1 hour), then cut into squares. Gently reheat remaining chocolate mixture and drizzle over the bars.
Tiffany says
A bar in honor of my favorite girl scout cookie! HELLOOOOOOO! 😀
Nikki says
OMG I made these the other night and they were soooo good. I made some with chocolate and some with raspberry jam because my hubby is allergic to chocolate–both were fabulous! Thanks Carolyn for yet another amazing low carb dessert!
The other one says
I'm sooo pumped to have found your blog and to try this recipe!!! THANK you so much!!!!
Audra says
I know exactly what you mean! I actually made some Samoa bars when I first started blogging and I totally thought I would have been the first. Regardless- yours look gorgeous and your pictures, as always, are stunning! Great post.
Nichol says
These look and sound delicious. I may have to make them for my brother who found out not too long ago he has celiacs disease. Thanks:)
Carolyn says
Hi Catherine,
Excellent point about the caramel, I will amend the instructions. Yes, you definitely need to wait until it bubbles and it can take a bit of time to do so, otherwise it won't be the right texture. It will still harden up some in the end, as all erythritol concoctions do, but once you've added in the coconut and spread it over the bars, it stays soft enough for biting into. It never gets that chewiness that comes with sugar caramel…sadly, erythritol just doesn't work that way! But it is definitely good on these bars.
Catherine H. says
I was very excited ti see this post–what a fantastic idea! I LOVE Samoas, but it's been years. So I made them tonight (they're cooling as I type), and I ran into a snag bear the end. I wonder if you could be a little more specific in your directions regarding the caramel. I realized too late that the molasses darkens the erythritol, so that it's impossible to say whether the erythritol is itself getting too dark or not. I ended up taking it off the stove before it bubbled, although probably after it had cooked five minutes. After I stirred in the cream etc. it was still quite liquidy, almost water-like in texture. Is it supposed to be liquid, or more viscous like real caramel? I stirred in the coconut and proceeded with the recipe. It is now cooling and acquiring the typical grainy texture of erythritol-based concoctions. Is that how yours turned out or did you miraculously achieve true caramel texture?
P.S. I am the Catherine who asked about replacing soy flour in your zucchini muffin recipe, and I did see your comment, thanks! I'll let you know how those turn out soon, because now I have two huge zucchini hanging out in my fridge.
Terra says
I love that we can take a fun recipe idea, and still make it our own. That is the fun part of being a food Blogger:-) You do a beautiful job making recipes your own:-) Samoas cookies are my favorite, I love your gluten free version;-) Hugs, Terra
Magic of Spice says
Everything you do has a unique edge to it 🙂 These look so fun and delicious!
Celia says
These bars look delicious – but I really love your thoughts on originality. It's one reason I stick to the old books – easier to rework a classic than reinvent the wheel!
Jill @ MadAboutMacarons says
Yet another fabulous recipe winner, Carolyn. You always manage to give them your magic touch by making them low carb and full of imagination. Fabulous!
thelittleloaf says
It's so hard to come up with a truly original recipe…but looks like you've definitely made these your own. They look absolutely delicious and love that they are low carb and low sugar – definitely a keeper!
Torviewtoronto says
delicious with coconut and chocolate looks wonderful
Sandi says
Yummy alternative to Girl Scout cookies 🙂
Wilde in the Kitchen says
I know! I always think that I'm being super creative, only to find out that I'm not 🙂 These bars look delicious anyways, I love Samoas!
kita says
I think it all just means that old saying 'great minds think alike'. Or at least that's what I keep telling myself! 😀 These bars look awesome – chewy and delicious!
Agrigirl says
Your photos are amazing and I don't care if that was original or not!
RS says
What did I do wrong?
I followed the recipe as written. The crust aND chocolate layer were fine. I had to redo the coconut layer. Is it really 3/4 of a cup heavy cream? It was too runny. When I did it over, I didn’t add all the cream. I used brown swerve and Bocha Sweet.
Good news is they’re YUMMY 🙂 I just couldn’t figure out the coconut layer as written.
Carolyn says
You needed to cook it longer, sounds like.
Susan Le says
Hi Carolyn! I had the same problem- a runny coconut layer.
The first time I made it, the sweetener mixture burned and had a really awful chemical smell to it. I was working on a gas stove and had it at its lowest, but had to throw it out, and it hadn’t even cooked for 4 minutes. 🙁 So I remade it, and didn’t follow your times- just eye-balled it. You can’t really tell when it turns a different color because it is already brown from the brown swerve. Anyway, it turned out perfect! However, the next two times I made it, it turned out runny, and I did the exact same thing. I ended up having to freeze them in order to serve them. There’s such a fine line between browned and burnt. I wonder if ambient temperature or humidity plays into this? My first two gos were in England, and my second two were in FL.
Still, they’ve become my husband’s favorite dessert! I just read that you suggested using a teaspoon or two of coconut flour to thicken it up, and I will try that if it happens next time!
Carolyn says
I really can’t account for it very easily. The filling is basically made with my keto caramel sauce and I make that all the time and never have it be too runny.
Cat says
Same here. I followed the directions exactly and kept an eagle eye on the caramel portion. I LOVE Carolyn’s recipes and am a huge fan of pretty much everything I’ve made so far. But this turned into a swampy mess even after refrigerating for 24 hrs. They were still delicious and didn’t go to waste but we had to eat it spoons.
Carolyn says
What sweeteners did you use?
Christine says
The same thing happened to me Carolyn and I used Sukrin Gold which is also an erythritol-based sweetener like Swerve, plus the Bocha Sweet. Around the 3-4 minute mark, I had to take it off the heat and add the rest of the ingredients cuz it was past golden and starting to show dark specs and I didn’t want to burn it. But I remember I think it was one of your caramel recipes that added Xanthan gum to thicken so that’s what I did and it worked fine. Perhaps it was that I didn’t stir enough or something but will be more watchful next time cuz this is definitely a repeat recipe.
Kalyan says
Just mouthwatering…looks so easy to prepare and delicious.
Anna says
Your Samoa bars are perfect for my home-brewed capuccino. I am so looking forward for my fresh cup tomorrow…
Simona says
your bar loks delicious i have to make them as soon as possible 'ill try to find in Italy allthe ingredient in ROme see you soon simmy