Coconut Caramel Frosted Cookies

The other day I decided I wanted to make my own Girl Scout Cookies. I was thinking of Samoas. But by the time I had already spent two hours making them and it looked like it was still going to be a little while before they were finished, I decided I wasn't going to go all the way and dip them in chocolate. So I ended up skipping the chocolate part except for a little drizzling on top. And because I am such a Dulce de Leche fanatic, I used that instead of the regular caramel. They didn't taste like the scrumptious Somoas the little girl next store usually delivers once a year, but they were tasty...and schweet...very schweet.


Coconut Caramel Frosted Cookies
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 can Dulce de Leche
1 cup toasted coconut
1/2 cup chocolate ice cream topping

In a separate bowl whisk the flour with the salt. Set aside. In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), cream the butter until smooth (about 1 minute). Add the sugar and beat until smooth (about 2 minutes). Beat in the vanilla extract. Gently stir in the flour mixture just until incorporated. Flatten the dough into a disk shape, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill the dough for at least an hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) with the rack in the middle of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. On a lightly floured surface roll out the dough to 1/4 inch (.5 cm) thick. Cut into rounds using lightly floured cookie cutter. Then is the center of each round, cut an even smaller circle out. The cookies should resemble doughnuts. Place the cookies on the prepared baking sheets and place in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes. This will firm up the dough so the cookies will maintain their shape when baked. Bake for 8 - 10 minutes, or until cookies are lightly brown. Cool on rack.

When the cookies are cooling, it is a good time to go ahead and toast the coconut. Once the coconut is toasted, gently mix it into the Dulce de Leche.