Healthier Samoa Bars
THESE BARS!!! I love Girl Scout cookies. And i really love Samoas. So I wanted to make an easy bar version that used cleaner ingredients you can feel good about! The bottom shortbread layer is simple and almond flour based and the caramel is beyond easy to make because I perfected it for the microwave.
Making caramel is a scary thing on a stove top if you aren’t familiar with it and don’t want to have to pay too much attention (hello toddler at my ankles). So this caramel is a combo of coconut sugar, honey, sweetened condensed coconut milk, ghee, vanilla and just a pinch of salt. The sweetened condensed coconut milk is a must, I got mine at sprouts but it is also at whole foods, walmart and online! I love that cleaner things like this are popping up so we can make delicious treats that aren’t way too overly processed. Once you make the easy shortbread and caramel, you just layer them and drizzle on chocolate and then once they are cooled, slice and dip in some more chocolate!
Recipe List
- Almond flour
- Egg
- Coconut oil
- Maple syrup
- Vanilla
- Salt
- Unsweetened shredded coconut
- Ghee
- Honey
- Coconut sugar
- Coconut sweetened condensed milk
- Chocolate chips
Can’t wait to hear what you think of these!!
We have lots more Grain Free treats on the site:
Grain Free Toasted Coconut Carrot Cake Loaf
Grain Free Double Chocolate Muffins
Grain Free Date and Chocolate Chip Muffins
Cashew Butter Banana Bread Bars {Grain Free}
Pin the image below to save this Healthier Samoa Bars recipe for later!
Healthier Samoa Bars
Ingredients
Crust:
- 3 cups almond flour
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup coconut oil (at room temp)
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Caramel:
- 2 ½ cups unsweetened shredded coconut
- ½ cup ghee, melted
- ½ cup honey
- 1 cup coconut sugar
- ½ cup coconut sweetened condensed milk
- Pinch of salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Chocolate:
- 2 cups chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a 9×13 pan with parchment paper (helps to spray the pan with oil so the paper sticks!). In a large bowl combine almond flour, egg, coconut oil, maple syrup, vanilla and ½ tsp salt. Once evenly combined, pour into the prepared pan and press it down evenly. It will be a thin layer! Use moist hands so it doesn’t stick to them when pressing down.
- Bake the crust for 25-30 minutes or until lightly browned on the edges and on top.
- While the crust bakes, pour the shredded coconut on a baking sheet and add it to the oven as well. Bake for about 7-8 minutes, stirring the coconut halfway through, until it is lightly browned all over. Watch it closely because it can burn quickly!
- In a medium sized microwavable bowl, combine ghee, honey, coconut sugar and coconut sweetened condensed milk and mix to combine. Microwave for 4 minutes on high. Remove and stir in vanilla extract then add in toasted coconut and stir to combine. Feel free here to add another pinch of salt if you like salty caramel!
- Once the crust is done, let it cool for a few minutes, then pour the caramel on top and spread it evenly.
- In a small bowl melt chocolate chips in the microwave for 30 second increments until smooth.
- Drizzle ½ of the chocolate on top of the bars and let them cool completely in the refrigerator.
- Once cool, slice into squares and dip the bottoms into the remaining chocolate (you may have to re-melt if it has hardened).
These look really good! Do you have any substitution recommendations for the ghee? Do you think coconut oil would work?
I don’t know if coconut oil will work. You can use butter or someone said they used country crock avocado oil spread and it worked!
made these tonight and they are DELICIOUS!
Awesome!!
Looks so good! Gonna make these today! ❤️
Hope you love them!!
Where has this recipe been my whole life?! It was unreal & so easy to make! My husband told me never to buy actual Girl Scout cookies again because these were BETTER! Another Little Bits of Real Food recipe for the win!
That is such a great compliment!
These are out of this world amazing!!!!!!!! Great flavor factors from the crust to the Carmel. Unbelievably good! HIGHLY RECOMMEND these!!!!! Thank you for creating these
AWESOME!!!
This recipe is AMAZING! Super easy to make and they are absolutely delicious!
So glad you loved them!!
They’re amazing! I made some the other day and am obsessed. Brought them to a friend’s last night, and they were loving them, too! Do you think they’d freeze well? I’m hoping to bring some to my parents’ in a couple days, and I’m toying with the idea of freezing them to keep them more fresh, but I’m not sure!
I haven’t tried freezing yet, it should work though!
Kelsey! These are SO good!! Me and my husband are practicing self-control so we don’t eat them in one sitting. Any other dessert recipes on your site that would use up the other half of the sweetened condensed coconut milk? If not, guess I just have to make another batch of these!
Another desssert, Paleo Gingerbread Pecan Magic Bars
These are amazing and SO easy!!! Only problem is they are wayyyy too delicious!!!!! Our family of six crushed them and now I need to make more!!
Haha that’s awesome!!
Delicious as always! Thanks!!
These are amazing! this is my first making a recipe without regular flour, dairy, etc. so I was a little nervous about the taste, but OMG. My parents who also don’t have any specific dietary restrictions loved them as well 🙂
Great to hear!!
Have you tried making these without egg? Maybe a flax egg?
I haven’t tried that but it should work!
Made the mistake of making this and having them around the house without a party! Hahaha super dangerous! Hahahahaha
But really, SUCH a tasty treat! Everyone I’ve shared them with thinks so too! Will DEFINITELY be making this again!
Agreed!! Perfect for a party!!
When I try and save to Pinterest I only get the pic and no recipe. What am I doing wrong?
Hmmm just make sure the pin link is to the page and not the image page!
Awesome recipe. Made these today and we love them. Highly recommend
YAY!
Perfection! Tastes just like the cookie! (And the recipe worked perfectly with a flax egg)
Awesome!!
Made these for my birthday! I messed up the chocolate so mine only have chocolate on top. Taste is great! Love that if you get soy free chocolate the whole thing is soy free. These are a great treat!
Awesome!!
Messed up every single part of this recipe, and it still turned out delicious. Hit with all my friends. Forgot the egg in the cookie part, and was still awesome! If you’re egg free… just leave out the egg in the dough and it’s still great!!!
Oh great to know!
Finally got around to making these and they are by far my FAVORITE healthier/paleo type dessert and really ANY dessert I’ve made!!!
That’s great!!
Amazing! Will make them again.
5 stars aren’t enough!! I just gave my fiancé a taste pre cooling and his response was “these are better than samoa cookies!!” These are definitely making life in quarantine significantly better!!
That is great!!!
So good! Can’t say enough about how awesome these bars are!
So so glad!!
Seriously so good!
Thank you!!
These are amazing and taste like Samoa cookies! Thank you!!
Love it!!
My grown daughters were so happy to find a Girl Scout selling Samoas in downtown Chicago in February they bought three boxes each. So I thought it would be fun to try your recipe and oh my goodness!! They are so good I had to share with my neighbors so I wouldn’t eat them all!! I was out of ghee so used 1/4 cup butter and 1/4 cup coconut oil and this worked and now have an excuse to make them again with ghee this time 😉 Thank you, Kelsey.
That is awesome!!!
Totally panicked about running out of Girl Scout cookies until I came across these – just what I needed!
So glad!!
I accidentally used the entire can of coconut milk, so it turned into more of a Samoa soup versus bars- still super tasty! (PS crust works with fox egg )
Haha glad it was still tasty!
Hi, I have evaporated coconut milk, not sweetened condensed 🙁 do you think I could add more sugar to the Carmel mixture or just try it without?
I don’t know if that would work, haven’t tried it!
These are delicious! Highly recommend!
So glad!
Will sweetened condensed milk work instead of the sweetened condensed coconut milk?
Yes!
Super super delicious!!!! Hearty, thick, satisfying, ALL THE THINGS
So glad!!
I love this recipe so much!! Every time I make them I regret a little because I can’t stop eating them! My husband loves the bars as well. The bars are so good!!!
They are addicting!!
Kelsey, you have outdone yourself with this one!! INCREDIBLE!
Even my dad and husband who are neither desert people or into coconut LOVED this.
I will definitely be making this again.
That is amazing!
These were so yummy! I used oat flour instead of almond flour and they came out great.
Oh that’s great to know!
These are absolutely delicious. I took them to a party and everyone loved them.
Great!!
I have been an avid baker for almost ten years. This dessert was amazing. After enjoying this, my husband asked: “Can you make that for my birthday?” which is the ultimate compliment. Well done – this gluten-free Samoa Bar recipe is a keeper!
That is amazing!!
These were great. I froze them and took one or 2 out as I wanted a treat. They thaw quickly.
That is great!
I’ve made this recipe a few times and it’s AMAZING!! Make sure to make it exactly like Kelsey wrote out. I tried subbing a few different ingredients here and there and it just doesn’t work. Kelsey knows what she’s talking about, so just listen to her, friends!
Yes!! Thank you!
These are SOOOO good!!! I had to stop myself from eating all of the coconut caramel mixture! 🙂 FYI, it makes a lot (which is fabulous), but I made these while my husband was at work and my kids were in bed, which was not a smart idea! Haha! Another 5 star recipe from Kelsey!!!!
Haha love it!
Amazing!! These are so yummy and decadent but with clean ingredients, you would never know!!
So glad you love them!!