You have my permission to drool.
Go ahead. It’s totally expected. Samoas will do that to you, even more so in bar form. 
I followed this recipe pretty much exactly.
Samoas Bars
from Crepes of Wrath
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
3 cups shredded coconut
12-oz chewy caramels
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons milk
20 oz. chocolate chips
Make cookie base. Preheat oven to 350F. Cream together butter and sugar. Next beat in eggs and vanilla. Mix in flour and salt until just combined. The mixture will be pretty crumble. That’s okay! Press it into a baking dish (I used a jelly roll pan lined with parchment paper and pressed it into about half the pan, but you can probably just use a 9×13). Bake about 20-25 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. Allow to cool.
Next make the topping. Start by toasting your coconut. Turn the oven on to 300F and lay coconut on a baking sheet. Turning occasionally toast about 10 minutes, once golden, remove from oven and set aside to cool.
Next melt the caramels in the microwave. First unwrap the caramels and put them in a large bowl with the milk and 1/4 tsp salt, microwave about 3-4 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds until evenly melted. Add the coconut to the melted caramel and stir to combine. Once combined, spread coconut/caramel topping onto shortbread base. This is easier if you spray your spatula with pam or grease it. Allow to cool completely (I refrigerated it a bit).
Remove bars from pan (this is easy to do if you used parchment paper). On a cutting board, using a large chef knife, carefully cut the bars into the desired shape. Melt chocolate in the microwave (remember to stir every 30 seconds). Dip cookie base into chocolate (or spread on with a spoon if your bottom is too crumbly), place on fresh wax/parchment paper.
Put the remaining melted chocolate in a ziploc bag and cut off a tip so you get a tiny piping bag. Pipe lines of chocolate on each one. Refrigerate a little bit so chocolate hardens then serve!
I suggest you do the same. Then feel free to give them away to a bunch of dentists, like I did. …or just keep them for yourself. Whichever works best.
Foodologie 
!!! My eyes are bugging out. 😯 YUMMMMM
Well these just look SO. GOOD.
I’m drooling!!
NOW you make these?!
Where the receipt can’t find
These look awesome! Is the caramel hard or chewy?
Definitely chewy.
Just made these…. SO great. I did substitute splenda for the sugar, egg substitute for the eggs, and I only used 1/2 the amount of chocolate. I usually don’t make sweets like this, which is why I cut back on the sugar/chocolate. They taste outstanding and my boyfriend LOVES them (caramel delights are his favorite cookie!). I will be bringing a bunch into work tomorrow and I have not doubt they will be a hit!! Thank you!
I substituted store bought shortbread cookies and dipped the bottoms in chocolate, then spread the top as per your directions. So incredibly good, taste just like samoas. Definitely making these again! Thank you!!
That’s really clever—thanks for sharing that tip!
getting ready to make them NOW!!!!
I hope you like them!!
I’m in the middle of making these right now! Tip: I added a little bit of vegetable oil (about a tablespoon) to the caramel when I was melting it to help thin it out and it made it easier to stir and it was super easy to spread with a greased spatula. They are in the fridge cooling now, then I will do the chocolate part. YUM
I hope you liked them! Good call on adding the oil to the caramel. Did
they set solidly?
Thanks for commenting!
Reblogged this on Christmastime All Year and commented:
I must try these!
Thanks for the recipe. They are cooling and then I’ll do the chocolate part. Looks so yummy and not that difficult to make but a bit time consuming. If you have family members, have them help unwrap the caramels 😉
What does it mean when it says make the cookie base? What is the bottom layer? I know I must be so blonde.
Yep! The bottom layer of the bars is basically a shortbread cookie (butter, sugar, egg, vanilla, flour, salt). Then you spread the carmel coconut mixture on top of the cookie layer (that’s why I call it a base), and drizzle it with chocolate on top, then dip the bottom in chocolate too.
Hope you give them a try and like them!
Happy Holidays!
Just made these, the caramel is so hard after it cooled that I can’t cut them! The bit that I could the shortbread crumbled underneath! Ugh! I really wanted these to be so good! What did I do wrong?
Mine did the same thing as Niki- the caramel was tough to bite through and the shortbread crumbled when I dipped them in the chocolate. I had such high hopes. Perhaps if I make again I will try the suggestion of using store bought shortbread cookies and adding oil to the caramel mixture.
Sorry to hear yours didn’t turn out well. I haven’t made them in a looong time, but I’ll try again to see what’s up. Mine turned out fine when I made them, but thanks for the comment.
My shortbread also crumbled, but I just used a spoon and spread the melted chocolate along the bottom. They don’t look as nice as in the pictures, but they still taste delicious 🙂
If your caramel got hard, you probably overlooked it when melting. Use low-and-slow for melting things, use a double boiler or lower heat setting in your microwave.
am i supposed to grease the pan when i bake the cookie base?
I always use parchment paper under anything I bake and I definitely recommend it for this. If you put parchment paper under the cookie base, it’s guaranteed to not stick AND it makes it wayyy easier to get the bars out. I think people had a lot of trouble with crumbly cookie base and this might have been the issue. I removed the entire cookie from the pan, then cut it with a large chef knife. Hope this is helpful! Thanks for reading!
Where does the second 1/4 teaspoon of salt go? With the caramels and milk? I’m making these right now and I can’t wait to see how they turn out!
Salt is listed twice in the recipe as 1/4 tsp. For the cookie base is the amount of salt supposed to be 1/4 tsp or 1/2 tsp? thank you 🙂
Mine came out great, not an issue of crumbling bottom. I even used a little less of the butter. I took them to a party with me, and they were a hit!
Great recipe, thanks 🙂
I’m thinking of making these for my husband for Valentine’s Day. Would it be okay to use a large pizza cutter to cut these, or would they crumble too much? I use a pizza cutter for when I want nice pretty edges on my brownies, and since it’s so easy I was hoping it would work for this, too. 🙂
Just buy the cookies. The cookie part was way too crumbly, and way too thick using a 9 x 13 pan. The caramel was hard and didn’t have enough coconut flavor, and it cost close to $10 total for not much more than you’d get in a box of cookies.
I just made these and they are wonderful. I used a jar of Smucker’s caramel ice cream topping instead of unwrapping individual caramels. Worked like a charm. Thanks for this recipe. It’s going in my greatest hits folder for sure.
What kind of carmel candies are you talking about? Brand name? Samoas are my husband’s favorite GS cookie. can’t wait to try their new one that has mango in it’s name.
I flipped the dish over so that the bars all came out in one piece, then poured the chocolate over. No worries about crumbling, and easier than dipping each individual bar.
That’s an awesome idea!
These cookies sound so.. easy to make! We LOVE Samoas!!
Yummy I’m going to make these for us and for I few gifts!!! Thank you:)