Samoa Brownie Truffles

Let me just start by saying that this weekend has been a baking nightmare. Have you ever set your heart on making something but no matter what you do, or how many different ways you try to do it, nothing seems to go your way? Well, that was me all weekend long! Let me explain...

I had a box of Samoa girl scout cookies (my favorite!), and I thought it would be smart to bake something with them for the sake of getting them out of my kitchen. I have a small obsession, and when there are Samoa cookies within a 3 mile radius, I will find them and eat them all. I randomly got the craving for slutty brownies. You know, the chocolate chip cookie, Oreo, brownie layered bars from heaven (or hell, depending on the number of sizes your pants increase after eating them.) I decided to put two of my favorite things together and try to make slutty Samoa brownies, using Samoa cookies instead of Oreos in the middle. Seems like a great idea, right?

Wrong. My first mistake was buying ultimate fudge Godiva brownies. My second mistake was not thinking about what the caramel on the Samoa cookie would do when baked in the oven under a layer of those fudge brownies. This terrible combination prevented the brownies from hardening into a cake like texture. I cooked them for 30 minutes more than directed and still had firm but mold-able fudge instead of brownies. I even cooked them an extra 15 minutes, no change. To avoid burning the chocolate chip cookie layer, I had no choice but to take them out. The good news is that the corners of the pan, some of the edge pieces, and areas without large pieces of the Samoa cookies did actually hold a cake-like substance. This is how those turned out:

Even though I only ended up with a few pieces that baked correctly, I must say that they were really good. It makes me sad that the whole pan did not turn out the same way :(

Had things gone my way, I probably would have filled the blog full of pictures like this one.

No such luck. But, I refused to throw away the rest of the tasty, yet over fudge-like pieces that remained. Hence came the creation of my "Samoa Brownie Truffles". I pretty much rolled pieces into little balls, dipped them in chocolate, and sprinkled them with toasted coconut.

For those of you brave enough to try the Samoa slutty brownies, here you go:

Samoa Slutty Brownies

Adapted from Kevin and Amanda

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups (12 ounces) milk chocolate chips
1 pkg Double Samoa cookies
1 Family Size (9×13) Brownie mix

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream the butter and both sugars in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed for 3-5 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well to thoroughly combine. 

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt, then slowly incorporate into the mixer until the flour is just combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Spread the cookie dough in the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish that’s been lined with wax paper and sprayed with cooking spray. Top with a layer of Samoas. 

Mix together brownie mix. Pour the brownie batter over the cookie dough and Samoas. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes. Remove foil and continue baking for an additional 15-25 minutes. Let cool completely before cutting.

Chocolate Ganache

9 ounces bittersweet chocolate

1 cup heavy cream

Toasted coconut

Place the chocolate in a medium bowl. Heat the cream in a small sauce pan over medium heat. Bring just to a boil. When the cream has come to a boil, pour over the chopped chocolate, and whisk until smooth.

After allowing 15 minutes for ganache to chill, dunk truffles until coated and transfer to wax paper to set. Sprinkle toasted coconut on top if desired. Store in refrigerator.