In my mind, it's obvious the best Girl Scout Cookie is the Samoa. I love the crispy, chewy, coconutty, caramelly combination! In trying to re-create this delicious cookie these are the factors I focused on and after some testing and altering my ideas, this is the recipe I have landed on.

I hope you love it as much as I do!

Ingredients:

Shortbread Cookie Base:

6 Tbsp butter (room temp)
1/4 cup sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 egg (if doubling recipe, don't double the egg)
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup flour

Assembly:

2 cups Coconut
1 13.4-oz can dulce de leche
pinch of salt
8 oz hardening chocolate (ex. candiquik, coating wafers, etc.) *not Great Value

Supplies

Cookie Press (optional)

Small Tongs

Step 1: Shortbread Cookie Dough

Preheat the oven to 400℉
In a medium bowl with a hand mixer, beat together the butter, sugar, and salt until mixture is fluffy and almost white in color
Add the vanilla and egg and beat for another minute
Gradually add the flour and beat until incorporated

Step 2: Shape & Bake

There are 2 methods for this step. The first one uses a Cookie Press but if you don't have one, method 2 works great!

Method 1: Cookie Press

Put the wreath shaped disk in the cookie press (or any shape that is circular and has a hole in the middle)
Fill the press with cookie dough
Press dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet
Bake for 2-3 minutes then rotate the cookie sheet and bake for another 2-3 minutes or until the cookies are set to the touch but not browned
Set hot pan aside to cool for a couple minutes before transferring cookies to a cooling rack

Method 2: Freestyle

Sprinkle some flour on a flat work space and form cookie dough into a ball
Using a floured rolling pin, roll out the dough so it is roughly 1/8 inch all around
Look around your kitchen for something circular that is roughly the size of a Samoa cookie that could be used like a cookie cutter (ex. Small cup). Once that is found, find another smaller cookie cutter-like item that would work to punch out the middle of the cookie (ex. Piping tip).
Use those items to cut the cookies into their small donut-like shape and continue this process until all the dough Is used
Place cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for about 4 minutes then rotate cookie sheet and bake for another 4 minutes or until the cookies are set to the touch but not browned (time will vary based on the size of your cookies)

Step 3: Toast Coconut

Once all the cookies are baked, set your oven to a low broil (or 415℉ broil)
Spread the 2 cups coconut onto a cookie sheet in an even layer and spray with cooking oil
Place oven rack on the very top of the oven and place cookie sheet on that top rack. Set a timer for 30 seconds then take out
Repeat this process while stirring and spraying the coconut between every 30 second burst until the coconut is a beautiful, golden, even brown
Transfer to a medium bowl and set aside to cool

Step 4: Dulce De Leche Caramel

Prepare the cookies to be covered in caramel by placing a cooling rack over a baking sheet to catch the extra caramel and make sure the cookies are not touching
Pour the can of dulce de leche into a cereal bowl and microwave for 20 seconds
Melt and pour 6 Tbsp of butter and pinch of salt into the dulce de leche and stir until incorporated and creamy
Measure out 5 Tbsp of this dulce de leche mixture and mix into the toasted coconut
Microwave the remaining mixture for 30 seconds to 1 minute or until hot but not bubbly
Add 2-3 tablespoons of warm water to mixture, 1 Tbsp at a time, until it is a good consistency to pour over and cover the cookies but not thin enough to completely roll off. You can test this consistency on the back of a spoon, making sure it leaves a nice covering of caramel that isn't clumpy.
Once the caramel is at a good consistency, move quickly to pour the caramel over the cookies, making sure to cover them all

Step 5: Assembly

While trying not to eat all the coconut and caramel mixture, arrange it along the top of the cookies. I intentionally added a little more coconut in this recipe than was necessary so you could add as much as you wanted and to allow for the possible difference of cookie sizes.
Chop the 8 oz. of chocolate into small even pieces and place in a microwavable cereal bowl. Microwave in 15 second bursts, stirring in between, until chocolate is smooth.
Moving quickly, grab each cookie with tongs, place in the chocolate, move around until most of the shortbread base is covered, let chocolate drip for a couple seconds, then place on parchment paper (if chocolate pools and drys on the parchment paper, you may want to cut the excess chocolate from around the cookie)
Repeat this until all the cookies are dipped in chocolate (you may need to reheat the chocolate if it starts to thicken too much)
Using a fork and the excess chocolate, drizzle the tops of the cookies (the original Samoa cookie has 4 stripes going the same direction, if you want to get exact:)
Let chocolate dry and harden before enjoying!