“recipe adapted” (aka samoas)

this post is really about homemade samoas, a recipe that i noticed popping up on the blogs a few weeks ago. but first (first?!), a digression about that label on so many blog recipes: “recipe adapted from.” for the samoas, i used graham crackers as a base that i saw a photo of on somebody’s blog. it turns out that that person had posted the recipe as being adapted from heidi’s recipe over at 101cookbooks. i was curious, and went through the recipes side-by-side. well, readers, these recipes were exactly the same, word for word. that’s simply not ok.

for me, recipes are intellectual property just like anything else – a song, a patent, etc. i think that the community, potluck aspects to recipes on blogs and in magazines do allow for a creative commons-type usage, hence the “recipe adapted from” label that allows for “fair use” along with absolution from legal entanglement. but here’s the thing: if you adapted the recipe, it should no longer be the same recipe. yours is derivative, but it’s its own variation. and i would say that nearly all of my recipes are truly adapted – there may be one or two that i posted in my early days, when i didn’t know how to cook that well, which are less well-adapted. i’m not that stringent in my position on the ethics of adaptation, either – i fully support a wide range of degrees of adaptation. on the minimum side of the spectrum, a really good recipe that’s in tune with my tastes won’t require very many adjustments in the combination of ingredients, and sometimes a recipe doesn’t work unless you use the exact measurements as the original. in this case, i will always write my own instructions, with the notes and thoughts that i know will help me remember the recipe the next time i make it. on the maximum side of the spectrum, there are recipes that i completely retool, both in ingredients and instructions. these are recipes that are overly wordy or incorrect in their instructions, or that don’t completely accord with my own tastes of what constitutes sweet, savory, balanced. unless there’s an attribution, though, i would never post a recipe without any changes.

and, of course, there are different kinds of uses of a recipe. adaptation applies to when you repost a recipe that is not originally yours – rather than, say, linking to it. adaptation doesn’t apply to merely cooking a recipe; after all, what cook doesn’t want somebody else to use her recipes, especially if she’s posting them online? but if you are going to publicly share a recipe, and it’s not your own original, it should bear the adaptation tag. if you didn’t change anything, you should just link to the recipe.

back to the samoas: this recipe is a good example of me liking someone else’s general idea, but completely changing the preparation. it’s girl scout cookie season, and i love samoas (or rather, caramel delites, as i seem to prefer the latter over the former). this recipe is my homemade version of samoas, which i will just say upfront, are predicated more on my memory of what a samoa tastes like, rather than what a samoa actually tastes like, so be forewarned. these cookies, in my opinion, are better than the authentic version.

the original recipe i found was itself an adaptation from the bakingbites blog. and, as i read through both of them, i didn’t really like either one. in the original, the caramel in the topping was simply melted caramels, which is just not a good option (tastewise and ingredientwise, because of all the corn syrup). the adaptation is more a true adaptation in that it makes samoa-like cookie bars, rather than actual cookies, since the cookie base isn’t baked before assembling.

wanting a slightly less buttery taste to the cookie, i decided to use a graham cracker base, though i did worry a bit that it would make the cookies taste too healthy. i started making the caramel part of the adapted recipe before noticing that it had a rather odd ingredient – a cup of sour cream – added into it before baking. i kept making the caramel, and i did actually add a bit of sour cream, but nowhere near what was suggested. i then cooked the caramel until softball stage, mixed in the coconut, and molded it onto the cookies while warm so it didn’t totally stiffen up. the cookies, as it turned out, were on the very crispy and very slightly hard side of cookieness, and so i was hoping the caramel would actually soften them up just a little bit. i was going to dip the bottoms of the cookies in chocolate, then drizzle them like the real cookies, but i got lazy and just dipped half of each cookie in. (i only dipped about two thirds of the cookies; the photos are from dipping the remaining third. this worked out well, as the cookies i dipped first fit into the cookie jar with no space to spare.)

and so you ask, how did these turn out? well, when i tasted each component on its own, they were good, but not great. when i tasted the finished cookie, they kept on tasting better and better. specifically, when i tasted the caramel, it tasted a bit too buttery, though it didn’t have excess butter in it – but the darkness of the chocolate completely eliminated that problem. i think this is the sort of thing that shows you just how bad a storebought cookie can be, because the homemade version tastes so much more complex. these cookies stay good for over two weeks in an airtight container, losing none of the graham cracker’s crispiness and snap. the caramel was chewy and pliable, and the whole combination of flavors was really complemented by the chocolate to a degree i haven’t recently experienced. in fact, i liked the chocolate on the cookies so much that i would dip the whole cookie in chocolate. use a good chocolate and you will be rewarded many times over.

what i realized after i made these, and opened the box of samoas i had set by to taste-test, is that the cookies i made are almost completely different than the girl scout version. in fact, samoas are mostly cookie, with a thin coat of caramel and a bit of coconut sprinkled into it, with a drizzle of chocolate. the cookies i made are probably 40% cookie, 50% coconut-caramel, and 10% chocolate. while i still favor the crumbly-sandy-yet-tender crumb of the original, i think the balance of components in my version was far superior.

this recipe is still pending some revisions to the cookie base – i’d like to find a cookie with a slightly sandier texture – more tender than the graham crackers, but still just as crisp. you can substitute your own choice of cookie, just make sure they’re not too buttery. the caramel needs a bit of salt, i think (which i have added into the recipe), but it’s otherwise quite workable. i might fiddle with it, but it retains a nice pliability without stickiness, which is key for this recipe; if anything, let you caramel get a good deep amber so you maximize the effect of the caramelized sugar.

this recipe is easy, but involved due to the number of components – i recommend making the cookies one day, then adding the topping and chocolate coating the next day. when you are melting the chocolate for the coating, melt it slowly to make sure the chocolate doesn’t seize, and that there is less of a chance of your chocolate blooming. (fyi, the chocolate did begin to bloom ever so slightly after two weeks; make sure you use good chocolate and this will be less of a problem.)

 
homemade samoas, aka caramel delites

graham cracker base (adapted from 101cookbooks)
2 1/2c flour
1c dark brown sugar
1t baking soda
3/4t kosher salt
1/2c butter
1/3c honey
5T milk
2t vanilla

caramel-coconut topping
1 1/2c sugar
1/2c butter
1/3c sour cream or yogurt, at room temp
1/2t salt
1t vanilla (optional)
2 1/2c unsweetened shredded coconut (any dimension, really; i prefer it to be shredded on the fine side, just make sure it’s still somewhat pliable, not dried out)

8-12 oz bittersweet chocolate

1. to make the graham crackers, pulse the dry ingredients in the bowl of a food processor to combine (this recipe is a typical food processor recipe, in which you cut the butter into the dry ingredients, then add any other wet ingredients). scatter the butter in the dry ingredients and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal. in a small bowl, mix together the remaining ingredients (honey, milk, vanilla) and then add to the flour mixture. pulse a few times, until the dough comes together. turn the dough out onto a clean surface and shape into a large disk, no more than 1 1/2″ thick. wrap in plastic and refrigerate until firm, 2 hours or overnight.

2. to bake the graham crackers, preheat the oven to 350F. roll the dough out to slightly more than 1/8″ or a scant 1/4″ thick (depending on your preference; i tended towards the thinner cookies, which will still rise a bit from the baking soda). cut out cookies with a cookie cutter of your choice (i used two square fluted cutters – 1.5″ and 2.5″ square). bake 15-25 minutes (depending on the thickness of the cookies), until slightly browned and slightly firm to the touch. the tops of the cookies should look dry. transfer to a rack to cool completely, then store in an airtight container until ready to assemble cookies.

3. to make the caramel, heat the sugar in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-low heat until it melts and caramelizes. as it melts, it will turn a light amber; swirl the pan around a bit in order to get the sugar to melt evenly. you want your sugar to turn a dark amber that is not too brown (too brown = burned) – somewhere slightly lighter than the color of pecan skins. if the color of your sugar is like chestnut shells, it’s burned and you should start over – just soak the pan in hot water and the burned sugar will dissolve.

4. when the caramel has turned the correct amber, remove it from the heat (you can turn the stove off) and add the butter. it will spit and bubble, but if you’re using a saucepan with sufficiently high sides (ie, nothing skillet-like), you’ll be fine. stir the mixture until the butter is incorporated. stir in the yogurt and salt, then let cool for 5 minutes, or until the caramel is hot but not scalding to the touch (so as to not burn the coconut) and before the caramel stiffens up. while the caramel is cooling, set out the cookie bases on some trays or cooling racks. mix the coconut into the caramel until well combined, then immediately start molding the caramel onto the cookies with a knife, while still pliable. if your caramel stiffens up, you could probably reheat it on the stove on low heat, but i didn’t reheat mine. don’t do this in a cold kitchen – the caramel will stiffen up too quickly. besides pliability, you need to apply the caramel while it’s warm, because it will adhere better to the cookie.

5. as the cookies are cooing to room temp, chop the chocolate and melt slowly in a heatproof bowl over a pot of barely simmering water. the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water; you need only 1 to 1 1/2″ water in the pot. if your chocolate is heated too fast, it could seize or bloom; i’m not one to temper chocolate unless it’s a special occasion, but if you want to temper, go ahead. when the chocolate is melted, set up a silpat and a few large sheets of parchment paper. grab a cookie by its edges (the caramel can be a good way to hang onto it), dip the bottom in chocolate. shake off the excess chocolate and place on the silpat/parchment, about 1″ apart. when you’ve finished all the cookies, dip a spatula in the chocolate and swing it gently over the cookies to deposit chocolate threads on the tops of the cookies. practice over a few of the cookies to get the hang of this – you need to get the right amount of chocolate on the spatula, but not too much. you can also put the chocolate in a squeeze bottle with a fine nozzle, for better control. let the chocolate harden, then transfer to an airtight container.

(approximate) active cooking time: 1-1.5 hrs for the graham crackers, 1-1.5 hrs for the coconut caramel, 1 hr for assembly and dipping

[makes 40-50 small cookies, or 30 large cookies]