paleo samoa miracle tarts {vegan & gluten free!}

{copycat} miracle tart recipe… samoa girl scout cookie style!
a grain-free, gluten-free, refined sugar-free recipe that will rock your world–not your waistline! :)

this recipe… ohhhh, this recipe!! i’ve been waiting for the perfect time to post it. it’s finally here, now that girl scouts aren’t stalking the front doors of every grocery store in america with their vibrantly colored boxes and devious little smiles.

if you’re a fan of their classic samoa cookie, you’re absolutely going to fall in love with this recipe. as addictive as the real thing… but waaay better for you! these little bite-size tarts are just as heavenly, but without all the refined sugar, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, enriched/bleached wheat flour, or corn syrup. (yes, those are the actual first few ingredients, and no thank you!)

but these. mini chocolate crusts filled with creamy caramel and coconut, topped off with a chocolatey drizzle… seriously, just like the cookie!! and everyone knows, you don’t even have to like coconut to single-handedly inhale a box of those dangerously delicious samoa cookies… they should really come with a surgeons general warning or something.

okay, before i get too excited and get ahead of myself, i have to stop and give credit where credit is most definitely due. it all started with jenny, from the urban poser blog. {please tell me you’ve heard of her genius paleo samoa donut recipe… if not, you must check it out!} her donuts are the entire reason this recipe ever came to exist. so, thank you jenny. and bravo.

here’s what happened… a few weeks back, my husband and i decided to make these donuts.  (and they were aahhhh-mazing!!)  the only problem was the extra caramel i had left over after i glazed all the donuts… don’t get me wrong, it was a delightful problem to have!

i had a decision to make:  do i…

a) make more donuts? or,
b) figure out what indulgent paleo deliciousness i could concoct next…??

duh.

okay, if i’ve completely consumed your brain with donuts and you’ve totally forgotten about the recipe at hand, no worries.  today might just be a perfect day to try out both recipes… because the most time-consuming step of this whole process, the paleo caramel, is the key ingredient in both recipes!  the rest is easy!

i had already been scheming to make a copycat hail merry miracle tart recipe… after buying a 12-pack at costco, i realized that all (five) of the ingredients were things i had in my pantry at that exact moment!  (almond flour, cocoa powder, coconut oil, sea salt, and maple syrup)  just how i like my ingredient lists: simple, straightforward and made with foods you can actually pronounce!  with this extra caramel already made, all i needed were the crusts.  how sweet it is… this recipe makes 14 mini tarts and turned out better than i had imagined.

{i normally don’t go into this much explanation on my recipes, but i wanted to make sure you had clear, detailed instructions along with all my little tricks and tips to make your tarts turn out just like the ones you see in my pictures…}

here’s a trick for getting your tarts to easily (and prettily) pop out of the tin: take a 3″-4″ inch wide strip of parchment paper and cut it into little 1/2 inch strips.  spray your mini muffin tin with non stick spray and lay a strip down before pressing in your dough (i used about 1 tbsp of  dough for each little crust).  in the picture it only shows one parchment tab popping out of each tart, but the next time i make these i will definitely lay the strip so i can grasp both edges… i had a few that didn’t want to cooperate.

next comes the caramel… i have started making this stuff in bulk.  (this is one of my favorite ways to eat it!)  making the caramel is the most time consuming part of the entire recipe… it takes about 45 min start-to-finish.  but trust me when i say it is soooooo worth it.  most of the time it is spent letting the caramel reduce while boiling on the stove, only stirring every once in a while.  so it’s not super labor-intensive… and it comes with a free arm workout when you stir the caramel up at the very end! :)  the best part is that you can make this stuff ahead of time (and in bulk) so once you get that part out of the way, the rest of the recipe is easy-peasy!

while the caramel is cooking, toss about 1/3 cup of unsweetened coconut into the oven at 325 degrees for about 5 min, or until it is a nice toasted shade of tan.  i burned at least 4 or 5 batches of coconut the first time i made the donuts… don’t ask me how!  just make sure to stir the coconut often so it doesn’t burn!  once you’re ready to put your tarts together, stir together your caramel (if you made a larger batch, you’ll need about 1/2 cup of caramel or just under 5 oz), 1/4 cup of the toasted coconut (saving the remainder as a topping), and 1 tbsp melted coconut oil.  i used a little cookie dough scoop to fill each tart with about 1 tbsp of caramel.  top each tart with a sprinkle of toasted coconut and place your tarts in the freezer to chill while you get your chocolatey drizzle ready.

the chocolate drizzle is like the icing on top of the cake, if you will.  the drizzle makes them look legit, just like on the real samoa girl scout cookies!  don’t be intimidated with using a double boiler… find a metal bowl that fits in the opening of a small saucepan.  fill the pan with a few inches of water, place the bowl on top (making sure the bottom isn’t touching the water) and dump about 1/4 cup of enjoy life chocolate chips into the bowl.  stir until melted.  then just spoon the chocolate into a little plastic baggie and cut the corner to drizzle on top of each tart.

i like these best frozen; my husband said he likes them best in his mouth.  :)