Tongas

Here's the recipe for Samoas knockoffs:


Ingredients:
1 box shortbread cookies (or you can make your own, about 20-30 cookies)
6 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3 1/2 cups toasted coconut (Caution: sweetened coconut is easier to find than unsweetened, but burns quickly in the oven; either is fine, but keep a good eye on it lest it burns, baby)
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Directions:

Melt 3/4 cup chocolate chips in a double boiler (I use my makeshift pot-in-a-pot-o'-water) and pour a thin layer of the melted chocolate chips in the bottom of the cups of silicone muffin pans. (You can try greasing a metal pan but it's harder to get the cookies out later and makes for a pain of a cleaning job.) Place each shortbread cookie in a muffin pan cup, pressing down gently so that it's imbedded in the chocolate. In 2-quart saucepan over medium-low heat, combine butter, sugar and corn syrup. Heat to a full boil, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Boil 3 minutes, stirring constantly.

Slowly pour in sweetened condensed milk, stirring constantly. Continue cooking over low heat until candy thermometer reaches 220-228 degrees (I didn't have one, so I just watched until it looked caramel-y). Remove from heat.

Stir in vanilla. Beat until creamy. Immediately stir in toasted coconut and mix well.

Spoon mixture by teaspoonfuls over shortbread cookies. Cool completely. Remove cooled cookies from muffin pan onto waxed paper.

Melt remaining chocolate chips and drizzle thinly in stripes over cookies. Add a tablespoon of oil if it's not drizzly enough. Let chocolate harden at room temperature, or refrigerate for 15 minutes if you're in a hurry. Enjoy!