Samoa Cupcakes

Samoa! Ohh how I love the word, the cookie, the legend. For Cherish's 310 Purple Screenings I made these delicious beauties as one of the options. What can I say about these to make you drool, dream and covet? I don't think I have to say anything... they speak for themselves:

Samoas Cupcakes

Yields: 24 cupcakes

Slightly adapted from The Cooking of Joy, which can be found here.

Printable Recipe

For the cupcakes:

1 box yellow cake mix

1 cup water

3 eggs

1/3 cup butter, room temperature

For the ganache:

8 oz. semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup heavy cream

1 tsp. instant coffee

1 tsp. vanilla

For the coconut topping:

1 1/2 cups shredded coconut

6 oz. good quality chewy caramels

1/8 tsp. salt

3 - 4 tbsn. milk

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a cupcake pan with liners, set aside. Prepare cupcake batter according to the box. Fill each tin about 3/4 full and bake according to directions on the box. Once done, let them cool completely. 

To make the ganache, stir the cream and chocolate over a double boiler and stir until melted. Add the vanilla and instant coffee and mix. Let the mixture cool to room temperature. 

To make the coconut topping, unwrap the caramels and place them in a large microwave safe bowl with 2 tbsn. milk and the salt. Microwave on high for 3 - 4 minutes, stopping to stir a few times to help the caramel melt (I had to add some more milk to make it smooth and creamy). When smooth, add the toasted coconut and stir until combined.  

To assemble, inject some caramel into the center of each cupcake. Next, smooth on a light coating of ganache and then let them refrigerate about 15 minutes to let it harden. Next, use a spoon to spread on the coconut topping evenly, top with some more toasted coconut and drizzle with some more ganache (you might have to re-warm the ganache to get a drizzling consistency).