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Salted Samoas Pretzel Presents. Sweet coconut caramel, sandwiched between pretzel “cookies”, then dipped, dunked, and drizzled in sweet chocolate. Every last bite has a note of vanilla with sweet coconut, and extra chocolate. Salty-sweet, and so DELICIOUS. Absolutely nothing not to love about these fun and easy Samoas inspired chocolate presents. Perfect for eating and holiday gifting.
When one idea fails, turn to another…and be presently surprised with how it turns out. Today’s post was meant to be something entirely different, but here we are with these sweet little bites of chocolate and coconut!
My original idea for today was a major fail, so I pivoted to these presents. And I could not love them more.
These cookies are inspired by the very popular Samoas Girl Scout cookies. But with my little holiday twist, that honestly, I think makes them better. It’s the pretzels, they add a nice salty crunch that keeps everyone wanting more.
These are so easy and perfect for packaging up as gifts or simply to have out at a holiday party. Great to pop in your mouth for a sweet little bite.
The base starts with a pretzel. Then add a homemade coconut caramel mix, top with another pretzel, dip into chocolate, and top with flaky sea salt. Simple and so cute.
Here are the details
Traditional Samoas cookies start out with a shortbread cookie, which is delicious, but I wanted to swap the cookies for pretzels. I love the saltiness along with the chocolate and coconut.
Next up, the coconut caramel. Melt sugar on the stove until it caramelizes, then add butter and coconut milk to create a coconut caramel sauce. Then finish it up with vanilla and sea salt.
Once the sauce is made, stir in lots of shredded toasted coconut. I prefer to use unsweetened coconut, but use what you think you’ll love the most!
Then simply sandwich the caramel mix between two pretzels, dip in the chocolate, and let the chocolate set up.
So easy and delicious.
Yummm. My mom says this recipe might be one of her favorites for the year. She’s a fan of anything with coconut and chocolate.
A couple tips for success…
Tip one, make sure the presents are thoroughly chilled before dipping them into chocolate. This is probably my biggest tip. If the presents are frozen, the chocolate will quickly set up on the bars and be easier to work with. Trust me, freeze the presents, then dip them through the melted chocolate.
Tip two, if you want a thick chocolate-coated present dip your bars once, re-freeze until set (which will only take a matter of minutes), then dip into chocolate again. This is not necessary by any means, but if you love double chocolate, do a double dip.
My initial thought was that these chocolate presents would be great for our Christmas Cookie Boxes. And they are…but they’re also great for so much more. My recommendation – keep these in the fridge all season long to quickly serve to family and friends. Or package them up as gifts and hand them off as gifts.
It’s December and we all need sweet treats! Just one thing…don’t skip that sprinkle of flaky sea salt at the end. Love a good salty-sweet, chocolate dessert.
Looking for other holiday dessert recipes? Here are my favorites:
Brown Sugar Maple Ginger Cookies
Salted Milk Chocolate and Peanut Butter Blondies
Chocolate Covered Brown Butter Millionaire’s Bars
Lastly, if you make these Samoas Pretzel Presents be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Salted Pretzel Samoas Presents
Servings: 24 presents
Calories Per Serving: 258 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons salted butter, at room temperature, cut into chunks
- 3/4 cup canned coconut milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla bean powder
- flaky sea salt
- 3 cups shredded coconut sweetened or unsweetened, toasted
- 3 cups mini waffle pretzels
- 14 ounces dark chocolate or semi-sweet, chopped
Instructions
- 1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 2. In a large pot, cook the sugar over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the sugar has melted and turns a golden caramel, about 10 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and add the chunks of butter, whisking until combined. Then, stir in the coconut milk. Return the pot to medium heat and cook the mixture, stirring until the caramel has thickened into a sauce, about 5-8 minutes. Remove from the heat, let cool slightly, then stir in the vanilla and a pinch of salt. 3. Add the toasted coconut to the coconut caramel sauce and stir until coated. 4. Spoon 2 teaspoons of the coconut caramel mix onto each pretzel and then sandwich together with another pretzel, placing each on the prepared baking sheet. Freeze 15-30 minutes.5. Melt the chocolate in the microwave. Use a fork to dip each pretzel into the chocolate, letting the excess drizzle off. Place on the parchment lined baking sheet. Freeze until set, 15 minutes. Drizzle on more melted chocolate, if desired. Sprinkle the tops with sea salt.6. Store in the fridge or in a cool place for up to 2 weeks.
My caramel sauce also seized up when I added the coconut milk to it, despite following the directions and being careful to stir the whole time and ensuring the caramel was not too hot 🙁
Hi Lindsay,
Thanks for trying this recipe and sharing your feedback! So sorry to hear you had issues with the caramel, I have never experienced a seizing up before so it’s really hard for me to say what could have gone wrong! Again, so sorry! xx
I am having a hard time melting the sugar. The instructions say “ stirring occasionally” but that leaves clumps which eventually melt but then its part golden brown.
I noticed you started before to keep stirring it, but maybe that was after adding the coconut milk.
I, like the person below, also made it to the add milk stage but it seized up. Tried it again and still no luck.
Thoughts? Do I just let the sugar melt without stirring? Do I continually stir?
Thanks.
HI there! Yes, I would keep stirring to make sure everything gets incorporated! Also maybe warm the coconut milk before adding it in so it mixes better with the mixture! xT
Hi Tieghan, I am looking to make this recipe and am wondering if you have to use coconut milk? Could I sub it out for half and half or almond/ oat milk? That is the only thing I have on hand. Thanks !
Hi Liz! The coconut milk will help it have more of a coconut flavor! xT
Oh yum! These were good every step of the way. I toasted the coconut at 325 for about 7 minutes, stirring every 2. (I’m saving some of this to put on my yogurt in the morning!) I used the square pretzels, which held the filling in better than the traditional shaped pretzels. Freezing the sandwiches before dipping in chocolate was a must, and then I had to work quickly before the melted chocolate hardened up. These were really tasty even without the chocolate dip, but the chocolate makes it amazing. I put some sprinkles of toasted coconut on top of some of them, flaky salt on some, and left some plain to suit multiple tastes.
Hi Sally,
Happy Monday!!🇺🇸😎 I appreciate you making this recipe and sharing your feedback, so glad to hear it was a winner! Thanks for sharing what worked well for you! xT
Hi Tieghan!
I’m making this for my French husband who’s never tried samoas to introduce him to these childhood favorites of mine! I have a question: When I poured in the coconut milk the rest of the caramel seized up into hard caramel. I was able to re-melt it by stirring, but it was tough because the hardened caramel stuck to the whisk. Do you know if this is a common mistake? I wonder if my technique wasn’t right, but I’m pretty sure I followed your directions…Just wondering for the next time I make them!
Thank you!
Hi Sammi,
Thanks so much for giving your recipe a try!! Sounds like the caramel was on the heat for too long, you want to stir the sugar until it has just melted and make sure you are stirring the whole time. I hope this helps! xx