Better-Than-Girl-Scout Samoas Cookie Bars -- Made in Batches, Given in Love

The first kayakers on the inlet. The first fishermen on the dock. A Code Blue Wednesday morning that we did not save. I stood in the parking lot for fifteen minutes before I got in my car.

Lourdes is 76. She is slower. She still cooks. She still tells me to find a husband even though I have one. Angela came over Saturday with the kids. We cooked. We argued about pancit proportions — she uses more soy, I use more calamansi. We are both wrong, according to Lourdes.

I made lumpia Saturday. Sixty rolls. I delivered some to Lourdes. The rest went into the freezer for the week.

The blog has four hundred subscribers now who get the posts via email. The subscribers are the loyal core. The loyal core is the chorus.

Pete texted me Saturday. He retired three years ago. He still texts me Saturday. The friendship is the broth.

I read three chapters of the novel Saturday night before sleep. The novel was about a Filipina nurse in California. The nurse was being undone by her work. I knew the unraveling. I had lived the unraveling. I read on. The reading was the witnessing.

I took inventory of the freezer Sunday. The freezer had: twelve quarts of broth, eight pounds of adobo in vacuum bags, six pounds of sinigang base, fourteen lumpia trays at fifty rolls each, three pounds of marinated beef for caldereta, and a small bag of pandan leaves Tita Nening had sent me. The inventory was the proof of preparation. The preparation was the proof of love.

I had a long phone call with Dr. Reeves on Wednesday. We talked about pacing and rest and the way the body keeps a log of what it has carried. Dr. Reeves said, "Grace. The body remembers. The mind forgets. The cooking is the bridge." I wrote the line down. The line is now on a sticky note above the kitchen sink.

I took a walk on the coastal trail Saturday. The light was good. The body was tired but moving.

I cleaned the kitchen Sunday afternoon. I wiped the stove. I scrubbed the sink. I reorganized the spice cabinet. The cleaning was the small reset. The reset was the marker. The marker said: the week is over, the next week begins, the kitchen is ready.

I sat on the balcony in the cold for ten minutes Sunday night with a cup of broth in my hands. The cold was the cold. The broth was the broth. The body held both.

The therapy session this month was about pacing. Dr. Reeves said, "Grace. The pacing is the love for the future self." I am working on the pacing. The pacing is harder than the loving.

Pete and I had a long phone conversation Tuesday. We talked about the family — his and mine. The talking was the keeping.

The Filipino Community newsletter announced a fundraiser for typhoon relief in Samar. I committed to making three hundred lumpia. The number is the number. The number has always been the number. Three hundred is what I make. The math has stopped surprising me.

The light was good Saturday morning. I sat on the porch with a cup of coffee and watched the inlet for forty minutes. The watching was the small therapy. The therapy was free.

The Filipino Community newsletter announced the Saturday gathering. I will be on lumpia duty. I am always on lumpia duty.

The Anchorage sky was the Anchorage sky. The mountains were the mountains. The inlet was the inlet. The geography was the geography.

When Angela brought the kids over Saturday, the lumpia got all the attention — but it was these bars that disappeared first, the little ones picking at the chocolate drizzle before I had even plated them properly. Lourdes, predictably, said I used too much coconut. I have been making things in batches my whole adult life, and somewhere along the way I stopped making them for one meal and started making them for the week, for the freezer, for the people who show up. These Samoas cookie bars are that kind of recipe — the kind you make sixty at a time, the kind you wrap up and deliver without being asked, the kind that says what the broth says and what the lumpia says and what the sticky note above the sink says.

Better-Than-Girl-Scout Samoas Cookie Bars

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 30 min | Total Time: 50 min | Servings: 24 bars

Ingredients

• Shortbread Base
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Caramel Coconut Topping
• 3 cups sweetened shredded coconut, toasted
• 14 oz soft caramel candies (about 50 pieces), unwrapped
• 3 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Chocolate Drizzle
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil or vegetable shortening

Instructions

1. Preheat and prep pan. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9x13-inch baking pan with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on two sides for easy lifting.
2. Make the shortbread base. Beat butter and powdered sugar together until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Mix in vanilla. Add flour and salt and mix on low until a soft dough forms. Press evenly into the prepared pan in a thin, uniform layer.
3. Bake the base. Bake 15—18 minutes, until the edges are lightly golden and the center is just set. Set aside to cool completely in the pan.
4. Toast the coconut. Spread coconut on a rimmed baking sheet and toast in the oven at 350°F for 5—8 minutes, stirring once halfway, until golden. Watch carefully — it burns fast. Set aside.
5. Make the caramel layer. Combine unwrapped caramels, heavy cream, and salt in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir constantly until melted and smooth, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the toasted coconut immediately.
6. Top the shortbread. Spread the caramel-coconut mixture evenly over the cooled shortbread base while still warm and pliable. Press gently with a spatula to compact. Let cool completely at room temperature, at least 30 minutes, before cutting.
7. Melt the chocolate. Combine chocolate chips and coconut oil in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring between each, until fully melted and smooth.
8. Drizzle and set. Use a spoon or piping bag to drizzle melted chocolate over the cooled bars in thin lines. If dipping the bottoms: lift the slab out of the pan using the parchment overhang, flip, spread a thin layer of chocolate on the base, then flip back. Let chocolate set fully before cutting into 24 bars.
9. Cut and store. Cut into bars using a sharp knife wiped clean between cuts. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days, or layer between parchment in a freezer-safe container and freeze for up to 2 months.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 280 | Protein: 2g | Fat: 15g | Carbs: 36g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 115mg