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by Stephanie Manley, Last Updated Leave a Comment
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Girl Scout Tagalongs are delicious butter cookies topped with peanut butter and covered in chocolate. There’s no need to get cookies from the Girl Scouts when you can make tasty Peanut Butter Patties at home.
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Table of Contents
What Makes Girl Scout Tagalong Cookies So Cravable All Year Long?
The anticipation for the next Girl Scout Cookies season begins just around the same time the winter holiday decorations come out. By then, the last of the hidden boxes of cookies had long been discovered and eaten, but the undeniable craving remains.
If visions of bright red packages of Tagalongs with their classic combination of chocolate and peanut butter begin to fill your mind, why wait!? Make Copycat Girl Scout Tagalongs Cookies at home!
Why Should You Try This Recipe?
Since the recipe for the shortbread cookies component in this version of Tagalongs calls for an egg, the cookies are much softer than many copycat Tagalongs that use more of a traditional shortbread recipe.
Without any eggs, classic shortbread is dry and hard — perfect for dipping, but it is not so great for making Tagalongs.
Girl Scout Tagalongs Ingredients
For these cookies, you’ll need:
- All-purpose flour
- Salt
- Unsalted butter, divided
- Sugar
- Egg
- Vanilla extract
- Creamy peanut butter
- Powdered sugar
- Milk chocolate chips
- Vegetable oil
Chocolate wafer meltsare a great substitute for chocolate chips since they are specially formulated for coating baked goods and won’t melt if left out at room temperature. If you use chocolate wafer melts, you may need to reduce the amount of vegetable oil you use.
How to Make Copycat Girl Scout Tagalongs Cookies
To mix the dough for Tagalongs:
- Line a rimmed baking tray with parchment paper. Keep it handy for later.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour and salt and put aside.
- Combine the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Use a paddle attachment on a medium setting to incorporate the ingredients. Continue to mix until the butter lightens in color and the volume increases. You can use a hand mixer if you don’t have a stand mixer.
- Add the egg and vanilla extract to the creamed butter. Mix on a medium setting to thoroughly distribute the egg.
- While the mixer is running, add half of the whisked flour and salt. Once you can’t see any patches of flour, add the other half to the mixer.
- Use abowl scrapperto help transfer all the cookie dough onto the parchment paper-lined baking tray.
- Spread out the dough with your hands and cover it with plastic wrap. Use a rolling pin to smooth the surface.
- Place the baking tray in the fridge for an hour to chill dough. NOTE: You can keep the cookie dough like this in the fridge for up to three days.
To bake the cookies:
- After an hour, remove the chilled cookie dough from the fridge.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Line two more rimmed baking trays with parchment paper to use later.
- While the cookie dough is still stiff, use a two-inch round cookie cutter to punch out cookies from the dough. Place each cut cookie onto the newly prepared baking trays. Space the cookies at least two inches from each other and the sides of the tray. Re-roll any extra cookie dough to make more cookies.
- Bake the cookies until the edges brown slightly, around ten minutes.
- While the cookies are baking, place two wire racks on the counter.
- Place the hot trays on the wire racks and allow the cookies to cool to room temperature.
To prepare the peanut butter filling:
- Add the peanut butter, powdered sugar, and butter to the bowl of a stand mixer. If you don’t have a stand mixer, use a hand mixer instead.
- Whip the peanut butter filling on a medium setting until the powdered sugar and butter are worked into the peanut butter. The filling should be thick but still spreadable. Using room-temperature peanut butter and butter helps, but if the filling is too stiff to spread, add another tablespoon of butter and mix well.
- Spread the peanut butter filling on top of the cooled cookies.
To make the chocolate coating:
- Add the chocolate to a microwave-safe bowl.
- Microwave at 50 percent power for one minute. Stir well and add the vegetable oil. Continue to heat at 50 percent power in 30-second bursts until the chocolate is smooth.
To assemble a Tagalong cookie:
- Use a fork or a chocolate dipping tool to hold a cookie. Dip only the bottom portion of the cookie into the melted chocolate and use a spoon to pour the chocolate over the top. Let the excess chocolate drip and drain then put the cookie on a parchment paper-lined baking tray.
- Repeat the coating process with the remaining cookies and pop the cookie-filled trays in the fridge until the chocolate hardens.
Variations
Feel free to experiment with these cookies. You may want to try using dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate or swapping crunchy peanut butter for smooth.
What to Serve With These Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cookies
These homemade tagalongs cookies are too fragile to dip, but they go well with milk, coffee, or tea. Some people like to freeze Tagalongs and enjoy them frozen.
How to Store Tagalongs
Keep Girl Scout Cookies peanut butter Tagalongs in the fridge or freezer inside an airtight container to prevent the chocolate from melting. If you use chocolate wafer melts instead of chocolate chips, you can store the cookies on the counter.
How Long Does a Tagalong Cookie Last?
These cookies will last up to a week in the fridge but will keep for at least two months in the freezer.
More Girl Scout Cookie Recipes
- Lemonades
- S’mores
- Samoas (Caramel Delites)
- Thin Mints
Favorite Cookie Recipes
- 3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies
- Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
- Chocolate Sandwich Cookies
- Peanut Butter Cup Cookies
- Pecan Sandies
Favorite Peanut Butter Recipes
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie
- Homemade Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
- Peanut Butter Ice Cream
- Peanut Butter Sauce for Ice Cream
Check out more of my easy cookie recipes and the best DIY recipes on CopyKat!
Girl Scout Tagalongs
You can make tagalong Girl Scout cookies at home with this easy copycat recipe.
5 from 3 votes
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Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Girl Scout Cookies
Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes minutes
Chilling: 6 hours hours
Total Time: 6 hours hours 35 minutes minutes
Servings: 24
Calories: 247kcal
Author: Stephanie Manley
Ingredients
- 2½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 pinches salt
- 2 sticks unsalted butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1½ cups creamy peanut butter
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter softened at room temperature
- 1 11-ounce bag milk chocolate chips
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Instructions
Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine flour and salt.
In a separate mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar using an electric hand or stand mixer. Mix until smooth and fully combined.
Add egg and vanilla. Mix again until smooth.
Add flour mixture in, half at a time, and mix until fully combined and dough-like.
Remove dough from the bowl and place it on the baking sheet with parchment paper. Using your hands, flatten the dough onto the baking sheet pressing downward.
Use a rolling pin to smooth and roll out the dough to about ¼ – ½ inch thick.
Place the rolled out dough in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
When the chill time is complete, remove the dough from the refrigerator and preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Using a 2-inch cookie cutter, cut rounds from the dough and place them onto the fresh sheet of parchment paper, 2 inches or more apart.
Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until the edge of the cookie becomes golden brown. The cookies will spread a bit during cooking.
Allow the cookies to cool on the pan completely until they have reached room temperature.
Once the cookies are at room temperature, prepare your peanut butter mixture.
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine peanut butter, powdered sugar and butter using an electric hand or stand mixer. Mix until smooth and thick.
Use a butter knife or your fingers to spread the peanut butter over the top of the cookie. It should mildly adhere to the cookie however you will want to press the mixture into the cookie, ensure it is fully covered. Do this for each cookie, one by one, place them back onto the baking sheet.
When all cookies have a peanut butter layer on top, place the baking sheets into the refrigerator to chill for about 30 minutes.
Near the end of the chill time, prepare the melting chocolate.
Add the chocolate chips to a microwave safe bowl. Microwave on 50% power for 1 minute. When done, stir well and add the vegetable oil. Microwave on 50% power for 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until the chocolate is silky smooth.
Use a fork and spoon to coat the cookie in chocolate. Hold the cookie on the fork and use the spoon to scoop the melted chocolate, pouring it over the cookie, coating it completely.
Do this one by one, placing each cookie back on the sheet of parchment paper after it’s covered.
When all cookies are covered in chocolate, place them back in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
Notes
Store these cookies in the refrigerator when not serving. These cookies are best served chilled.
Peanut Butter Texture: When you’re attempting to spread your peanut butter mixture onto the cookie, if the peanut butter does not adhere well or cracks, add a bit more butter (1 tablespoon at a time) to the overall mixture. However, it should spread well despite its thickness. Press the peanut butter mixture down onto the cookie with your fingers.
Presentation Tip: After the cookies come out of the oven, they may spread a bit. Use a large cookie or biscuit cutter to ring the edges of the cookies, smoothing them out and tightening them up a bit. For perfect edges, you can also use a cookie cutter to cut the round of the cookie, throwing away the excess outer ring that may be grown while baking.
Cookie Texture: Once the cookies are at room temperature, they should be able to stand up on their own, without folding over. They will be a soft cookie but should still have a slight crunch and maintain their shape.
Chocolate Coating: Use the back of the spoon to push the chocolate over the cookie and around it. You want to pour a good bit over the cookie but then carefully shake the cookie side to side to evenly disperse the chocolate. Do not dip or dunk these cookies. The chocolate acts as the glue, holding the cookie and peanut butter together.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cookie | Calories: 247kcal | Carbohydrates: 19g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 0.4g | Cholesterol: 31mg | Sodium: 106mg | Potassium: 111mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 276IU | Calcium: 14mg | Iron: 1mg
About Stephanie Manley
I recreate your favorite restaurant recipes, so you can prepare these dishes at home. I help you cook dinner, and serve up dishes you know your family will love. You can find most of the ingredients for all of the recipes in your local grocery store.
Stephanie is the author of CopyKat.com's Dining Out in the Home, and CopyKat.com's Dining Out in the Home 2.
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