Some of the best things in life are seasonal, and one of the most welcomed seasonal treats are Girl Scout cookies. Luckily for the Girl Scout cookie enthusiasts in all of us, this week’s recipes (yes, multiple!) can help satiate your cravings year-round.

I baked homemade versions of Samoas and Tagalongs, otherwise known as Caramel deLites and Peanut Butter Patties.

Samoas (sorry Midwesterners) are shortbread cookies topped with a caramel and coconut mixture, dipped in chocolate on the bottom, and drizzled with chocolate on top. Tagalongs are also shortbread based, topped with a peanut butter cream, and finished with a chocolate coating. If your favorite Girl Scout cookie is the Trefoil shortbread, you’re in luck — the shortbread used for the other two cookies is a knockoff of the Trefoil recipe.

Below are the recipes along with easy tips and substitutions. The number of servings depends on how large you decide to make your cookies. The Samoa and Taglong ingredients will each cover half of the cookies made in the Trefoils recipe, so double the measurements if you only want to make one kind.

Trefoil Shortbread

Ingredients:

-1 cup butter, room temperature

-1/2 cup sugar

Tip: Substitute Splenda for sugar.

– 2 cups all purpose flour

Tip: Use wheat flour.

– 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

– 1/2 teaspoon salt

– 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

– 2 tablespoons milk

Tip: Use skim milk.

Instructions:

1. With a mixer or by hand, combine butter and sugar. Once they are well mixed, slowly incorporate the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the milk and vanilla.

2. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap or store in Tupperware. If you’re going to make the Samoas and Tagalongs, separate into halves for even batches.

3. Refrigerate for an hour or until firm.

4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. While it’s heating, tear off pieces of dough, flatten them into a cookie shapes, and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Tip: If you have cookie cutters, you can instead roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface and cut them out.

5. Bake for 10-12 minutes and cool thoroughly.

Samoas

Ingredients:

– 1.5 cups shredded unsweetened coconut, toasted

– 8-oz soft caramels

Tip: Use sugar-free caramels.

– 1/4 tsp salt

– 2 tbsp milk

Tip: Again, you can use skim.

– 4 oz. dark chocolate chips

Tip: You can use milk or bittersweet chocolate as well.

Instructions:

1. Keep the oven at 350 after baking the cookies. Spread the coconut on a baking sheet and toast for 10-15 minutes, mixing frequently.

2. While the coconut is toasting, place the caramels, milk and salt in a microwaveable bowl and heat for one minute at a time, stirring in between, until smooth.

Tip: You can also do this over medium heat on the stove

3. Mix the coconut into the caramel mixture and spread on top of the Trefoils.

Tip: I understand baking from scratch is hard on campus, so bake some sugar cookies from the Huddle if you need to.

4. Microwave the chocolate chips in 30 second bursts, stirring in between, until melted.

Tip: You can also melt it on the stove by creating a double boiler, which is done by putting a pan with the chocolate on top of a pot of boiling water.

5. Dip the bottoms of the cookies in the chocolate, laying them out on wax paper afterward. Drizzle the remaining chocolate over the cookies.

Tip: The best way to do this is to put the chocolate in a plastic bag and snip off a corner to create a piping bag.

Tagalongs

Ingredients:

– 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

Tip: As long as it’s creamy, you can use natural peanut butter or almond butter if you’re peanut-free.

– 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar

– 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

– 8-oz chocolate chips

Tip: Milk chocolate is suggested, but you can use your favorite!

Instructions:

1. In a microwavable bowl, mix the powdered sugar into the peanut butter and microwave in 30-second increments until creamy. Add the vanilla.

Tip: You can also do this on the stove over low heat.

2. Using a spoon or a makeshift-piping bag from Step 5 in the Samoas recipe, pile the peanut butter mixture onto the Trefoils.

Tip: Again, sugar cookies from the Huddle are acceptable.

3. Using melted chocolate from Step 4 in the Samoas recipe, cover the cookies in chocolate and place on wax paper to cool.

With these recipes, you’re well on your way to earning your “Love and Admiration of Your Friends” badge.