Disney chef’s inspired dessert takes a cue from Girl Scout cookies

Caramel deLite cookies are paired with a natural fruit filling in this over-the-top dessert.

Girl Scout cookies as we know them today got their start from someone thinking outside the box. In fact, the first treats didn’t even come in boxes. In 1917, five years after Juliette Gordon Low started Girl Scouting in the United States, the Mistletoe Troop in Muskogee, Okla., baked cookies and sold them in the school cafeteria as a service project, according to the Web site girlscouts .org. The rest is Thin Mint history. In the same entrepreneurial spirit as the Muskogee Scouts, in 2003, we challenged a Disney pastry chef to think outside the box to create a gourmet dessert using Girl Scout cookies as ingredients. The result was this yummy Coconut Pineapple Caramel deLite Dome inspired by Caramel deLites. Girl Scouts are currently taking cookie orders for 2010, perhaps this recipe will inspire you get creative with the cookies you buy this year.

COCONUT PINEAPPLE CARAMEL DELITE DOME
Yield: 12 servings.

4 boxes Caramel deLite cookies
Coconut pineapple filling:
3 cups coconut milk
1 cup water
1 2/3 cups sugar
1 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup water
2 cups pineapples, diced and cooked
1 tablespoon brown sugar for pineapples
1/2 cup shredded coconut, toasted

1. In a saucepan, cook the diced pineapples with the brown sugar for about 3 minutes. Set aside to completely cool.
2. To prepare coconut pineapple filling, using a medium-size stainless-steel pot, combine coconut milk, sugar and 1 cup water and bring to a boil. Make a slurry with the cornstarch and 1/2 cup water in a separate bowl. As soon as the coconut milk boils, stir in the dissolved cornstarch and stir vigorously until the mixture thickens and boils for the second time. Add the cooked pineapples in the mixture and then set aside the filling to cool in room temperature.
3. Toast shredded coconut in a 325 F oven for about 7 minutes or more until you get a golden brown color. Set aside to cool.
4. To assemble the dome, prepare 10-inch-by-3 1/2-inch-deep metal bowl, by lining the inside with plastic wrap. Place 1 layer of Caramel deLite Cookies (about 24 pieces or 1 1/2 boxes) on the bottom of the bowl, the top of the cookies facing down. Start from the center of the bowl and work your way up the sides of the bowl. Go all the way to the top. Use cookies cut in half for the top, so that you can get a straight edge on the top. This is to ensure a straight edge when the dome is inverted for the finished cake.
5. Place a third of the slightly cooled filling over the cookies and sprinkle a layer of roughly chopped Caramel deLite cookies ( about 10 pieces) over it. Spread the rest of the filling over the middle cookie layer evenly and lay one layer of Caramel deLite Cookies (about 20 pieces) with the chocolate side up. This will serve as the bottom of the cake when inverted. Place the bowl in the refrigerator and let it set for an hour.
6. To unmold, lay a 10-inch cakeboard on the top of the bowl and gently invert the dome. Remove the plastic wrap. Cover the bottom edge of the dome with toasted coconut and serve.
Recipe note: This recipe was not tested in the Orlando Sentinel test kitchen.