Homemade Tagalongs--Better Than The Real Thing!

Girl Scout cookie season is always a highlight of the winter.  What a better way to drown your sorrows as you look out the window at yet another winter storm?  So when I came across this recipe on Pinterest, I knew I was bound to try them someday...soon.

When I got up this morning, the first official full day of spring, snow was falling again and covering the ground.  I thought to myself, "self, let's do some fun stuff today!"  Hence, homemade Tagalongs!

The ingredients and instructions are easy enough--chances are you already have everything you need to make them.  Get a box of Nilla wafers, your favorite kind of peanut butter, chocolate of your choice (I used both semi-sweet and milk chocolate), and some shortening.

I finally broke open my brother-in-law's Christmas gift to me--a 5 lb. bar of Hershey's chocolate. 

Lay out your wafer cookies on a cookie sheet or cooling rack lined with parchment paper.  Spread about 1 tsp, give or take, of peanut butter on top of each cookie.  If you like peanut butter, use a little more!  Then, in a microwaveable bowl, put chocolate along with a small amount of shortening (about half a teaspoon) and microwave at 20 second intervals until everything is smooth and melted.  Let it cool down a bit so that you don't melt the peanut butter.  Get a fork and spoon.

Set your cookie in the chocolate, and with the spoon, coat the cookie with chocolate, making sure not to miss any spots.  Now, with your fork, carefully lift the cookie out and tap the fork on the side of the bowl to help the excess chocolate drip off.  Set the coated cookie back on the parchment-lined tray.  Continue in this fashion until all cookies are coated, then move the tray to the fridge to allow the chocolate to harden and cool the rest of the way.  Leave them in for at least a half an hour.  I know, it's hard to wait that long, but it's worth it!

In my opinion, these are even better than the Tagalongs from the Girl Scouts (sorry, girls).  They're also quite a bit cheaper!  Boxes of GS cookies are selling around here for $4/box, and I bought a whole box of Nilla wafers for something like $1.50 (sale and coupon), and I already had peanut butter and chocolate.  Just think of how much you've saved your family by making these, instead of buying them! :)

To see the original post and recipe for these, please click here: Back for Seconds blog