Stashed away in the dark recesses of the freezer, most of us still have a few lone Thin Mints tiding us over from last year — doled out with increasing stinginess as their delicious numbers dwindle. Fortunately, the Girl Scouts have returned with fresh supplies.
Setting up card tables at local grocery stores and toting little red wagons piled high with their trademark boxes, legions of young girls are getting ready to ply us with millions of pounds of chocolate, peanut butter and, of course, minty wafers in the annual Girl Scout Cookie sale. And we’re ready for our fix.
Since the 1920′s the cookies have been the fundraising cornerstone of the organization, with more than 225 million sold each year. Thin Mints, a wafer-like chocolate cookie coated with mint-flavored chocolate, account for more than 25 percent of the total sales, and since the 1950s have been in the lineup of ten or so different flavors sold.
Therein lies the rub. Everyone seems to have an opinion about which of
the other flavors are worthy of the $4 a box price — often leading to
serious family discontent. Samoas, vanilla cookies coated in caramel and sprinkled with toasted coconut and chocolate stripes,
are giving Thin Mints a run for their money. Introduced in the 1980s,
the now account for 19 percent of all sales. Other popular flavors
include Tagalongs (chocolate-covered peanut butter patties), Do-si-dos
(peanut butter sandwich cookies) and Trefoils (classic shortbread
cookies).
Other flavors come and go. Low-fat brownies made a mercifully brief appearance.
The now-discontinued Lemon Coolers (a tart lemon cookie dusted with
powdered sugar) are much-missed at our house, along with Animal
Treasures. Newcomers include 2009′s Dulce de Leche (bite-sized
cookies with milk caramel chips) and this year’s Thank You Berry Munch,
a sugar cookie with cranberries and white fudge chips.
What cookies you’ll be eating, however, also depends on exactly where
you live and which of the two national bakeries (ABC or Little Brownie
Bakers) the troops choose. The 2010 national lineup includes eleven
cookies, but in Northern California, local scouts only sell eight –
Samoas, Trefoils, Thin Mints, Tagalongs, Do-si-does, Lemon Chalet
Cremes, Thank You Berry Munch and Dulce De Leche. Other flavors sold
nationally include Lemonades (lemon creme cookies), Thanks-A-Lot
(shortbread and chocolate) and Daisy Go Rounds (low-fat cinnamon
cookies). What most folks agree on, however, is that no matter what
your flavor-preference, Girl Scout Cookies are almost always better out
of the freezer.
This year, the scout council has also created a host of recipes using Girl Scout cookies, including Thin Mint brownies, Fried Samoas Shrimp and even Do-Si-Do Peanut Chicken — a Thai take on chicken satay with crumbled peanut butter cookies on top. You can download the complete recipe booklet at ilovecookies.org or click here for PDF.
Hungry? Local Girl Scouts will be delivering pre-ordered cookies in
the next week or so, and you’ll likely see them setting up around town
through March 21, 2010 with by-the-box sales. Don’t fear, however,
if they’re not in your neighborhood. You can find a booth locator
staring March 5 at ilovecookies.org or call (800) 734-4757, ext. 210 to
find out how to buy cookies in the Santa Rosa area.
RECIPE: Thin Mint Brownies
Ingredients
1/2 Box crushed Thin Mints Girl Scout Cookies
1 box brownie mix
2 eggs (3 for cake-like brownies)
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Crush Thin Mints into medium sized pieces.
Mix all ingredients into mixing bowl and mix by hand about 50 strokes.
Spread batter evenly in greased 13x9x2 inch pan. Bake in center of oven
for 30 to 35 minutes. Remove from oven and cool before cutting.
Thin Mint Cocktail
Okay, so this one’s for grownups only, inspired by the cookies.
Mix hot chocolate mix with heavy cream, add 1Tbs creme de menthe and 1 Tbs Kahlua. Warm gently on the stove to just warmed. Add a few drops of creme de menthe to heavy cream, whip. In a separate container, whip a few tablespoons of heavy cream. Pour warm hot chocolate mix into a cordial glass. Spoon in green creme de menthe creme and white creme on top. Sprinkle with chocolate.
THE COOKIES
Samoas: Vanilla cookies, covered with caramel, rolled in toasted coconut, and striped chocolate
Trefoils: Classic Shortbread
thin Mints: Wafers covered with a minty chocolate coating
Tagalongs: Cookies topped with peanut butter and chocolate
Do-Si-Dos: Peanut butter filling sandwiches by oatmeal cookies
Lemon Chalet Cremes: Vanilla sandwich cookies with lemon creme
Thank You Berry Much: Cookies with cranberries and white fudge chips
Dulce De Leche: Bite-sized cookies with milk caramel chips
What’s your favorite flavor?
I don’t know if everyone is a cookie monster like me but either my taste buds deceive me or the whole GS cookie recipes have changed. I just tasted mine for the 1st time & they taste totally different 2 me. I hope I’m the only one experiencing this because I don’t want to blow no ones “cookie high.”
win are the girl scout cookies due on.
I HATED selling cookies as a girl scout. I am just so not a door-to-door kind of girl, and in the late ’80′s and early ’90′s in Northern Illinois, I don’t think we were allowed to sell bulk outside stores like they do now. Plus, on principle, my parents refused to take the order form to work. (It was my job to sell ‘em.) That being said, I LOVED the Do-Si-Do’s (maybe because we HAD to learn square dancing in PE?). They are still my favorite peanut butter cookies to this day. Perfect balance of salt and sweet.
Being a girl scout was a blast (besides the selling cookies thing), so go out and buy some cookies and support these young ladies!
Go to: http://www.ILoveCookies.org starting this Friday to find when and where Girl Scouts throughout our area will be selling Girl Scouts Cookies. Sale starts Friday, March 5…for only 3 weeks!
We will be selling cookies at Oliver’s on Stony Point Road on Saturday, March 6th from 9am-1pm. We will also be selling cookies two Fridays on March 12th & March 19th from 3pm until dark. Please come and support our troop! Thank you
My daughter’s troop is selling cookies too. Not sure if I can reveal dates and locations.
I always buy the Thin Mints! My secret to surviving until the next time they are on sale – “Grasshopper” chocolate mint cookies by Keebler, available year round. To me, they taste the same, yummy!
Someone would probably sue them for selling an illegal substance. Mmmmmm. Bacon-chocolate-cookie….
I’m waiting for the Girl Scouts to bake a cookie that would be chocolate on the outside, chocolate mint on the inside with a slice of bacon in between. I’d die and gone to heaven over that one.
I’m with you Korinn. I still prefer Thin Mints but Trefoils remind me of my Nana’s shortbread cookies. Yumm!
Thanks for writing about the Girl Scout cookies. It’s such an important part of the Girl Scout experience (and fundraising). And this year some of the cookies have NO trans fats (not just trace amounts); I’m hoping that it’s all gone by next year.
My daughter’s troop has some extra boxes here at Relish (hint, hint.)
-Donna
Trefoils, but Thin Mints are a veery close second!