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Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies straight from the freezer… is there anything better than that? I’m kind of salivating a little bit just thinking about them. Mmm. Anyway, you’ve probably noticed that it’s that time of year again, and if I’ve got cookies on the brain, you guys are going to, too. You’re welcome!
1. The cookies started out being baked in the ovens of various troop members. The first Girl Scout cookie sale on record took place in Muskogee, Oklahoma, in a high school cafeteria in 1917. At the time, a basic sugar cookie recipe was used and the cookies were packaged in wax paper bags and sealed with a sticker.
2. In 1933, you could buy one package for $0.23 or six for $1.24.
3. The cookies first started being commercially baked in 1934 and the Girl Scouts of Greater Philadelphia were the first to go that route.
4. During WWII when there were shortages of sugar, butter and flour in the U.S., the Girl Scouts sold calendars instead.
5. In 1951, the consumer had only three Girl Scout Cookie options: Sandwich (like an Oreo, I suppose?), Shortbread and Chocolate Mint, which we know as the Thin Mint today. By ’56, they had added a vanilla sandwich cookie as well.
6. Thin Mints are the current best sellers, comprising 25 percent of sales. Samoas (ew, coconut) trail behind at 19 percent, Tagalongs come in at 13%, Do-si-dos at 11% and Trefoils at 9%. The other 23% is made up of all of the other varieties.
7. Elizabeth Brinton is known as the “Cookie Queen.” She sold more than 100,000 boxes of cookies over her Girl Scout career and more than 18,000 in one season alone. She was the first to abandon the door-to-door method and set up a booth in a high-traffic area (the D.C. metro stations). When asked the secret to her success, one of her responses was, “You’ve got to look them in the eye and make them feel guilty.”
8. Girl Scout cookies are kosher.
9. Only two bakers in America are licensed to make the cookies: ABC/Interbake Foods and Little Brownie Bakes.
10. You can make the early sugar cookie version yourself, if you want:
AN EARLY GIRL SCOUT COOKIE® RECIPE
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar plus additional amount for topping (optional)
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
Cream butter and the cup of sugar; add well-beaten eggs, then milk, vanilla, flour, salt, and baking powder. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Roll dough, cut into trefoil shapes, and sprinkle sugar on top, if desired. Bake in a quick oven (375°) for approximately 8 to 10 minutes or until the edges begin to brown. Makes six- to seven-dozen cookies.
What’s your favorite Girl Scout Cookie? I think I’ve made mine clear, but the Lemonades are pretty yummy too, and I certainly wouldn’t turn my nose up at a Trefoil.
Comments (57)
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Loooooove the vanilla sandwich cookies. What I don’t love is that you have to buy them in half and half packages split with the chocolate ones. Good thing I realised that Golden Oreos taste *exactly* like them, come in a bigger package and are available all-year-round… Mmmm
posted by ac on 3-10-2009 at 3:59 pm
Thin Mints must be the most overrated cookie of all time. Boring, boring, boring. Give me a Samoa or (especially) a Tagalong any day.
posted by Mother Chat on 3-10-2009 at 4:00 pm
Thin Mints are the best cookies ever created!! I’m with you, Stacy, I can’t stand coconut.
posted by Amy D on 3-10-2009 at 4:14 pm
Thin Mints straight from the freezer are my favorites, too, and I share the “ew, coconut” sentiment.
I bought $42 in cookies so far this year – 7 boxes of thin mints (because they freeze so well), 1 box of the peanut butter sandwich ones, 3 boxes of tagalongs, and a box of samoas (for my husband, ew.)
I have to buy so many because I hide them – my husband will eat a box or two a day if I leave them out.
I’m convinced we’re encouraged to join Girl Scouts when we’re young to addict us early. Worked for me!
posted by Leah on 3-10-2009 at 4:15 pm
Girls Scouts have way more cookies than our Girl Guides in Canada. We have the mixed box of vanilla and chocolate sandwich cookies or thin mint cookies, sold at different times of the year. I had top cookie sales in my troop in 1979 and got a patch for my sash that year. It was yellow and orange with the face of a bear on it, also orange.
posted by Sylvia on 3-10-2009 at 4:17 pm
I love the thin mints and the peanut butter pattys. When my sister was a girl scout, I had my mom buy like 10 boxes of just the peanut butter pattys. i as well can’t stand coconut, only the smell in lotions and shampoos.
posted by Silver on 3-10-2009 at 4:20 pm
What is up with all the hate for coconut people? :) One more vote for Samoa’s here!
posted by Pink Coat on 3-10-2009 at 4:20 pm
Samoas are one of a kind. You can get a Grasshopper by Keelber that tastes exactly like a Thin Mint. Tagalongs also have a Keebler counterpart.
posted by Brandon on 3-10-2009 at 4:21 pm
Thin Mints are overrated?!? Do you also consider apple pie boring, you communinist? ;)
IMHO, Thin Mints are the standard against which all packaged cookies are measured. They are my favorite not only because of their taste, but also their versatility. Want proof? S’mores are good, but encasing a perfectly roasted marshmallow between two Thin Mints elevates an classic American treat to a whole new level. And not only is it tastier, it makes the assembly process much easier when your only light source is a flickering campfire.
posted by John on 3-10-2009 at 4:25 pm
I agree with Pink Coat. Samoa’s are the best!!!!! I wanted to buy some the other day and my boyfriend had to drag me away =(
posted by Haily on 3-10-2009 at 4:26 pm
“In 1933, you could buy one package for $0.23 or six for $1.24.”
I need a time machine because they are $3.50 a box now!!
I like the Lemonades too, I love lemon. Most of the other ones I like they don’t carry anymore (I don’t remember the names)… I’m not really a Thin Mints fan. Samoa’s are great but sooo chewy and stick to the teeth so I limit it to one box a year.
I miss the shortbread ones they had topped with sugar…
posted by Sarah in CA on 3-10-2009 at 4:30 pm
I believe Gary Gullman said it best, “How good is a Samoa? So good that it will make people in a crowded comedy club clap and woo!”
Thin mints you can get any time in the form of a grasshopper. Samoas are a special treat that only comes once a year.
posted by Chris on 3-10-2009 at 4:31 pm
Been looking for a simple recipe thats ‘American’ to make with 4/5 year olds in Italy. I teach kindergardeners English. We’re baking Girl Scout Cookies TOMORROW! Thanks Stacy, yet again, for your infinite wisdom…
recaptcha: That Cake
posted by Kate on 3-10-2009 at 4:32 pm
I am not a coconut fan at all, and recently spotted Hershey’s Kisses with Coconut; I almost hurled right then and there. But teh Samoas are teh Goodness. Yumm!
posted by Johnny Cat on 3-10-2009 at 4:32 pm
I’m surprised they didn’t mention the different names in different regions…
I grew up in Texas and now live in Indiana, and the cookies are different!
(North) (South)
Samoas= Caramel Delights
Trefoils= Shortbreads
Tagalongs= Peanut Butter patties
I still miss the strawberries and cream of the early 90s when I was a girl scout..YUM!
posted by Kristin on 3-10-2009 at 4:33 pm
i think the name change is less region and more the bakery. the names are split up here, but i had to sell caramel delites and peanut butter sandwiches for my troop in boston.
and i scoffed at coconut, too, until samoas made me a convert. now i love it. mmm… cookies
posted by maire on 3-10-2009 at 4:56 pm
Kristin, I’m glad you mentioned the different names, I find that they are called different things just between NC, SC, and GA. I was in the Caramel Deligh, Shortbread, Peanut Butter Patty part of the country.
And, another vote for Samoas/Caramel Delights, but weirdly, I hate coconut and LOVE these cookies!
posted by Katie on 3-10-2009 at 4:56 pm
Kristin- I agree. I’ve only ever known Samosas as Caramel Delights. When I asked my boyfriend to buy me a box this year, he looked at me like I had three heads. I’ve been living in the same place my whole Girl Scout cookie buying life. What’s the deal with the name change?
posted by Sarah on 3-10-2009 at 5:01 pm
The differences in cookie names are regional, but not by north/south– it depends on which baking company your local Girl Scout council uses!
I grew up selling Little Brownie Bakers cookies (in Louisiana) and so those are the ones I think of as ‘real.’
posted by Adri on 3-10-2009 at 5:02 pm
I would like to point out that these are obviously not kosher for passover…as I found out when I had to find homes for 10 boxes of frozen thin mints last year until they could come back into the apartment.
I miss the Dairy Queen Thin Mint Blizzard Treat. I re-created it for the boyfriend’s birthday last year by making him an ice-cream cake with whipped chocolate gelato, crushed thin-mints, and frozen vanilla coolwhip.
posted by Mandragora on 3-10-2009 at 5:12 pm
I believe that Thin Mints are laced with smack, to make them really addictive.
posted by Dave on 3-10-2009 at 5:19 pm
the only girl scout cookies i’ve ever been able to buy are the chocolate and vanilla sandwiches…. sometimes in a box with both?
posted by Amanda on 3-10-2009 at 5:36 pm
Another name difference seems to be between Shortbreads and Trefoils. For two years in high school, my roommate and I (boarding school, hence having time to argue about Girl Scout cookies) had an ongoing argument about whether the cookies were called Trefoils or shortbreads. This was before the days of internet ubiquity, so I couldn’t search the subject and find the following:
“Trefoils or Shortbread: These shortbread cookies are shaped like the Girl Scout Trefoil design. Little Brownie Bakers calls them Trefoils, ABC Bakers call them Shortbread.”
(from girlscoutcookies.com)
posted by Lindsey on 3-10-2009 at 5:41 pm
Last year they came out with All Abouts which were shortbread covered in fudge, and a lot better than the fudge striped cookies from Keebler. But they didn’t sell any of it this year. So I had to go with the Samoas. (The cookies are a lot smaller too!)
Captcha was $57 reopened
posted by Reddkatz on 3-10-2009 at 6:39 pm
PEANUT BUTTER PATTIES & DO-SI-DO’s tie for first place in my book, but obviously that’s because I love my peanut butter…
I also love the shortbread, but wish they still had granulated sugar layered on top, and thin mints ONLY if kept in the freezer…for some reason they are ten times better cold…TRY IT!
Now I’m off to stalk my nearest Girl Scout…thanks for reminding me the season is upon us!
posted by D on 3-10-2009 at 6:54 pm
I agree that coconut is ew, but Samoas are sooo good.That has been my favorite cookie since they re-did the Tagalong and completely ruined it. And I’m sad that they’ve done away with the Trefoil this year. A trefoil or two with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top is the best.
posted by Katie on 3-10-2009 at 6:55 pm
Also a coconut hater! I used to love these lemon ones when I was younger… the new sugar-free chocolate chip ones are nasty. OH and the all-abouts were so good!
I went to the wikipedia page to see if they showed pictures of all of them… and they messed up quoting the % sold of each type putting Samoas first then thin mints. Can someone with a Wikipedia log in or something notify them? Haha that kind of stuff irks me!
posted by Kelly J on 3-10-2009 at 7:23 pm
Am I the only one whose mother is totally friggin’ addicted to Thin Mints?
No kidding – the woman would buy the things on the sly, and hide them in the freezer.
I remember my parents’ room smelling of cardboard and cookies (my mom was a den mother – probably just to support her TM habit) because that was the only space in the house we could store boxes of cookies. Damned convenient for my parents…
I’m a coconut hater/Samoas lover, too. Go figure. It’s probably the caramel that makes it more palatable to me. That makes sense, ’cause I hate Almond Joy and Mounds (no caramel).
posted by Lyl on 3-10-2009 at 7:46 pm
Samoas! I hate all things mint, so Thin Mints are gross.
posted by Tina on 3-10-2009 at 7:57 pm
I currently have CASES of cookies in my kitchen waiting to be delivered. Love the Lemonaides. My daughter sold as many of them as she did Thin Mints this year. I truly miss the Strawberry Cremes that they had in the early 90’s. They are my husband an my all time favorite.
THe thing that stinks about cookie sales is the amount the troops actually get has been steadily decreasing over the years. In the past three years that my daughter has been selling cookies our troop share has gone from 0.40/box to about 0.25/box. Our council does give out “cookie dough” to each girl depending on how much they sell. They can double it if they use it to pay for a camp.
posted by bzzyb on 3-10-2009 at 8:00 pm
RE: Reddkatz
I got a box of All Abouts this year… don’t know why you couldn’t (and it’s only the bottom that has fudge, not the whole cookie).
I also miss the lemon sandwich cookies they used to have.
posted by Sarah in CA on 3-10-2009 at 8:08 pm
RE: bzzyb
My son is a Cub Scout and they get 25% of their sales from the spring fundraiser (fire safety equipment) to use toward summer day and resident camps but I can’t see people buying fire safety stuff.
Originally, it was supposed to be candy bars but they changed it.
posted by Sarah in CA on 3-10-2009 at 8:11 pm
I gave up sweets for lent so girl scout cookie season has been miserable.
But I’ve decided to give in and buy a bunch of thin mints and freeze them til Easter! I’m so excited!
posted by Lore on 3-10-2009 at 8:26 pm
How can one “hate” coconut? I didn’t think it was possible… Samoas are my Jesus!! I alwasy get two boxes so I can inhale one immediately, and then savor the other. I have my last box of those and a box of Tagalongs stashed in my room, away from the rest of the fam. And yes, Thin Mints are fantastic when frozen. But only then.
I also tried peanut butter oreo type things this season, and I must say, not a fan. I was disappointed!!
posted by Cassie on 3-10-2009 at 9:40 pm
Most Boy Scouts sell Trails End Popcorn and earn 35-40% for the unit and 30% back to the local council (to help pay for things like camp properties, insurances, etc.).
Some councils are also running a spring popcorn promotion with all on line sales that if a Scout sells $500 they open a college fund and put 6% of all FUTURE SALES into the college fund.
And the microwave popcorn is THE BEST!
posted by Karen on 3-10-2009 at 9:48 pm
The name changes are new this year due to changes bakers. The previous bakers wouldn’t let the scouts keep the names”samoa,do-si-do,trefoil,or tagalong”
They are all now literally descriptions of the cookies instead of the names we all know and love.
Also, new this year due to economic times: each box has 2-3 less cookies than last year.
I like every cookie out there, but the tagalongs and do-si-do’s are the ones i tend to go for first.
posted by holly on 3-10-2009 at 10:15 pm
Oh my god, I forgot about Trail’s End popcorn… that’s amazing too!!
posted by Cassie on 3-10-2009 at 10:50 pm
Oh man, got busted by security one year for eating a few of a co-workers Thin Mints…the box which sat unopened in the breakroom for over a month staring at me. Co-worker was irate and had all the consumers written up for theft. Such is Thin Mont Passion, don’t even really like the damn things either. Blech for mint, yah for any pnut butter.
posted by dirtdog on 3-10-2009 at 11:43 pm
I have to admit, I was pretty shocked this year when I saw the cookie paper. First off, my favoritest cookies were gone (animal treasures) and they had used a new baker ensuring that all the names for the cookies that I grew up selling were gone and now we had things like SAMONAS… And DO SI DOES….. I kept referring to them as Carmel Delites and Peanut butter sandwiches and the women selling them for her daughter was confused. Also, orginally we were told the boxes were different but they didn’t take any out. Not true. P.S. I do really like the new lemon ginger cremey ones, but not the stupid sugar free chocolate chip.
posted by PoGo on 3-11-2009 at 12:19 am
@ Kristin –
I was going to say the same thing. I asked about it and it has to do with which manufacturer they get the cookies from. That determines which name they’ll have on the box. I’m a HUGE fan of Samoas, excuse me, Caramel Delights as they call them here in Texas (I grew up in California)… My husband loves the peanut butter sandwich cookies. What are they called again? I have a box in the pantry, but I’ll check the name later.
When I was younger I lived in the middle east, and we couldn’t get the cookies over there, b/c of the heat — it would’ve melted them and spoiled them faster. So we too sold calendars, just like our WWII Girl Scout forebears. It was fun, I still have some of them.
My mom was always a big fan of the frozen thin mints. She used to fill our freezer with them. I guess I outgrew it — I LOVE coconut! Caramel, too, actually…
It’s a shame the cookies cost so much now — I paid $3.50 a box out in front of the grocery two weeks ago. Makes it harder to stockpile them for the year. Maybe they should take to twice yearly sales…?
posted by Stacy on 3-11-2009 at 1:55 am
I don’t think I’ve had G.S. cookies since I WAS a Scout, nearly 20(!) years ago.I’m not a mint person, so I was never crazy about Thin Mints. I liked Samoas and Tagalongs. And I am a bad former Scout; I had to look up the cookies to see which was which. :o
posted by NYCGirl on 3-11-2009 at 4:19 am
I was so disappointed a few years ago when they switched from lemon sandwich cookies to the lemonades! The new cookies just do not compare to the sandwiches. I suppose it helped me to curb my addiction though, which is good because now I’m in England and I can’t get any at all. Which, btw, makes this post really, really mean.
posted by missjoules on 3-11-2009 at 5:53 am
Holy crap! I grew up in Muskogee (AND was a girl scout) and didn’t know that first fact! Or maybe I just forgot it…my girl scout days were long long ago.
GS cookies – esp Samoas! – are one of the things I miss the most living across the world. *sigh*
posted by Dawn on 3-11-2009 at 6:00 am
Thin Mints are good, however they are not at the top of my cookie buying listed – that honour goes to the purple boxed cookie goodness called Samoas!
posted by Noxi on 3-11-2009 at 7:32 am
The best ones are the peanut butter sandwich cookies. Can’t remember what they’re called.
For those out there who would like to make their own “thin mints” this recipe is for you:
Melt chocolate mint chips in the top of a double boiler. Dip & Flip Ritz crackers in the melted chocolate. Let air dry on waxed paper. Voila! Thin mints.
posted by Karen on 3-11-2009 at 9:01 am
I’m a Girl Scout leader (10 years+). Last year we had ABC bakers and sold Caramel DeLites, Shortbread, PB Patties, Lemonades, Thin Mints, etc. This year we’ve gone back to Little Brownie Bakers and we’re selling Samoas, Trefoils, DoSiDos, Tagalongs, Thin Mints, etc. The names vary with the baker.
Each year we sell 8 varieties of cookies. One of them must be a sugar free option – this year it’s chocolate chips.
Also, the Samoas have a dark chocolate striping and the Caramel DeLites have a milk chocolate striping.
Personally, I’m not a Samoas fan but I ALWAYS! sell cases and cases of the sweet.
Keep buying GS Cookies!
“Girl Scouting builds girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place.”
posted by KJ on 3-11-2009 at 9:04 am
For those of you who have no girl scouts living in their neighborhood, or don’t know any personally…like myself. I made a startling discovery this morning. By Googling the Girl Scout website, I was able to type in my zip code and get a calander of every cookie booth sale within 25 miles of my house for the entire month of March. I know what I am doing after work tonight…THANK YOU GIRL SCOUTS OF CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA!!!!!
I am pregnant and have had a TERRIBLE craving for Samoas…it is have been keeping me up at night. I wonder if eating a box for dinner would be a bad thing???
posted by J-me on 3-11-2009 at 9:59 am
I’m a Trefoils fan myself…love dunking them in a nice tall cold glass of milk! The Samoas are a close second though…
posted by Amanda on 3-11-2009 at 11:08 am
Yes, the lemon sandwich cookies WERE to die for…I like the Lemonades okay, though. Whoever mentioned lemon-ginger-cream cookies—shame on you! I live in Kansas, and we don’t have those here!
posted by loripop on 3-11-2009 at 11:56 am
For the record, Grasshoppers and Thin Mints are NOT the same. Similar, yes, but grasshoppers are not nearly as good, either straight or frozen.
They keep changing the recipe so I don’t know what it’s like now, but Dreyer’s Thin Mint ice cream used to be my favorite ever – it was chocolate ice cream with a bit of mint and thin mints in it.
posted by Leah on 3-11-2009 at 12:04 pm
Savannah, Georgia is the home of the founder of the Girl Scouts, Juliette Gordon-Low. When I lived there, you could visit the gift shop at her home (that is now a museum) and get Girl Scout cookies year round.
posted by Anthony on 3-11-2009 at 12:38 pm
Its all about the Tagalongs. Being a former girlscout the look straight in the eyes technique is a sure fire seller. Now my baby sister has me pushing girl scouts to people.
O.K. my recaptcha just asked me to type the Francs sign…. Whats that about?
posted by Chrystani on 3-11-2009 at 12:53 pm
Love the Thin Mints, but I also like the Samoas (yum, coconut). Wish we could get the recipe for thin mints!
posted by boliyou on 3-11-2009 at 3:39 pm
I love the thin mints but I found an easy way to make them so it costs me almost nothing but my time…and I can have then anytime I want… Sorry Girl Scouts!! I also make the tagalongs..
posted by Donna on 3-12-2009 at 11:14 am
Okay, eating cookies is one thing, but I **despised** selling them. Going from door to door in the cold (rural New England), wearing that horrible smock with those green tights. And the troop leader’s daughter always made the highest sales. What a coincidence. Yeah, my GS experience was not the most pleasant. (I am sure many to most had a different take on GS, this was just mine.)
posted by Zelda on 3-12-2009 at 8:24 pm
Psh. Cookies are now $4 a box. And there are hardly any cookies in the box.
Those lemon cookies, which are supposedly diabetic or whatnot, are the nastiest cookie I’ve ever tasted. Do not waste your money on them.
LOLOL my mom is from the Philippines so she always calls the Tagalongs the Tagalogs (that’s a language over there).
posted by . on 5-1-2009 at 12:55 am
The lemon cookies, which are also supposedly diabetic, are just nasty.
GIRL SCOUT COOKIES ARE THE NATION’S SECRET LEADING CAUSE OF BRAINWASHING
you are fooled into believing they are tasty because they cost $4 a box.
posted by Neko on 5-1-2009 at 1:02 am