It's Girl Scout Cookie Time!

It's that time of year again! Girls dressed in their Brownie and Junior uniforms, standing out in the freezing cold in front of the local grocery stores with their smiling faces, "Would you like to buy some Girl Scout Cookies?" Your initial thought is "I really can't afford it." But knowing that they are the most delicious cookies on the face of the earth, you buy 6 boxes (or more) anyway.

I did my fair share of cookie selling.  I remember specifically standing in front of the local Food Lion with my best friend and fellow Girl Scout, Claire Bolton, in the cool rain chanting "Girl Scout Cookies $2 a box" as customers entered the building.  (Yes, they were a lot cheaper then!)  I was enrolled in Girl Scouts in 1988 in Brownie Troop 632.  I later was bridged to Junior Troop 1415, both of which were in Council 364 Pines of Carolina.

I was proud of my award!

In 1988, I was the top cookie seller in Person County.  My mom taped multiple Girl Scout Cookie order forms to the windows of her mini van for a "little" advertising.  We would get stopped everywhere we went.  She carried quite a few boxes in the back, and whenever we got stopped, all she had to do was open the hatch, and sell, sell, sell.  I also did my part at cookie booths, selling to friends, family members, fire departments, and schools.  My grandmother took an order form to work for me and sold quite a few.  I sold 500+ boxes that year, and won a free week to Girl Scout Camp, along with a sleeping bag.  That same year I was also featured on the front page of The Courier=Times.  In 1989, I sold 600+ boxes, and once again was the top seller in the county. 




I definitely did my fair share of eating them too! My mom would store them in the freezer so they would stay fresh all year.  I would eat a whole sleeve of Thin Mints right out of the freezer.  I have never to this day gotten tired of these delicious cookies, of course with some of my most vivid child hood memories attached.

From year to year, we all long for the chilling crunch of the Thin Mints, the soft peanut butter filling of the Peanut Butter Patties and peanut butter sandwiches, the soft caramel of the Caramel deLites, and the buttery goodness from the original short bread cookies.  Over the years, other cookie varieties have come and gone in response to consumer preferences.  It seems to me that the five favorites have always been the Thin Mints, Shortbread, Peanut Butter Patties, Peanut Butter Sandwiches, and the Caramel deLites.  Do you agree?

Have you ever wondered how these precious cookies came about?  Juliette Gordon Low, the founder of Girl Scouts USA, implemented cookie sales as a way for young girls to become self-reliant and to be able to fund their own activities.  Originally, in the 1920s and 30s, Girl Scouts in different parts of the country baked and sold their own cookies to raise money for their own activities.  The first documented council-wide sale of commercially baked cookies took place in Philadelphia in 1934.  In 1936, the first national Girl Scout Cookie sale was held.  Somehow, I feel like Juliet Low never thought these cookies would become quite so popular...

Today, there are two commercial bakers that are licensed by Girl Scouts of the USA to produce cookies, ABC Bakers and Little Brownie Bakers.  Each Girl Scout Council chooses which baker makes their cookies.  This is why sometimes, depending on your location, the same cookie may have a different name.  For example, ABC Bakers named their caramel cookie Caramel deLites, and Little Brownie Bakers named their caramel cookie Samoa.  Each of the bakers owns its cookie names, except the Thin Mint, which is in the common domain.

The first thing I do when I receive my cookies?? Eat some.  I can hardly wait to open the first box every year!  The first thing I always do is eat one--or many-- just as they are.  There are many, many recipes out there containing these cookies.  There are also many recipes out there to replicate these cookies at home.  To me there is no way to correctly replicate these delicacies.  "If" and only "if" I had a few extra boxes left in the freezer, I might put them into some homemade vanilla icecream...or make some kind of caramel coconut fudge...or make thin mint truffles...the options are endless.  But for now, I will enjoy them just as they are.

Once again, I must say that even something as simple as girl scout cookies brings home many memories of my childhood...a perfect example of how food affects how we live and love our lives. 

**Cookie Photos and facts are courtesy of: http://abcsmartcookies.com
**Other resources:  www.girlscouts.org