The other day, I realized we hadn't gotten any girl scouts knocking on our door this year. I have very fond memories of Girl Scouts and I still think they're a great organization. They're much more inclusive than their male counterpart organization and I love how they teach young girls to stand on their own two feet. My mom was a Girl Scout leader and I had the greatest time selling cookies each year. I sold the shit out of those cookies. I could sell dead people Girl Scout cookie I was so good. My poor parents were forced to drive miles because I insisted on venturing into distant neighborhoods to peddle my product. Boxes upon boxes of cookies would have to be delivered and I thought it was awesome. My poor parents.
One thing I don't like about Girl Scout cookies is that they still contain trans fats in them, even though according to the package, they don't "measurable" trans fats. However, if you look at the list of ingredients, partially hydrogenated fats are listed which means they've used the trick of making the serving sizes small enough that the trans fats are just under 0.5 grams - that way they can market them as having 0 grams of trans fats per serving, even when they contain trans fats. And seriously, when was the last time you ate two cookies?!! For an organization that promotes good health, it's really time the Girl Scouts required their bakeries to leave out ALL trans fats.
So this year, I'm going to make a donation to the Girl Scouts - that way my local troop will get to keep 100% of that money, rather than the 16% of cookies sales. It will be tax deductible as well. And because I don't want to deny myself the quintessential summer treat of Thin Mints straight from the freezer, I'm going to try some of the recipes below. These all are healthier, cheaper and probably tastier than traditional Girl Scout cookies.
Thin Mints(From what I've read, the secret to these is to use peppermint oil, not peppermint extract):
Homemade and All Natural Thin Mints at 101 Cookbooks - I have two of Heidi's cookbooks and the recipes are amazing. These would be my bet to make first.
Chocolate Mint Cookies at Epicurious
Homemade Thin Mint at Baking Bites
Somoas:
Samoas at Baking Bites
Samoas Bar at Baking Bites
Homemade Samoas at Chicken in the Road
Tagalongs:
Tagalongs at Baking Bites
Homemade Tagalongs at The Recipe Box
Do-Si-Dos:
Do-Si-Dos by Baking Bites