Archive for: girl scout cookies
Girl Scout cookies are a treat that usually only comes into season once a year, when Girl Scouts hit the streets (or markets or churches) for their annual cookie sales. The popular Girl Scout cookie flavors can also be found in a few other forms, including Dreyer’s/Edy’s limited edition ice cream flavors and now in candy bars. The Girl Scouts have recently paired up with Nestle to launch three Girl Scout cookie-inspired candy bars. The candy bars are crossovers with Thin Mints, Caramel & Coconut (Samoas) and Peanut Butter Creme (Tagalongs), sandwiching the cookie filling with layers of thin, crispy wafers and enrobing them in chocolate. I think that they picked good flavors for the candy bar crossovers, not only because these are the most popular flavors, but because they are the most distinctive. You’re much more likely to associate the flavors in the bars with the cookies. And since I don’t think that there are enough coconut and caramel candy bars on the market, I’m definitely up for tasting the Samoas bar when I see one.
If you happen to be a fan of Nestle Crunch on Facebook (you’ve already “liked” Baking Bites on Facebook, right?) , you can actually order these candy bars their their special presale. Otherwise, you’ll have to wait until later this summer to get your hands on them. They’re set to roll out to stores nationwide starting in June. And, if candy bars aren’t your thing, you can always get your Girl Scout cookie fix by baking up a batch of my homemade Girl Scout Cookie recipes in your favorite flavor.
Girl Scout cookies aren’t usually difficult to find, if you’re looking to buy a couple of boxes from your local troop in addition to making them yourself at home. I used to find girls from local troops outside of grocery stores and malls, and while I do see them out there “boothing” cookies from time to time, I have to admit that they are a little more difficult to track down than they once seemed to be.
Fortunately, there’s an app for that.
The Girl Scout Cookie Locator App is a free app that helps you find Girl Scout cookie sales in your neighborhood or close to wherever you are when the craving strikes. The app can either use your phone’s GPS locator to find you, or you can punch in a zip code, city or state to get specific results. It will tell you of upcoming sale dates, times and locations, and the app will allow you to pin them to your calendar so that you won’t forget to stop by. The app also gives you information on the different types of cookies for sale, including their nutritional stats and even some recipe ideas for making fun, simple desserts with the cookies!
The app is relatively new and I suspect that not all troops are on board with it yet, so not every sale date and time may be listed and some areas are definitely more up-to-date than others, but the app is still a good one and well worth using for a Girl Scout cookie fan. Keep driving by the local market and keeping your eyes peeled for other sellers, of course, and don’t forget that you can always fall back on homemade Girl Scout Cookies if all else fails!
Girl Scout cookies are treats that many of us look forward to every year because not only are the cookies tasty, but you’re supporting local troops and encouraging the entrepreneurial spirit of young girls (even when you can bake your own Girl Scout cookies at home, year-round). It turns out that Girl Scout cookies can become a survival tool if you find yourself caught in a snowstorm, too. A Northern California couple was out for a scenic drive a few days ago when their car became caught in a snowdrift. They couldn’t reach help and had told no-one where they were going. They managed to survive for three days on some Girl Scout Cookies (and a few peanuts) that they had in their car, melting snow for drinking water. The cookies helped to fuel their spirits and stave off hunger until they were able to try and hike for help after a few days.
You probably don’t think of cookies in general as suvival food, but they pack in fat and carbs that can help keep you going when you’re facing tough conditions. They’re not going to provide the complete nutrition of one of those meal replacement protein bars, but they also taste a lot better.
It doesn’t say which variety of Girl Scout they had with them, but I’d guess that Thin Mints or Samoas are likeky, as they are the most popular types of cookies that the Girl Scouts sell. Any flavor of cookie – even if it was your least favorite Girl Scout Cookie flavor – would do in a situation like that, of course. Maybe I should start keeping a stash of Homemade Girl Scout Cookies in my car, just to be on the safe side!
The Girl Scouts of America are celebrating their 100th anniversary this year and, to mark the occasion, have introduced a brand new cookieto the Girl Scout cookie lineup: Savannah Smiles. Savannah Smiles are sugar-dusted, lemon flavored cookies that are described as being “cool and crisp, with just the right number of lemon chips to deliver tiny bursts of flavor.” They look and sound very similar to a Lemon Coolers, a cookie that the Girl Scouts featured a few years back but have since discontinued, which were very popular because they were zesty and quite different from the rest of the cookie lineup.
It is worth noting that the Savannah Smiles do not contain any partially hydrogenated oils, as per their ingredient list, and that many of the other Girl Scout cookies have also eliminated partially hydrogenated oils. Thin Mints and Samoas still include them, however.
Most girl scouts will start taking preorders for cookies within the next couple of weeks, and you’ll probably start seeing girls “boothing” outside local markets starting next month. The rest of the cookie lineup includes Thin Mints, Samoas, Tagalongs, Do-Si-Dos, Trefoils, Dulce de Leche and Thank You Berry Munch.
If you can’t wait the few weeks that it’ll take to get your Girl Scout cookies this year, start out the season by baking a few batches of Homemade Girl Scout Cookies. You can’t go wrong with all natural Homemade Thin Mints or Homemade Samoas, and Homemade Lemon Coolers will deliver a burst of citrus.
Several months ago, two Girl Scouts started a campaign to encourage the Girl Scout organization to remove palm oil from their cookies. Rhiannon Tomtishen and Madison Vorva were working on a project to raise awareness of endangered orangutans and discovered that part of the reason that their habitat was being destroyed was to make way for palm oil plantations. Palm oil is a popular fat for processed food products because it worked as a substitute for some of the partially hydrogenated oils that companies, including the bakeries that supply the Girl Scouts, used in their products.
The girls campaigned to get the Girl Scouts to either remove palm oil from their cookies or switch to sustainably farmed oil. Initially, Girl Scouts spokespeople say that there was no viable alternative to using this mass produced palm oil in their cookies because they need them to be “sturdy” and have a long shelf life. After the girls spent months on the campaign, raising awareness with other troops and through the media, the Girl Scouts have finally announced that they are making a change. In a statement released Wednesday (9/28), the Girl Scouts said that they have directed their bakers to use as little palm oil as possible, and that they want their bakers to move to a segregated, certified sustainable palm oil source by 2015. In the meantime, the Girl Scouts will buy GreenPalm certificates, which offer a premium price to producers of sustainably farmed oil, to support the sustainable production of palm oil.
The girls both say that they will continue their campaign to promote the use of sustainably farmed palm oil elsewhere in the food industry, but having the Girl Scouts change their policies is a milestone victory. It also means that Girl Scout cookies in the future will be just a little bit better for us and for the planet than they are now. Of course, so are palm-oil free, all natural homemade Girl Scout cookies if you’re looking to have an excuse to make some cookies between now and next cookie season.
