Girl Scout cookies have been a tradition of the Girl Scouts almost since the organization was founded, in 1912. The first Girl Scout cookies were simply cookies made and sold by Girl Scouts to benefit their local troops. One of the earliest reports details a troop selling cookies in their school cafeteria. As more troops began to make and sell cookies, the sales moved door-to-door in local neighborhoods. The cookies, which were fairly plain sugar cookies in the beginning, were sold for 25-35 cents per dozen. In 1936, the Girl Scout Council licensed the first commercial baker to mass produce cookies for all Girl Scouts to sell, and it was at that point that the real tradition of Girl Scout Cookie sales began. The same types of cookies were offered again and again, giving consumers something to look forward to.
While several types of cookies are the same every year, new cookies come and go on an annual basis. The current lineup includes: Trefoils (Shortbread Cookies), Thin Mints, Do-si-dos (Peanut Butter Sandwiches), Tagalongs (Peanut Butter Patties), Samoas (Caramel deLites), All Abouts (a.k.a. Animal Treasures, Thanks-A-Lots; Shortbread cookies dipped in chocolate), Lemon Chalet Cremes (sandwich cookies with lemon creme filling), Daisy Go Rounds (Low Fat and cinnamon flavored), Sugar Free Chocolate Chips, Dulce De Leche (Latin caramel cookies) and Lemonades (shortbread cookie with lemon icing).
While Thin Mints, Samoas, Trefoils, Tagalongs and Do-si-dos are staples (and the most popular flavors), there have been lots of tasty cookies that have come and gone over the years.
There is no comprehensive list of all the now-retired Girl Scout cookies, so I’d like to hear about what cookies you remember from sales past. Here are a few names I’ve been able to come up with, dating from the 1970s to the 1990s – Lemon Coolers, Ice Berry Piñatas, Golden Nut Clusters, Trail Mix, Cabana Cremes, Country Hearth Chocolate Chip, Echo, Chocolate Chunk, Pecan Shortees, Medallions, Van’chos, Forget-Me-Nots and Granola cookies – and I’ve heard reference to things like Golden Yangles from even earlier sales!
Post any that you remember – names or descriptions – in the comments. I don’t want to miss out on any good cookies just because they aren’t being included in this year’s cookie sale.
Gina
January 27, 2011I was in the Scouts all through the 80’s as well! I definitely remember Savannahs, Scot Teas, Golden Yangles, Kookaburras, Chocolate & Vanilla Creams…all of them were SO good. I also remember that the Thin Mints we sold had a light colored middle, not a chocolate one. These days I like the Tagalongs and the Mints are ok, but the others just aren’t as good as the ones we used to sell.
Those were great times. I miss my Scouting days.
Lauren
January 27, 2011If I remember right the Peanut Butter Cookies have also been called Do-Si-Dos and Savannahs. Does anybody remember the latter and what years they were available?
Katie
January 28, 2011The strawberry filled cookie that a few people mentioned I believe was called Iced Berry Piñatas. If you google it a cookie comes up with what I believe is the cookie you guys are talking about. It was the best!
Jim
January 28, 2011I was just a seasonal Girl Scout cookie abuser most of my life. Meaning that they came out, I would buy my obligatory boxes from the Girl Scouts at church, school, in front of the local Stuff Mart………….mostly guilt / pity buys on my part or I was extremely hungry. With no particular favorite, I’d wolf them down and that was the end of my relationship with them until the next year.
However in the mid 1980’s I became addicted to a cookie I remember as being called Chocolage (not sure of the exact spelling, may have had a hyphen between the Choco- lage). I remember I was running heavy equipment at the time and I kept the backhoe stocked with boxes of them. Unfortunately they were only available for maybe two or three years before they were retired. After going through a painful withdrawl process and unfairly going off on the local GS personnel, I’ve tried over the years to locate a substitute to no avail.
Haven’t seen any reference to them in any of the lists of retired GS cookies. Anyone remember the Chocolage GS cookie? HELP !!!
Michele
January 28, 2011When I was a Girl Scout in the early to mid 80’s I remember selling a cookie called the Kookaburra Cookie Bar. It was my favorite but I can’t remember anything about it (besides the name which I have never forgotten.) I lived in Riverside County, CA so maybe it was a regional cookie because I can’t find anything about it on Little Brownie Bakers or the internet in general. Anyone else remember this cookie?
Keisha
February 1, 2011I remember when we used to get Girl Scout cookies in the late 70’s and the short bread cookies were thin with sugar sprinkled on the top but I cant remember what the name was but I wish they would bring them back….
Meg
February 4, 2011I was a Girl Scout (Brownie) from ’77-80. My favorite cookie was a shortbread (I think) cookie covered with a dollop of the most delicious thick chocolate cream and then the whole cookie was dipped in chocolate. I have never met another cookie that quite compared to those. I wish I could remember the name of it. I do wonder if I went back in time and tried one if it would taste as good. I think it would. I was not a big chocolate fan back then and I loved those cookies. Being one of five kids I didn’t get to eat many…
renae
February 7, 2011if I remember correctly the little sugar cookies with the big sugar crystals on top were called scotties – i know i’m not spelling it correctly, but I could eat those by the package. i wish i could find a recipe for it
Virginia
February 17, 2011I loved the kookaburras, I also remember selling a cookie called hoe downs in the 80’s I think it was similar to today’s tagalongs.
Carolyn
February 23, 2011I was a girl scout in the 50’s when there were only a few cookies. Along with their signature trefoil cookie, they had a package with one sleeve of chocolate sandwich cookie and one of vanilla. But my favorite was the vanilla sandwich cookie with chocoate filing. I wish they still made that one.
Karen
February 28, 2011I was a Girl Scout in the early 70’s. I remember that everyone’s favorite cookie was the Thin Mint. Back then, the middle cookie part was light colored, not chocolate as it is now.
There was also a peanut butter sandwich cookie called Savannahs.
My favorite was the little sugar sprinkled shortbread cookie calle Scott Teas.
Those were the three best sellers at the time. I can’t remember any other varieties.
Back then, we took our orders door to door and delivered them the same way.
Dora
March 2, 2011Does anyone remember the caramel de-lites being square? There is a “discussion” about it going on at our house. Thanks!
Kate
March 6, 2011Juliettes, anyone? I sold them in the mid-90’s, and they were my faaavorite. It was a turtle on the shortbread base, enrobed with the tasty choco-coating.
🙁 Why are they gone?
Tish
March 7, 2011@Dora, I remember the SQUARE samoas!!!! They were square when I sold them in Germany from ’85-’88 and when my dad’s assignment there was over & we moved to North Carolina in ’89, they were round. I always thought it was a “whoever supplied cookies for Germany” thing. Glad someone else can confirm this. I have no idea though where our cookies actually came from (save that the pickup point was Weisbaden) but I think it had to be somewhere stateside, as the boxes were in English, and there was no German GS equivalent (we racked up some MAJOR cookie sales selling to our German friends & neighbors!)
Deanna
March 9, 2011Maybe they were Juliettes, but I don’t think so because I recall that they had a maple-like flavor to them and actually had the word “Maple” in the name…anyhow it was 1991 and I was pregnant. On a whim I purchased a box of GS cookies (why not, I had a license to eat!!) that I hadn’t seen before….a soft, very thin cookie with, I think, a thin layer of maple-flavored caramel then encased in chocolate…….omg, the most delicious cookie I have EVER eaten in my life…..I’ve looked for them every year since, as well as an equivalent in the grocery store – but never have been able to find them! Can anybody remember them? I, too, loved the Kookaburras from the 1980’s…….yummy memories!!!!
Rebecca
March 12, 2011Deanna,
I know EXACTLY what you are talking about, but I do not know the name of the cookie. I too have looked ALL OVER for them… they had a butterscotchy-maple flavor to them and they were soft? I remember being really young and eating the WHOLE box! I wish I knew the name or could find a similar recipe…
Mark
March 14, 2011a relative of mine who lives in the south just named her newborn “Savannah”‘, because she loved the cookie so much. I don’t remember,but I think my favorite were called “Rileys”? Does anyone remember those?
Soph
March 14, 2011@Tish You mentioned selling Girl Scout Cookies in Germany? Where on earth can I get some! I have never seen them here! I’m in Munich by the way.
Meghan
March 22, 2011I remember selling cookies in the early to mid-90’s. My favorite was the Juliettes. I think there was a teal colored box and there was a vanilla or shortbread cookie base with caramel and nuts all dipped in chololate.
Wendy
March 23, 2011I was a scout in the early to mid-70s. My favorite cookie (like Keisha) was Scot Teas. These were shortbread cookies with sugar sprinkled on top; on how I wish they’d bring those back!
There were also Duplex, which were a chocolate cookie and a vanilla cookie with vanilla creme in the middle, Savannahs were the peanut butter cookies, Lemon Cremes were lemon cookies with lemon creme in the middle.
Andral
May 8, 2011I loved the Golden Yangles. They are the equivalent to Cheese Nips but were shaped liked little triangles. The peanut butter chocolate cookies of today were called Hoe Downs in the 80’s. There was a cookie was a sandwhich with vanilla filling but had a slight coconut flavor to it. Can anyone remember its name? I recently bought a box of Danish Wedding cookies from Keebler and OMG, it is the exact same flavor as those Girl Scout cookies.
KB @ Home-Baked Happiness
June 2, 2011I remember one year, when I was a Brownie (this would’ve been the late ’80s), they tried out a different baker, and we had chocolate-chip cookies and a Cheez-Its knockoff that year.
terry
June 5, 2011does any one remember a sandwich cookie with cream inside and strawberry filling …
Jessica
June 19, 2011I’m a lot younger than all of you so I have no idea about these cookies that you’re mentioning. I can’t remember the name of it but when I was little I remember loving these shortbread cookies with an animal printed on top and the bottom dipped in chocolate. I’ve been craving for one ever since they stopped selling them!
Barbara
July 2, 2011I was Girl Scout back in the early to mid 60’s and really like the cookies back then better what is out now. I rarely buy them anymore. My favorite box had 4 different sandwich cookies and was called “Four Flavors”. I only remember there was one with lemon filling and a chocolate cookie with white filling, can’t remember the other 2. Anyone remember those?
Mannie
September 26, 2011I remember the fudge cookies too, I miss them. Those and the mints were my big sellers in the 70’s. They remind me of the tagalongs but with fudge instead of peanut butter. Yummy! Which I could remember the name.
Rhonda
December 4, 2011The square version that you all are referring to of the Carmel/Coconut/Choc cookie was the Jubilee. I thought they were nasty, but I remember the Classic Cremes (a white sandwich cookie and a choc one) miss those… Golden Oreos come close not a winner. I was a girl Junior Scout in 1988-1989.
And those cheese crackers were Yangles and they tasted like the goldfish, yummy.
Krysitna
January 10, 2012@ Kate and Meghan, I’m so glad I’m not crazy. I was a girl scout in the early 90s and I remember the Juliettes! No one I talk to seems to remember, and I can’t find anything about them online, making me feel like a lunatic. lol. But I’m not! 😀
Jenny
January 11, 2012Did anyone remember the ones called GOlden nut clusters from the 90’s? People hated them, but secretly I LOOOOVED them. My mom was cookie mom and we had so many unsold boxes in the house I used to sneak them, and lie about it. I swear I did not want anyone to know how much I loved the cookie that everyone else harbored a hatred of!
marylin ottney
January 18, 2012Does anyone remember a thin cinnamon coffee cookie. My daughter said they were called cafe ??? I think they were the best and would order if they were available. Please tell me if they are offered under a different name somewhere else. Thanks !!
tammy
January 20, 2012i remember the scotties, those were the best, does anyone remember what baker made those? i want some. why did they quit making those? no other cookie comes close. i could eat a whole box at a time, they were so good!!!
simian
January 24, 2012Tammy,
Found a site that has the recipe. Those cookies were the best. Don’t understand why they stopped making them.
http://www.d21c.com/sugarcrisp/recipes/scoutcookies.html
good luck in recreating them!
Pam
January 29, 2012Yes I remember the maple flavored girl scout cookies. That was the absolutely the best cookie I have ever had! I have been in search for them for years but I guess they no longer make them. I really wish the girl scouts would have a year where they bring back the old favorites. I would buy a truck load.
Sara
January 30, 2012In the early 70’s I sold cookies as I was my duty as a girl scout. I sold thin mints but my favorite cookie was called fudge royal. The cookie was of course was chocolate on the outside cookies and filled with a rich chocolate filling! They must have been good as my mom keep eating all the cookies I needed to deliver. For the record these cookies sold for .50 per box
Esther
February 7, 2012I remember a long time ago, i bought some cookies called strawberries n cream. Was I dreaming? They were the BEST cookie I had ever had. What happened? Does anyone know?
Yolanda
February 10, 2012I was a girlscout in 1984, 1985, 1986 in NJ and one of the years we sold the very 1st version of the Juliette cookie. It was two rolls of small cookies like the Thin Mints but 1 roll had a lemon coating on the back with lemon pieces in the cookie and one had like a pecan/maple coating on the back with finely chopped pecans in that one. THEY WERE SOOOOOO GOOOOOD!!!!! I still think about them and wonder why they never brought them back. I think I bought almost the whole case of them when i was selling. I wonder if we could request that they bring back some of these previous flavors.
Beth
March 15, 2012mmm…I loved the Strawberry and Cream the best. My daughter was in Brownies that year…they made something similar years later called the Pinata, but the Strawberry and Cream were amazing. Wish they’d bring those back!
Courtney
November 24, 2012I want the recipe for the Juliette cookie. It was shortbread, caramel, nuts wrapped in chocolate. These were my favs and I was sad that they retired so quickly.
Heather
December 29, 2012There were cookies I sold back in the mid 1980’s that reminded me of a Nestle Crunch bar, but it was thick, like a large nugget. The base of the current Samoa/Caramel de-lites is similar, but the cookie I am thinking of didn’t have any caramel. Maybe the Jubilee or Kookaburros?? It was awesome whatever it was!
Mel
January 9, 2013I grew up in northern Indiana in a small town in the 50’s. The girl scout cookies we bought were a dozen 4″ cookies with raisins. They were stacked in a wax-paper-like package. I picked out the raisins as I ate them. I never see anyone mention such cookies.
Heather
January 13, 2013I wish the maple cookie was back.. I crave them every year and they aren’t here. Please bring them back. I thought I was the only one who knew about the flavor. I love Carmel delights too… But the maple was by far the best ever..
Beth
February 10, 2013I remember selling one called a snowball in the late 70s. It was chocolate with a white chocolate coating. It was only around a couple years and I haven’t found anything about it. Anyone else remember it?
Lynna
February 16, 2013Jenny- I remember the Golden Nut Clusters! They were my favorites, and I was so disappointed when they discontinued them. I would have eaten them by the box if I could have gotten away with it! I still miss them… also, the Juliettes (or at least, that’s what they were called where I was), the caramel-pecan ones dipped in chocolate. The new ones they’ve been coming out with lately just don’t seem to compare. 🙁
Brian E
January 13, 2014“terry
June 5, 2011 at 12:53 pm
does any one remember a sandwich cookie with cream inside and strawberry filling …”
Yes! I came here to try to find the name of these. They are not the iced berry pinatas – those weren’t sandwich and mostly the whole top was covered in berry and icing. The ones you are talking about look like these raspberry ones that are all over now – but aren’t as good. https://scontent-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/t1/1480583_10152093037157039_194711012_n.jpg
If anyone knows the name of these, I’d love it! 🙂
Shannon
January 17, 2014Am I crazy or was there really a girl scout cookie that was like a oatmeal chocolate chip cookie? I’m thinking it was late 80s, early 90s as I was only a Girl Scout from 88-92…For some reason Trailmix cookies sounds familiar??? Idk anyone????
Ariel
February 1, 2014Brian and Terry.. They were called Strawberry and Creams-available in the mid 1990s. They were amazing and nothing like the iced berry pinatas . This is the best comprehensive site that I’ve found http://bakingbites.com/2009/03/girl-scout-cookies-from-the-past/
Ellie
February 16, 2014Sara, I remember those fudge-filled ones. Kind of like Burry’s Fudge Town cookie, right? Loved those! I also liked the Scot Teas and the lemon cremes. I didn’t like the vanilla and chocolate sandwich cremes. I thought those were nasty.
I had an argument with my mother earlier… Did the thin mints used to be trefoil-shaped? I’m remembering them like that, but mom says no.
KC Stroup
February 18, 2014Ellie, I was a scout in late 60’s. And 70’s. The mints were never trefoil shaped, but they used to however, have a trefoil stamped directly on the cookie itself. The trefoil shaped cookies were the delicious Scot-teas .
Sharon
February 23, 2014I remember the fudge cookies. I sold them in the 70’s they were called Royal Creams. I have never found anything like them. 🙁
Tina
February 24, 2014The strawberries and cream were the best. Wish they would bring those back.