It's Girl Scout cookie season!!

[mattstolz]

Bought my first box(es) of my favorites (Thin Mints!) this morning!

My question to you, fellow Hounds, is, what is your favorite Girl Scout Cookie?

Bonus: How do you like to eat them? What's your favorite creative use for them?

My favorite is the Thin Mint, and I love subbing them for oreos in ice cream pie crusts.

[Leepa]

I don't think I want to admit how I found out about this, but Dollar General store has their own store brand (Clover Valley) of cookies and they seem to be clones of Girl Scout cookies. I bought a box of Mint Thins (how subtle is that!) this morning and I'd swear they are the same. Or incredibly close. And they weren't $5 a box....

Those poor Girl Scouts!

[alkapal]

thought this was funny re thin mints http://pinterest.com/pin/277252920780...

[Emme]

Made homemade Samoas / Caramel Delights this afternoon. Excited to serve them tomorrow :)

[gingershelley]

As an aside; Dryer's ice cream has Girl Scout 'limited flavors', which I am sure a few pennies of the purchase goes to GS's. I bought the thin mint, and wasn't a fan. Too sweet.

Had hoped for big cookie pieces swirled in the ice cream, but totally crushed up and all through it... a little too much, with no distinct 'thin mint' cookie taste. Bummer!
Guess it's off to the store to buy a box instead.

[cgarner]

p.s. these kids are getting organized
there is now a girlscout kiosk in our local mall selling cookies!
(I think it's hilarious)

[Boudleaux]

I love Samoas and Tagalongs the best but this year I'm trying Savannah Smiles. It's the new cookie, I guess. I did buy this one from a girl (Mom) here at the office and she does that because people ASK her to bring in the order form but I also end up buying from the scouts themselves outside the grocery store as well. They are good here about the girls actually doing the selling rather than the parents. I didn't realize there was such a difference in prices across the country. $3.50/box here in Middle Tennessee.

[JungMann]

My favorite, and really the only cookie I go out of my way to buy, is the Samoas. This year I have one box to eat semi-frozen and another to crush to make salted caramel and Samoa ice cream. I didn't think much of the Savannah Smiles when my friend and I stopped by the girl scouts earlier this year but after trying a cookie later that day, I marched straight back to the troupe to buy myself a couple boxes as well. They're very light with a refreshing hint of lemon.

[mels]

Samoas all the way! Tagalongs are in second place. Here in Connecticut, we pay $4/box.

[kgrote]

Damn, looks like Thin Mints and Samoas are the Tyson/Holyfield of the GS cookie arena!

[arashall]

Thin Mints and Samoas. Since I'm in Houston, I have to buy extra Thin Mints for the freezer, to discover about August. Nothing like a cold one, on a hot day :-)

[AverageJo]

I envy those of you in the States, having such a broad selection of cookies to choose from. Here in Canada, the Girl Guides offer a basic sandwich cookie in chocolate and vanilla. That's it.

[rainey]

Try Nicole Weston's recipes: http://bakingbites.com/2009/01/homema... They're pretty faithful representations and excellent cookies from honest ingredients!

You won't have to miss anything. ;>

[calmossimo]

thin mints and samoas. will eat some at room temp as soon as i buy them and stick the rest in the freezer for portion control and for extra deliciousness.

[thistle5]

Definitely frozen, & it's not really about getting great cookies, it's more about supporting the Girl Scouts...

[mattstolz]

true. which is why, since i like my homemade version of thin mints better, i think i will probably just make those and donate what i save by making them at home to the troop out in front of my friendly neighborhood supermarket

[mattstolz]

Just want to do another informal poll as well:

for those who like Thin Mints, how many of you prefer them from the fridge/freezer over room temp??

[breakfastfan]

Frozen, and sometimes with Kalua(sp?) and Baileys in a frozen mudslide!

[ediblover]

Samoas.

I always get a variety of them, but the samoas boxes are always the highest ratio. Not much to do with those, but the others make for a nice base for a fruit dessert or something crunchy with ice cream.

[al b. darned]

Add my voice to the Samoa Chorus. I just wish they put more than three cookies in a box. It would be nice if the box lasted more than one sitting.

[mattstolz]

boxes of girl scout cookies are supposed to last more than one sitting?

....oops

[rusty_s]

"I just wish they put more than three cookies in a box." This is why thin mints edge out samoas as my favorite. Whenever I buy samoas, I wonder why I just spent $4 (or whatever) on a neat little plastic holder.
Also, I will buy anything from a kid in uniform (which is how I end up with tubs of popcorn I don't want from my neighborhood cub scouts). But if the kid can't even put on a green t-shirt, I will do without the cookies.

[cgarner]

rusty_s, the boyscout popcorn is terrible, I always just give them whatever 1's I have in my wallet and move on

[MandalayVA]

Ew, Thin Mints. Samoas are where it's at. And $5/box? Must be a regional thing, boxes are $3.75 here.

[Cathy]

It is local. When the campgrounds the San Diego troops use burned in the 2003 fires, prices went from $3.75 to $4 and have remained at $4.

[wyogal]

Yep Thin Mints.... bite a bit of two sides, put milk in a wide cup, and drink it through the cookie.

[mattstolz]

i cannot say ive ever heard of someone doing that before. but it sound like something i may have to try! interesting!

[wyogal]

It's great. Especially when they are frozen. The interior gets all soft and the chocolate exterior stays hard. yumm. and yes, very bad.

[caseyjo]

Thin mints were my favorite growing up, but they're packed completely full of chemicals so I can't in good faith eat them anymore. And I'll probably be unpopular for saying this, but I don't think young girls benefit from learning to sell overpriced cookies outside of supermarkets.

[mrbigshotno.1]

You are now unpopular.

[mattstolz]

this is why i started making them myself. i actually like the homemade ones WAY better anyways (because i can use really dark chocolate and kick up the mint to the extreme!) plus theyre cheaper, and have less added chems!

[Hobbert]

The point isn't to learn to sell overpriced cookies (although they have gotten pretty expensive!). It's a fundraiser to help pay for other troop activities. I was a Girl Scout as a kid and we used cookie earnings and other fundraising activities to go to a Girl Scout center in Mexico City and volunteer in low income neighborhoods. Selling cookies may not have taught me much, but that trip sure did.

[babette feasts]

I might actually buy a box if the girls were the ones selling them. Instead, all I seem to see are girls goofing off while their moms sell the cookies. That doesn't teach them people skills or money handling skills or show pride in their troop. Last year I told myself if a girl scout asked me if I wanted to buy a box of cookies, I would, but none did. It was all the parents.

[Emme]

reminds me of a friend who was complaining that one of his co-workers was doing the rounds about the office, basically demanding that people buy cookies from him... i mean his daughter. when the offending man knocked on my friend's door, my friend told him that he wasn't going to buy cookies from *him.* the man tried to bolster the cause, talking about how it was for the daughter, blah blah blah. my friend said, "i said i'm not buying them from *you.* if she wants to sell cookies, let her come into the office." the man cited that she was in school and had swim practice after til 5. my friend, without missing a beat, said, "i'll be here til 630." they never did come, and my friend never got asked by Daddy Girl Scout to buy cookies...

[kgrote]

I totally hear what you're saying. I don't mind the Girl Scouts doing it as much, because I know all the money goes directly to the organization.

What kills me is children who are forced to peddle cheap Chinese-made crap to raise money for their schools. The companies take about 90% of the profit anyway, and the poor kids have to humiliate themselves trying to pawn it off on unsuspecting adults.

[mattstolz]

hey if it wasnt for those kids my family would have never gotten a present wrapped in actual gift wrap ever! but i always feel bad and buy a little. because my mom got tired of presents wrapped in old newspaper! haha

[rainey]

I am sooo with you, caseyjo!

I hated selling them as a kid and I hate feeling pressured into buying them now.

Make your own -- there are recipes online that are excellent and made from honest ingredients. Then give the girls a cash donation. I specify to the adult supervising that the donation is meant for the troop so the girls actually get it instead of the pennies they get from the sale of a box of cookies.

It would be different if the girls planned a fundraiser and implemented their own plan. Even if it were a bake sale they accomplished on their own it would have more meaning and real leadership training than being exploited by a corporate food service and a big top-down organization.

[Saluti]

Samoas are by far my favorite Girl Scout Cookie. Then Do-Si-Dos, then Tagalongs. My favorite way to eat them is straight out of the box!

[TuteTibiImperes]

Another vote for Samoas for me.

[kgrote]

Yup, Samoas all the way! They're by far the most fattening too - go figure.

What sucks about the Samoas though is you pay 6 effing dollars for a box and there's about 12 in there. I can go through that in a single sitting, amirite?

[cgarner]

Samoas are now called Caramel delights! and they are my ALL TIME favorites
I bought two boxes last weekend and hid one in the freezer, the other one was gobbled up between my hubby and my daughter in about a day and a half
The thin mints are still unopened. They have a strange waxy feeling to me and I'm not a fan. I bought them for my husband, but he decided to go for the Caramel Delights first

[vttp926]

Thin Mints are my favorite of all time but I think I am going to try the Dulce de Leche this time though.

[jenscats5]

The Thin Mints are my all time favorite, but I can't see paying $5 a box for them.....

[melpy]

Think about it as making a donation to a worthy cause. Thin mints are my face but I won't buy them do to health reasons. I buy a box for the troop to share at booth sales or I donate the price of a box.

[jenscats5]

I know I know......but I keep remembering that when I sold them they were 75 cents a box - dating myself I know!!

[mattstolz]

theyre 4 here, but if i'm paying for them with a 5, i normally donate the extra dollar. the troop today was using the donations to send boxes of GS cookies to troops overseas. troops need cookies too! plus it means i dont have to deal with change

[Cathy]

It's called Operation Thin Mint. You can just donate cash to the San Diego Troop. They then send the corresponding number of boxes overseas. 2012 is the tenth year.

http://www.sdgirlscouts.org/otm?f1=co...