And so it happens every February, just as I remember as a kid.

 

Uniforms pressed.  Beanies on straight.  Faces cleaned. Glossy order tablet and pen in hand. Speech memorized. “Hi. Would you like to buy a box of Girl Scout cookies?” (SMILE!  Did you remember to smile?!)

 

I remember my parents being the “cookie parents” for my GS troop and our entire living room being filled with cookies.  Floor to ceiling. 8 cases deep.  It. was. awesome.  We had charts, badges, patches, pins, and prizes for top sellers. We had to hoof it around the entire neighborhood, block after block, street after street – and fast before the other girls headed out! We had to get on the phone and call relatives we didn’t even know – little fingers sore from all the rotary dialing.  We had to ask random people at church after mass on Sundays.  We had to load up our rusty red Radio Flyer wagons and go back out on our own and deliver all those orders and try to collect the cash.  We had to sit out in the cold on the weekends and sell all those leftover boxes from the people who would forget they ordered or change their minds. We had no idea why we were selling those cookies, or where the money was going – but the quotas were high and the struggle was real.

 

These days not much has changed.  Okay, a lot has changed.   Girl Scouts are no longer safe making the rounds through the neighborhoods by themselves –  parents post the order form on Facebook or leave the order sheet in the break room at work.  And the price.  My goodness the price.  In my day (not only did we have to make all the sales pitches ourselves!) but the cookies were only $0.75 a box!  I think they are $5 a box this year?!  Gadzooks, that’s double the cost of a package of Mint Oreos!    I happen to like the cost inflation though.  It definitely keeps me from hoarding boxes of Thin Mints or Peanut Butter Patties in my freezer.  And thanks to all of the conveniently located cookie stands around town, you can still support the GS without drowning yourself in calories.  Consider making a charitable donation directly to the troop or have the troop send the cookies overseas to military personnel!

 

Late February – early March also appears to be “copycat” season in the blogosphere.  There were so many posts this past weekend about how to make “copycat” Girl Scout cookies that I was beginning to be a bit intrigued.  If it was really so easy to just make your own GS cookies at home, then why is anybody buying them at $5 a box?!

 

I had to try it.  Just once.  In sorting through the recipes, there seems to be very little variation – they all seem to be cut/paste copies of each other –  you need only to search”thin mint cookies” on Pinterest to see that!

 

Well, one thing you can rest assured on:  this recipe is not a copycat of those popular mint cookies!  It is a great cookie on it’s own and will definitely satisfy any mint chocolate cravings you may have, but it is not the same cookie. There is just something about all those partially-hydrogenated, transfatty, high-fructose, unpronounceable processed food chemicals that make things taste so darn good.  And unfortunately (?) those tastes and textures simply cannot be replicated in the home kitchen.  But I guess that’s just the way the cookie crumbles.  😉

 

 

 

 

 

This recipe comes together super easy, but here are a few tips that may help:

 

• You want the chocolate cookie to be firm enough to hold its shape, but not so hard that you cannot bite into it without chipping a tooth.  Watch the baking time closely – my cookies were ready just at 10 minutes!
• It is difficult to tell when the cookies are “browned” and over baking (or, um, burning) will change the flavor!
• If you plan to freeze these cookies for later snacking, I would definitely under bake them a bit for softness later.
• Most of the recipes I found called for “chocolate for coating” with no recommendation as to what kind of chocolate would work or taste best.  I used Guittard’s milk chocolate chips as that is what was in the pantry.  I think a bittersweet chip would also work and may be closer to the original?  Dark chocolate maybe?
• The milk chocolate melted quickly in our hands and was messy to eat.  Tasty, but messy.

 

Overall I like this cookie.  It was easy to make and The Boy and I had fun doing it together.  As far as finding a good Thin Mint replacement in the off season?  😉  I like the Mint Oreos.   The Keebler Grasshoppers (made by the same GS baker) are tasty too.  And my new go-to “Thin Mint” in a pinch are these yummy Choco Starlight Mints that come with the check at our favorite Mexican restaurant.  Fat free, low in calories, and really taste like a Thin Mint!

 

 

 

Do you have a tried and true “copycat” recipe you swear by?  Let me know, I’d love to try it!