A (Girl Scout) Cookie by Any Other Name…

Earlier this week I celebrated the start of the Girl Scout Cookie season by eating a sleeve of Thin Mints I’ve been hoarding (you need to ration them or they won’t last). While there are currently a dozen different types of Girl Scout Cookies, Thin Mints and Samoas are personal favorites. Two different bakers produce all of the Girl Scout Cookies for the entire country – ABC Bakers and Little Brown Bakers – and they are each allowed certain liberties. Bear with me as I explain: while each company has a list of 5 must-bake cookies, they don’t use the same name for all of them (except for Thin Mints – because that would be madness). The Girl Scouts in my area get their cookies from Little Brown Bakers, so I get Samoas, but folks in the ABC Baker areas eat Caramel deLites. The four other must-bake cookies are as follows: Thin Mints, Tagalongs/Peanut Butter Patties, Trefoils/Shortbreads and Do-Si-Dos/Peanut Butter Sandwich. Beyond that, the bakers can get creative. This year Little Brown Bakers are offering the following flavors: Savannah Smiles, Dulce de Leche (the caramel lover in me needs to check these out) and Thank U Berry Much. ABC Bakers will offer Lemonades, Thanks-A-Lots, Cranberry Citrus Crisps and the first officially gluten-free Girl Scout Cookie to ever grace an order form: Chocolate Chip Shortbread. Every time I hear about a new gluten-free product I want to spread the word. One of my very best friends suffers from Celiac Disease, so gluten-laden Girl Scout cookies were obviously not on her approved grocery list. Unfortunately the cookie is only available in test markets (none of which are on in my area), so she may have to wait for it to catch on before taste-testing them herself. Either way, it’s a smart move in the right direction by ABC Bakers; hopefully Little Brown Bakers will follow suit. In the meantime, I’m going to use the Girl Scout Cookie Finder app on my iPhone to plot the purchase of my next cookie spree… my cupboard is bare. What are your favorite Girl Scout Cookies?