Stick With Thin Mints; The New Girl Scout Cookie Flavors Are Nothing Special
"The Girl Scouts experience is all about the cookies and it's not."
It's very hard to write anything negative about Girl Scout cookies, but some things need to be said. The new flavors released this year, Dulce de Leche (a "Latin" caramel cookie) and Daisy Go Rounds (100-calorie packs of Teddy Graham-like "daisies" which replaced last year's similar-minded Cinna-Spins) are not that tasty. Stick with Thin Mints—even if this year, due to rising flour and oil prices, there are two fewer Thin Mints in every box.
Serious Eaters were curious about the new flavors. Some found them "quite delicious" and dunkable in tea. Others were "on the fence." And still others, "meh" and "eh." And yikes, even a "whiff of a chemical aftertaste."
Girl Scout cookies were never aiming for the from-scratch taste. Plenty of troop moms spend hours sweating by the oven all year, making sure round-cheeked daughters have something warm to dunk in milk at meetings. It's about supporting a network of young, ambitious (or, hopefully, eventually ambitious) girls.
The Girl Scouts experience is all about the cookies and it's not. As an alum (just for two years, as my troop leader was a little nutso and I chose soccer practice instead), I remember the build-up, the late nights shuttling in boxes from minivans, the gentle backstabbing among girls to sell the most, but in the end, how many cookies did I actually eat? Weren't they just stacked in our freezer for the rest of the year? "For company," or "to save for when you can't get them the rest of the year," or "as gifts." But wait—were we just avoiding them?
No. I like Thin Mints. I do. Samoas are great too, even if three bites all of a sudden becomes ten grams of fat.
I am just worried about Girl Scout cookies, that's all. Will they acclimate to a new climate of locally-sourced foods, Facebook, and girls who don't want to be defined by cookie sales?
For example, this year one eight-year-old was busted for selling cookies online. Little Wild Freeborn had a goal to sell 12,000 boxes, but a YouTube sales pitch video later, and she's invited to the Today show, defending her innovative marketing approach with her tech-savvy father. The Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. forbid the internet sales of cookies—but fosters enterprising young women? Somebody needs to update the bylaws.
Somebody also needs to tone down the development of new cookie flavors. Maybe it should be limited to the elite originals? Thin Mints, Samoas, Trefoils, and sure, throw in Tagalongs, even if people will forever attach a stigma to the processed peanut butter fillings (though this year's recall did not affect any of the cookies, reportedly).
Again, I am just worried about the future of the Girl Scouts, and the new cookies are just a reflection of this concern.
Related
Girl Scout Cookies - New Cookie - Dulce De Leche [SE Talk, 02/26/09]
Make Girl Scout-Inspired Cookies At Home
Will you succumb to Girl Scout Cookies? [SE Talk, 01/29/09]
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21 Comments:
I have to be honest that I'm put off by the ridiculous prices and the dwindling amount of cookies per box. It's not worth it to me anymore. Sorry, Girl Scouts...
juliebugsmama at 2:16PM on 03/19/09
I will always love Thin Mints, Samoas, and Tagalongs, but I'm with juliebugsmama - they've just gotten so expensive for less and less cookies that I can't justify the expense. I'll pick up the occasional tub of Edy's ice cream in a GS cookie flavor, but I'm not likely to pick up the cookies themselves anymore.
trillian42 at 2:25PM on 03/19/09
I was a Scout for 7 years and have sold my fair share of cookies. New flavors are nothing new. Like any company, they're introducing new things and phasing out unsuccessful products all the time. We notice more because we have one chance to buy cookies.
I try to buy cookies every year (only from Scouts themselves, never a parent), but I have yet to see any this year.
popcornfordinner at 2:26PM on 03/19/09
Now that the Tagalongs have much less peanut butter, there's no reason to buy these cookies anymore. No thanks.
mccook at 2:38PM on 03/19/09
dulce de leche suck! i had to eat three thin mints just to get the taste out of my mouth.
dmarina at 2:50PM on 03/19/09
I was just irritated when they changed the names of the cookies and a new girl scout looks at me like I'm crazy when I ask for samoa's and do-si-do's.
jcrisco at 3:09PM on 03/19/09
M-m-m-m-m-m, Somoas....insert Homer Simpson drooling sound.
I think two have the equivalent fat and calories as a Big Mac.
jimmyjfish at 3:25PM on 03/19/09
@jcrisco -- GSA uses two bakeries for their cookies and the names are different for Tagalongs/do-si-dos depending on which bakery they use.
popcornfordinner at 3:31PM on 03/19/09
Yeah...well Florida Girl Scouts use the one with the lame names ;)
jcrisco at 3:44PM on 03/19/09
Something possessed me to buy the lemonade cookies this year but ever since I received them, I've had no desire to open the box. The Thin Mints, however, are almost gone!
Hillary
Chew on That
Chew on That at 6:32PM on 03/19/09
I wish they still sold animal treasures...
lizaround at 7:19PM on 03/19/09
I buy GS cookies, as did my parents before me. But I know what I'm buying, and maintain realistic expectations. I'm not buying them because I think they're a gourmet treat, but because I'm supporting the Girl Scouts. And I've never seen a box last a day when left on a table in the Pantry at the office.
chanterelle at 8:50PM on 03/19/09
Samoas forever!!!!!
xxoo~http://gimmeyummy.wordpress.com/
thatjamiegirl8 at 9:55PM on 03/19/09
There are 5 original flavors. Three of which have different names depending on which of the two bakers they are from (as stated earlier, the baker is regional). Thin Mints and Trefoils are always the same. Samoas = Caramel Delights, Tagalongs = Peanut Butter Patties, and Do-si-dos = Peanut Butter Sandwiches.
The other 3 cookies do change. And different regions offer different varieties. Now at least one of the three is low fat or low sugar. One is usually whichever variety did the best the previous year. Again, it depends on the region. We don't have the Dulce de Leche ones here in Philly.
And it is about supporting the Girl Scouts. People complain that so much of the money goes to the Councils, but what they don't realize is that money funds scholarships and financial assistance programs, goes towards maintenance of camps and to keep the costs down on things like the patches the girls earn. As an organization there are operating costs. And cookies are supposed to be about learning to set goals and how to reach them for the girls. Not to mention troop bonding.
Can you tell I was a Girl Scout for many years as well as a leader? LOL!
slmcdanold at 11:19PM on 03/19/09
Now I understand why my local Girl Scouts looked at me funny when I asked them for Samoas...I guess even within different parts of Texas the names are different!
SuzyHomemaker at 9:05AM on 03/20/09
we have the new lemon chalet flavor. lemon sandwich cookie.. its ok.
seikel at 12:27PM on 03/20/09
I haven't had Thin Mints in a few years so i got some this year and... they're not nearly as good as i remember. Not really that enticing at all, actually. Plus they're too thick. :(
But the Samoas are just as good as i've always thought. Yum!
mh330 at 12:29PM on 03/20/09
OR you can make your own! That's what I did. Here's my experience.
quitecurious at 8:55PM on 03/21/09
I must be the only person who absolutely loves the Dulce De Leche cookies! I bought a box for my boyfriend and ended up eating half of them. I only wish the Girl Scouts would reappear so I can buy more this year!
gracehahn2 at 11:34AM on 03/23/09
Thin Mints + Freezer = Joy
giftideamom at 9:10AM on 03/26/09
I used to be a girl scout and loved the cookies. I think it's stupid to change the names though. Now when I order cookies the girl scouts look at me like I'm stupid because they have no idea what a carmel delight, peanut butter patty, or shortbread cookie is. Over the years though the makers have tried to make them "healthier" This year I am sad to say that I am very disappointed in the taste of my favorites. First the thin mints are fabulous no complaints with those ones. The peanut butter patties have about half the amount of peanut butter that they used to have and don't have the same taste. The short breads and Carmel delights also taste different. If I am going to buy a cookie I want all the fat and calories. If I want something healthy then I'll freaking go eat an apple. I will no longer be buying girl scout cookies because I want the same taste they had when I was a girl scout.
CloeAllis at 9:44PM on 04/05/09