I must admit it, as a former Brownie and Girl Scout, I love Girl Scout Cookies. My favorite is the Trefoil cookie, but I can say that I have had a stash of Thin Mints in my freezer most years. Girl Scout cookie season helps to usher in Spring. Seeing Girl Scouts freezing outside Kroger, Food Lion, and Walmart just warms the heart and brings back memories. At six dollars a box (the price has increased this year) it is tough to risk the budget for a box. According to the Virginia Skyline council, every cookie purchase supports “Girl Scouts’ ability to grow, learn, and thrive through all of life’s adventures.” All proceeds stay local to help fund the Girl Scouts in our area. And the Girl Scout cookie lineup this year contains all the old favorites. They’ve got Adventurefuls, Caramel Chocolate Chip, Samoas, Do-Si-Dos, Girl Scout S’mores, Lemonades, Lemon-Ups, Tagalongs, Thin Mints, Toast-Yay!, Toffee-tastic, and Trefoils.
Girl Scout Cookies were originally home baked by girl members with moms volunteering as technical advisers. The sale of cookies to finance troop activities began as early as 1917, five years after Juliette Gordon Low started Girl Scouts in the United States. Now the cookies are baked by two bakeries, ABC Bakery and Little Brownie Bakery. The names used by each bakery change, such as Caramel deLites and Samoas, but the cookies are the same. Every Girl Scout cookie is kosher, and Halal certified. There are also four vegan varieties – Thin Mints, Peanut Butter Patties, Lemonades and Toast-Yay! Cookies. All girl scout cookies are free of high-fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated oil, and trans-fat. Two cookies are gluten-free, Caramel Chocolate Chip and Toffee-tastic.
Don’t know a Girl Scout? Download the Cookie Finder app or visit girlscoutcookies.org and clicking the Find Cookies! search box. Just enter your zip code and a list of where the Girl Scouts will be set up appears.
This week’s recipe is a cookie that tastes like the Trefoil. It does not require refrigeration before cutting like a standard shortbread cookie and has a crumbly melt in the mouth texture.
Copycat cookie recipe
Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup confectioners’ sugar
¼ cup cornstarch
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Beat butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add flour, confectioners’ sugar, and cornstarch; beat on low for 1 minute, then high for 3 to 4 minutes. Drop spoonfuls of dough 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake in the preheated oven until edges are golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Cool on the baking sheets before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. One thing to keep in mind. They move off the pan easier when they are almost to completely cool. They tend to fall apart if moved before cool enough.
Courtesy photo
