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It’s that time of year, time to ditch your diet and buy some Girl Scout cookies! There is a short window of opportunity to order from your friendly local Girl Scout or Brownie going on right now, but for just a few weeks. My husband and I had a long Girl Scout cookie dry spell with no cookie sellers among our family or co-worker’s children, so we had to keep our eyes peeled, looking out for a table parked at local businesses each year, if we wanted to get our hands on some of the hard to resist cookies.
This year we have plenty of cookie buying opportunities. Now that we know lots of scout members, we have the chance to buy enough that we will stock our freezer with my husband’s beloved Thin Mints, and maybe even try a new variety or two. He can eat an entire sleeve, washed down with cold milk! All the talk this year is about the new Mango Cremes with Nutrifusion, which are supposed to be loaded with vitamins (and include mushroom powder among the ingredients) and are extra good for you. Well…. as good as a cookie can be anyway.
Do you have a favorite Girl Scout cookie you return to year after year? The sales history shows that the top three selling varieties are the most popular. It’s no surprise that the popular Thin Mints take a quarter of the sales, followed by Caramel De’lites, AKA Samoas, and Peanut Butter Patties, or Tagalongs. The reason many of the cookies have two names is because there are two different bakeries producing them, varying by region.
This year they’ve re-worked the lineup. The cookie boxes got a makeover and they have streamlined the product line to eight of the best selling boxes with a big focus on all the valuable life lessons the scouts learn.
So if you were a fan of the some of the cookies that were only produced for a couple years, like Shout Outs, Double Dutch chocolate or Aloha Chip, you may not be able to find them in most markets. Or my favorite, the now discontinued Lemon Pastry Cream, which was a crumbly pastry cookie sandwiching an electric yellow, lemony filling. The sweet and salty crunch of the peanut butter Do Si Dos are my next runner up.
For those times when you just cannot get your hands on the real deal, you can try recreating them yourself. If you have a favorite and can’t get your fix, try making them homemade. Either Thin Mints or Samoas, are here on CDKitchen. If you have allergies or gluten intolerance in the family (and can substitute gluten or nut free baking products), this is the next best thing.
On the other hand, if you are overrun with cookies this year, you can try using them in new ways. Crumbled Thin Mints or Peanut Butter cookies are delicious over ice cream. They also make a great base for S’mores. Crushed shortbread makes a buttery cookie crust. Or try layering your crushed favorites with pudding or yogurt and berries for a yummy trifle, or blend with ice cream in a milkshake.
Cookie selling is a time-tested way for young girls to learn life skills and earn badges. Back in the "good old days" we used to go door to door, but in our modern era most of it is done through the Internet— Facebook, e-mail, or cookie finding apps linking to pop up shops. We’ve come a long way since my early 80s days of scouting!
©2026 CDKitchen, Inc. No reproduction or distribution of any portion of this article is allowed without express permission from CDKitchen, Inc.
To share this article with others, you may link to this page:
https://www.cdkitchen.com/cooking-experts/pamela-chester/1330-girl-scout-cookies/
Cookies With A Purpose
It’s that time of year, time to ditch your diet and buy some Girl Scout cookies! There is a short window of opportunity to order from your friendly local Girl Scout or Brownie going on right now, but for just a few weeks. My husband and I had a long Girl Scout cookie dry spell with no cookie sellers among our family or co-worker’s children, so we had to keep our eyes peeled, looking out for a table parked at local businesses each year, if we wanted to get our hands on some of the hard to resist cookies.
This year we have plenty of cookie buying opportunities. Now that we know lots of scout members, we have the chance to buy enough that we will stock our freezer with my husband’s beloved Thin Mints, and maybe even try a new variety or two. He can eat an entire sleeve, washed down with cold milk! All the talk this year is about the new Mango Cremes with Nutrifusion, which are supposed to be loaded with vitamins (and include mushroom powder among the ingredients) and are extra good for you. Well…. as good as a cookie can be anyway.
Do you have a favorite Girl Scout cookie you return to year after year? The sales history shows that the top three selling varieties are the most popular. It’s no surprise that the popular Thin Mints take a quarter of the sales, followed by Caramel De’lites, AKA Samoas, and Peanut Butter Patties, or Tagalongs. The reason many of the cookies have two names is because there are two different bakeries producing them, varying by region.
This year they’ve re-worked the lineup. The cookie boxes got a makeover and they have streamlined the product line to eight of the best selling boxes with a big focus on all the valuable life lessons the scouts learn.
So if you were a fan of the some of the cookies that were only produced for a couple years, like Shout Outs, Double Dutch chocolate or Aloha Chip, you may not be able to find them in most markets. Or my favorite, the now discontinued Lemon Pastry Cream, which was a crumbly pastry cookie sandwiching an electric yellow, lemony filling. The sweet and salty crunch of the peanut butter Do Si Dos are my next runner up.
For those times when you just cannot get your hands on the real deal, you can try recreating them yourself. If you have a favorite and can’t get your fix, try making them homemade. Either Thin Mints or Samoas, are here on CDKitchen. If you have allergies or gluten intolerance in the family (and can substitute gluten or nut free baking products), this is the next best thing.
On the other hand, if you are overrun with cookies this year, you can try using them in new ways. Crumbled Thin Mints or Peanut Butter cookies are delicious over ice cream. They also make a great base for S’mores. Crushed shortbread makes a buttery cookie crust. Or try layering your crushed favorites with pudding or yogurt and berries for a yummy trifle, or blend with ice cream in a milkshake.
Cookie selling is a time-tested way for young girls to learn life skills and earn badges. Back in the "good old days" we used to go door to door, but in our modern era most of it is done through the Internet— Facebook, e-mail, or cookie finding apps linking to pop up shops. We’ve come a long way since my early 80s days of scouting!
Lemon Pastry Cream Cookies
Made with flour, sugar, salt, butter, heavy cream, lemon zest, lemon extract, powdered sugar
Made with flour, sugar, salt, butter, heavy cream, lemon zest, lemon extract, powdered sugar
Serves/Makes: 48
***Dough***
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup softened butter
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1/4 teaspoon lemon extract
***Filling***
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup softened butter
- 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- yellow food coloring, if desired
Dough: Combine flour, sugar, salt, butter, cream, lemon peel and extract in large bowl and mix on medium speed until mixture comes together.
Divide dough into thirds, cover and refrigerate for at least one hour until firm.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Roll each portion of dough to 1/8 inch thickness on lightly floured surface and cut with 1 1/2 inch round cookie cutter.
Place 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheet, prick each cookie with a fork several times, and bake 6 to 9 minutes until puffed but not brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet and remove to wire rack to cool completely.
Filling: Combine powdered sugar, butter, lemon juice, and food coloring (if using) and mix until smooth. Spread about 1/2 teaspoon filling on bottoms of half the cookies, and top with the remaining cookies.
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©2026 CDKitchen, Inc. No reproduction or distribution of any portion of this article is allowed without express permission from CDKitchen, Inc.
To share this article with others, you may link to this page:
https://www.cdkitchen.com/cooking-experts/pamela-chester/1330-girl-scout-cookies/