Girl Scout Cookiness

I used to be a Girl Scout.

Stop laughing, it’s true. Troop 407, to be exact. I was a Brownie, and I joined because a lot of my friends were a part of the Girl Scouts. You can still see evidence of my Girl Scout upbringing in the fact that I remain “always prepared.” In my bag are enough random supplies to get me and another person off a deserted island, or survive a day in New York City. Whichever.

Naturally, my favorite part of being a Girl Scout was selling cookies. Mainly because, when cookie season rolled around, people’s eyes lit up when they saw you coming. They knew that inside your little canvass bag was an order sheet, and that order sheet held the key to bliss.

Girl Scout cookies come one time of year only, which I think is probably the most genius business and marketing move the GS of A’s ever made: it prevents market saturation. There will always be a demand for your product because a) you are the only ones who sell them, and b) you restrict the supply. Brilliant. You thought those girls just sold cookies? Oh no, they are shrewd businesswomen.

Nowadays, I am the person that waits eagerly to cross paths with a Girl Scout and get her cookie fix. Last year I bought so many boxes that my tiny Brooklyn freezer was stuffed with Thin Mints and Samoas; no room for anything else. For months. This year, the Girl Scouts of Nassau County must have sensed this passionate love that I have for their cookies, because those little angels sent me a box of their brand new cookies, Dulce de Leches, to try.

The press release (yes, that’s right, the Girl Scouts are PR savvy, too) says that the Dulces are “inspired by the classic confections of Latin America.” If by Latin America, they mean deliciousness, then yes, I’ll agree. The main cookie is crunchy, but not as much so as a fully-baked chocolate chip cookie. They’re similar to a shortbread cookie, kind of crunchy/crumbly all at once. My favorite part of each cookie were the little caramel chips that were nestled inside, breaking up the crunchy-crumbliness with chewy, so as far as texture goes, the Dulce de Leche’s have it all.

On the top of the cookie is a latticework of sweet, creamy stripes which really give the cookie its flavor. If you like your cookies sweet (*raises hand*), then this is the penultimate Girl Scout confection for you. If you prefer mild, biscuit-like cookies, then I recommend sticking with the time-tested Shortbread cookies to lay next to your cup of coffee.

While I was busy housing the entire box of yummy Dulce de Leche’s, I had a chance to click over to the Girl Scouts of Nassau County’s website. Now, this would have truly been helpful for me while I was living in NYC, so I didn’t have to go trolling around sketchy Craig’s List looking for Girl Scout cookies: you can type in your zip code and the website will show you the cookie booth closest to you. If there isn’t one, the GSNC can hook you up with the council nearest to you, so that you can call them up pathetically and pick up your cookie fix from Union Square or whatever. Not that I’ve personally done that…

For the rest of the country, visit GirlScoutCookies.org, where you can also find help locating your Girl Scout cookie fix, not to mention hit the Girls up on social networking sites, where you can express your cult following love for the Dulces, Thin Mints, or Samoas.

Now, I’m curious. Got any Girl Scout cookie stories?