Fina has joined the Girl Scouts with some of her Kindergarten classmates last year. So far, Fina loves earning her badges/patches and she is always looking forward to meeting her Daisy troop sisters on Zoom or at social distancing outdoor meets.
This year we are kicking off by selling Girl Scout Cookies! I am a total newbie to Girl Scouts but not a stranger in consuming some of those delicious GS Cookies (thin mints, thin mints, and more thin mints) that are sold door to door. To get my girl (and myself) up to speed, so to speak, we are learning some basics about Girl Scout Cookies.
Fun Fact #1: 1917 was the year when the first Girl Scout Cookies were sold in Muskogee, Oklahoma (not too far away from where Fina's grandpa went to college in OK). That's more than 100 years ago, and it is still going strong. How strong, you asked? It is a $800 million business, and you can only buy them from January to March each year. Cookies travel thousands of miles by trucks, boat, float plane to reach troops as far as Alaska. It is SERIOUS business!
Since we are located at Northern California, Little Brownie Bakers is our licensed baker.
Fun Fact #2: Some assortments offered are different (from ABC Bakers) or have different names. To find out which bakers make your cookies, their comparison in flavors, nutritional values, and unique names, click HERE.
Girl Scouts has had their digital cookie program since 2014, but this year with the pandemic, we are selling 100% online (virtual booth) with local delivery (mainly to our neighbors, since there's a minimum order of 4 boxes and a shipping fee for online orders. Though we are not able to meet our customers in person, our awesome troop leader (and her talented husband) relyriced a Frozen song for the girls to sing out their sales pitch. Head to Fina's Virtual Booth to see Fina performing the song. ORDER LINK HERE! Order ends March 14.
During this process Fina has learned about goal settings, what's fundraising for, how to do a sales pitch (via phone and FaceTime), and the importance of saying Thank You. 80% of our current orders are for consumption, but if you are watching your waistline, consider gifting them as Valentine's Day treats. Me and My Inklings has some scrumptiously decorated cookies for inspiration. Or you can choose to donate the cookies too (lots of cookie monsters out there will thank you).
To help you decide, Fina had done a taste test to sort out some of her favorites.
Fina's Ranking: Thin Mints, Tagalongs, Samoas, Lemon Ups, Trefoils
My Ranking: Toffee-tastic, Lemon Ups, Trefoils, Tagalongs, Thin Mints, S'mores, Do-Si-Dos, Samoas
My Husband's Ranking: Samoas, Lemon Ups, Trefoils, S'mores, Thin Mints, Do-Si-Dos, Tagalongs, Toffee-tastic
So the conclusion is, we probably need to buy all of the flavors again to satisfy everyone's taste buds year after year! LOL!
Fun Fact #3: Always store your Girl Scout Cookies in your freezer! Well, since you can only buy them in such a short period in a year, preserving them to last as long as you can is not only smart but keeps them tasty. Especially for those thin mints, you bet your bottom calories that they taste better frozen in your freezer. Consume within 3 months of freezing - but to be honest, will they really last 3 months in your freezer?
If you went way overboard until your freezer can't handle them (you ain't the only one secretly googling what to do with too many cookies), don't worry, give those cookies a makeover!
Fun Facts #4: There are a ton of GS Cookie recipes out there (look for them on Pinterest), and the possibilities are endless! The most popular I would say is just to crumble the cookies and eat them with ice cream, yes that goes with any cookies on any ice cream. But if that's too plain for your taste, try making these recipes: Deep Fried Tagalongs, Samoas Milkshake, , Thin Mints Popcorn, or for something on the savory side, try Do-Si-Dos Peanut Thai Chicken. But if cooking is not your thing, you can pair your cookies with milk (a no brainer), beer, or wine. There's even an online event called Galentines Day that teaches you how to pair your Girl Scout Cookies with wine, tickets start at $12.
Fun Facts #5: The record holder of the most Girl Scout Cookies sold in a single season is held by Katie Francis. She sold an astonishing 21,477 boxes of cookies in 2014 Cookie Season, breaking the long-time record of 18,000 boxes held by Elizabeth Brinton in 1985 (who is also known as the "Cookie Queen"). Katie revealed the secret to her success on the Jimmy Fallon show. She said setting up sales booth in front of grocery stores and singing familiar tones attracted lots of her customers. I am curious to see if she will break the record once again this year.
I hope you are hungry after reading all the fun facts about Girl Scout Cookies, because I do not want to be the only one reaching for more! Love me some GS Cookies, it is a perk and a curse to have a cookie dealer at home, I might need to get myself some new joggers next month (jeans are no longer consider the proper attire during Cookie Season). So buy some, eat some, donate some, and makeover some much loved Girl Scout Cookies!
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