Thursday, March 15, 2007

An Everyday Pleasure #7: Girl Scout Cookies

Can you turn down a bespectacled and uniformed third grade Brownie with pleading puppy-dog eyes?
Well, my answer is no. Especially not if she armed with (and selling) colorful boxes of sugar-laden Girl Scout cookies. Like the rest of America, my favorites are Thin Mints and Samoas. Unlike the rest of America, I would knife a guy in the gut to get my yearly quota of Samoas.

If you've never sampled a Samoa, allow me explain the heavenly cookie ingredients that lead to my demented infatuation.

Samoas start with a buttery shortbread cookie with a hole stamped out the middle. Think of it as a sugary, oversized, and decadent Cherrio, if you will. Then, the cookie is blanketed in a generous carpeting of dessicated and toasted coconut flakes and enrobed with a gluey caramel adhesive. The cookie is then decorated with swirly chocolate stripes, which hypnotically beckon your lips and tongue for a sweet taste. The end result after this arduous cookie-making process is "the Samoa," the Girl Scout cookie of all cookies! And yes, I can polish off an entire box in one day!

If the Girl Scout cookie season was year-round, Samoas really would be my everyday pleasure!

15 comments:

  1. The Girl Scouts have invaded some markets in our area. They're by the door as you go in, and who could refuse when they look up at you with doe eyes and in a baby voice ask "Mister, would you like to buy some cookies?" No other sales force is more effective.

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  2. *gasp* PE, you used the word "Samoa." This is a violation of political correctness! They must be called "Caramel Delites." :-)

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  3. My favorites are the thin mints and tag-a-longs (peanut butter patties). I am probably the only person I know who DOESN'T like the samoas. But that's because I despise the texture and taste of coconut!

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  4. yum yum! i could probably eat a whole box in one sitting. good thing i have a little bit of self control, so usually only eat half :)

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  5. Oh, I started spleen venting in your comments, and then decided to take my tirade about Older Girl Scouts over to my blog.

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  6. Thin mints will always have a soft spot in my heart. Have you ever tried freezing them prior to eating?

    I must say the Somoa is a very photogenic cookie.

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  7. One of the guys at work has two little nieces. I ended up buying a crate of Thin Mints and what used to be called Tagalongs.

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  8. Here in Canada, we don't get the Samoas. We only have the thin mints (chocolate mint wafers, covered with chocolate) and the chocolate & vanilla creme sandwhich cookies. I remember there was a big furor a few years ago when a different company started making the sandwich cookies - they certainly tasted different.

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  9. I am a Girl Scout of 9 years, I must say that at first I loved Thin Mints, but I tried Samoas, they have by far been my favorite of all cookies.

    The best feeling is after Girl Scout Cookie season, you realize that you hid a box in your freezer.

    MMM....good.

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  10. You know, the Girl Scouts must have something against speakers of Austronesian languages: first we have the Samoas, and then we have the Tagalongs, which is what people sound like when the word "Tagalog" is mispronounced. Hmm... Hahahaha.

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  11. Those are definitely jazzier than any Girl Scout cookies from my day...they look just great!

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  12. I, too, polished off a box of these lickety split. I don't know what it is about the delightful crispy chewy Samoa! They're irresistable, which makes me completely unstoppable!

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  13. I know it Elmo Monster, little kids kill me!

    It totally felt wrong Eric, but I just followed what it said on the box! I have heard of the "Caramel Delites" name, but like "Hellman's Mayonnaise" and "Edy's Ice Cream," I never knew it by that name.

    You have excellent taste in the thin mints Charise, I like those too!

    Stacy, I think we ought to get together, so we'd each have half a box! Otherwise, I think we'd both eat a whole box!

    I read your post Mary Sue, and all I can say is "Preach it!"

    You have excellent taste Douglas Cress, those are my favorites too! And I had a roommate who used to freeze them, and they were especially flavorful and "minty" when frozen!

    Shoot, I wish I knew you when I was a Girl Scout Chubby Panda, I'd make a killing in sales!

    If the Girl Scouts, Nabisco, or the Keebler man made my cookies differently, I'd cause a furor too Archivarian!

    Can you freeze samoas too Stephanie? And congratulations about being a Girl Scout (for nine years)! You've achieved such an accomplishment!

    I know Sibuduhman, I am sorry that I proliferated that (perhaps derogatory) cookie name.

    I could look at them all day Wind Whisperer, and eat them all day too!

    Sheri, you and I are like twins, because I inhale those cookies too! We need to get together with Stacy (from above) and all have a party and share them together!

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  14. gosh, did they change the name again? to caramel delites? that's ridiculous. i remember back in the day when it was CCC's...cookie, caramel and chocolate. of course, this was ages ago when i was a girl scout...

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  15. I HAVE A COPYCAT RECIPE FOR SAMOAS - EMAIL ME AND I'LL SHARE -

    JG327@AOL.COM

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