So how did I end up with 50 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies this year?
Well, I’ll tell you but before I do, did you know that the Girl Scouts recently had to face down a boycott of their beloved annual cookie drive? Seriously, they did.
I ask you , is that any way to treat this iconic organization dedicated to building “girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place”? I didn’t think so either. Adding insult to injury this nasty affair exploded only just a few short months ahead of the organization’s 100th birthday celebration.
What on earth did The Girl Scouts do to put spark to kindling and ignite such a fire alarm call for a national boycott of our beloved Girl Scout Cookie sale?
The whole nasty affair started when a troop in Colorado had the unmitigated gall to allow a particular 7 year-old child into their troop. This particular child happened to be born a boy who had always self-identified as being a girl. It happens. Inside of their community there was no drama here as this child had already been accepted as a girl. I can’t claim to fully understand this type of situation or the challenges it must bring for the child and her parents but I can imagine what a blessing it must have been for her to be accepted into such a group. A group of her peers that welcomed her to participate in all the activities that have made the Girl Scouts great for a century.
Did the other girls in the troop have a problem with this? No. Did the parents of the girls in the troop have a problem with it? No. Did the local or national organizations have a problem with it? No, not at all.
And lack of a problem all around was a problem for a certain 14 year-old girl from California named Taylor. (More than likely it was her parent’s problem too, don’t you think?) She (or they) decided to make a YouTube video calling for a national cookie boycott in order to protest this troop’s efforts to, um, build this child’s confidence and character. They must not have thought she deserved to have any? (You can find the video yourself if you want to see it, I just refuse to link to it here.)
This is all it took to open up the flood gates for a national “piling on” of various unfounded accusations against the beloved Girl Scouts. Their members promise to do their best, to be honest and fair, friendly and helpful, considerate and caring, and now they were accused of everything from being a “radical group” promoting abortions and homosexuality to being a “tactical arm” of Planned Parenthood.
Uh huh. Yeah. The Girl Scouts. (What are they doing on those camping trips anyway?)
To be honest, I don’t really know that many Girl Scouts. The ones I do know are the daughters of my friends, co-workers, and neighbors who stand outside our local supermarket every year or call me up to sweetly ask me if I would l buy a few boxes to support their camping trips, their council or their many charitable activities. I always do it gladly every year and then suffer through the deliciousness and bloat of my good deed.
Of course, I also love to see the young girls become confident salespeople while they work towards a collective or individual goal. These girls really didn’t strike me as the “promoters of immorality” types that certain Indiana lawmakers might have you believe. If you ask me, politics has to be pretty low for its practitioners to start laying into this fine organization.
This boycott didn’t sit very well with a few friends of mine either so we made a pact amongst ourselves to each buy $100 dollars worth of cookies from the first Girl Scout that approached us to make a sale. (Moms who do the dirty work and merely circulate sign-up sheets at work were disqualified!)
Only two days after making our pledge a work-mate of mine brought her young Girl Scout daughter into the office to sell to a captive audience. She commandeered one of the vacant executive offices with a large window in front and set up a “Girl Scout Cookie Store” where all who passed by could see. How is that for good thinking?
Boxes of cookies where set out on an empty bookshelf which made a very attractive retail display for the ever-popular Thin Mints. Other varieties were used to make up an “end caps” and teaser display on the desk where people would have to sit down to write their checks. This girl certainly has a future in merchandising. Once everything was just perfect she invited her customers into her “shop” by announcing on the PA that she was “open for business.”
A shrewdly announced a “limited supply of Dos-Si-Dos” which caused an initial rush to her store lest any Dos-Si-Dos fan had to go without. “This girl is good” I thought to myself. I waited for a quiet moment before going on in. Once my moment arrived we exchanged a mild hello and before she timidly offered to help me make my “cookie selections”. She was a definite “10” on the “adorable scale”! I played my part and started asking questions to make sure she actually knew what she was selling. (She did.) Which were her favorites? (Naturally it was one of the slow sellers she was trying to promote.) Which did she think I would like the most? Etc.
Finally, I paused for a moment and pretended as if I still had a question to ask or a decision to make. Finally I uttered:
“They all look so good. Hmmm… I’ll take 25 boxes please.”
The smile I got in return wasn’t worth one hundred dollars. It was worth much, much more. Priceless.
Causing such a smile was such a high that I quickly decided to do it all again and challenged my friends to re-up. They all had similar stories to tell so it didn’t take much convincing to get them to part with more of their cash for a good cause.
This time around I ended up buying a $100 worth of cookies from a Girl Scout who was actually dressed up as a Thin Mint. She was standing outside my local Trader Joe’s market.
“Mom! Mom! O.M.G. this man wants $100 worth of cookies!”
Her friends, a costumed Trefoil and Do-Si-Dos started screaming and jumping up and down to share in her excitement. Admittedly under normal circumstances I don’t much appreciate the sound of screaming girls one bit but this day and under these circumstances this particular noise that would normally crack a windshield sounded like a symphony. .
At $100 a pop it is was an expensive high so I had to cap it off right there.
So there you go. That is how I ended up with 50 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies. I was tempted to hoard them all but I’ve been getting way too many smiles giving them away wherever I go. Just last night I took some boxes to the hospital nurses and med techs who are taking care of a friend. They appreciated my appreciation and I have the Girl Scouts to thank for that. I gave two boxes to the garbage guys this morning and a box to the security guard down in the lobby. Smiles all around and so easy.
So, the next time a cookie selling Girl Scout crosses your path, buy something. In fact, buy more than you usually do and give some away. When you buy and then give away a box you get two smiles for the price of one.
Happy Birthday Girl Scouts! Don’t let the turkeys get you down. You are loved for all you do to
to serve God and our country, to help people at all times, and to live by the Girl Scout Law.
Thin Mint Cookie Scones
adapted from The Food Librarian as adapted from the Art and Soul of Baking by Cindy Mushet. But hey, they’re any cream scone recipe you have with chopped up cookies in them. Adapt your own!
This is what you will need:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoons salt
- 1 stick butter (cold, cut into pieces)
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream (very cold)
- I sleeve chopped Thin Mint cookies(Should be about 1 cup. I tried to separate my cookie ‘chips’ from the ‘dust’ so the scones didn’t get ‘cloudy’.)
- 1 egg for egg wash
- 2 Tablespoons sanding sugar (granulated will work too!)
This is how you make it:
- If you are going to cook the scones immediately you will want to preheat the over to 425 degrees.
- My secret for perfect scones, however, is to not cook them immediately but chill them in the refrigerator for 2 hours or freeze them overnight and cook them from frozen. Shhh, don’t tell anyone now that I’ve told you.
- Mix together dry ingredients in a big mixing bowl.
- Using a pastry cutter or your fingers cut in the butter until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. My other scone secret is to always just use your fingers and mash the cold butter between your thumb and fingers flattening them so that the ‘pebbles are no bigger than a dime and flat. This butter cooks from cold and steams the scones making them moist and flaky. There, now you have my two secrets. Keep them to yourselves please.
- Add cream and cookie bits and blend quickly being careful not to over blend. I use my hands for this as well ’cause he, they’re already covered in flour. Did I say not to overmix? Thats another secret. Just don’t. But do be sure to mix in all the flour from the bowl.
- Shape the dough into an 8 or 9 inch round or a square and cut with a sharp knife into shapes. I cut squares and then cut them into triangles making nice smallish scones for my office audience.
- Place on parchment or Silpat covered baking sheet.
- Brush with egg wash.
- Sprinkle with sugar.
- Bake for 14-16 minutes (depending on your oven) or until golden brown.
Packed and ready to take to the office for even more smiles! Happy Birthday Girl Scouts!
Good for you and your friends! Unfortunately, I wasn’t exposed to any Girl Scout cookies this year, but had been, I definitely would’ve bought in abundance as well. Your scones look great, as always. And, I’ll just help myself to that “I Want Some” bowl!
Trevor, I’m 100 percent behind you! I am so sick of these so called “moral” people telling other people how they should live their lives! If I knew about this beforehand, I would have bought more than the 2 boxes I bought. Samoas are my favorite!
Your scones look wonderful! Great post…hooray for you!!
I used to be a Girl Scout Leader. This is a wonderful organization!
WOW, $200 on Girl Scout cookies? Ship it to holla balla! I am not a super fan either, but there is always that sentimental factor involved. Nice trick with the scone…looking forward to hearing about that pie, too. Luckily I fast during this time from all animal products so I miss out on all the GS fun, except for the stuff that get stashed in the freezer.
Well, you know me – even if the Girl Scouts WERE promoting a so-called “gay lifestyle” (whatever that is) it would only make me like them more. Right wing moralists can suck on a thin mint. Love your photos!!!!
Lifelong GS here, with a helpful tip.
As a girl, I could sell 400 boxes and go to horse camp for 2 weeks essentially for free. Nowadays, as a leader, I’m so sad that from a $4.00 (and up!) box of cookies, the troop gets 30 cents. Yes. 30 cents. The incentives for the girls are total crap, too. 50 boxes nets a fuzzy-topped pen? Seriously?!
So here’s my plea. Buy the cookies you want to eat and enjoy the heck out of them. But if you really want to support a troop, just make a donation. 100% of that goes to the troop. Even a $1.00 donation is more than they’d get from three boxes sold.
Oh, and THANKS for supporting GS!
This information changes depending on the area of the country, in which you live. It is also only part of the whole picture.
The troop does in fact only get change out of each box they sell, however, the council which they are a part of gets a large portion to pay for the camps that those girls are able to attend as well as the many regular “activities” put on by the council. So, in reality, the girls do get more than 75% of each box’s sale. When you look at the overall picture.
Anonymous is correct in saying the prizes generally lack in quality. However, the girls really do like them. Even if we think they’re jankie. And when it comes down to it, isn’t that what this is all about? The girls.
I certainly can’t argue with the point that if you donate money directly to troops, they get to keep all the money. As my post explains, I had other motives. I was countering a noxious boycott and buying smiles.
Either way- good on you for supporting young women in their organizations- what better way than to score all those Thin Mints…..btw- I adore them frozen!
I’m a Tagalong girl myself (as was evident Saturday by the multiple boxes I walked away with when I was “girl-scouted” at the conventiece store).
I love that you took up the cause on behalf of this 7 year old. I may be fairly right wing (my secret is out – please don’t hate me), but it totally burns my craw when ignorant people do ignorant things. I don’t care which wing they sit on. Ignorant is ignorant.
Lovely scones with a good cause.
I want to punch that little 14 year old hater in the face (did I just say that?). WTF is wrong with people? Okay, rant over. These damn scones look amazing. What a wonderful way to show case my favorite girl scout cookie 🙂
What a wonderful gesture, Trevor. It’s an amazing organization, from what I’ve been reading. I was a Girl Guide myself and was pleased to find out that they are working on inclusion for trans kids, too.
Politics aside, have you tasted the recently-revived mint M&Ms? Worth hunting down if you like chocolate mints!
(JH)
I don’t know how I missed this post, Trevor, but I’m so proud of you! Abnoxious people seem to think they have more right to their opnions than everyone else does to theirs. The only positive thing I have to say is that we live in a country that allows each of us, a**holes, and all to express our opinions.
You can also purchase Girls Scout cookies for troops overseas – which is what I normally do because I don’t especially like them but remember selling them as a kid, so like to support them. I can honestly say that being a Girl Scout influenced me for the better!
Trevor. BRAVO!!! All the way around, writing, recipe, photos, STORY! You are the sweetest. Where did I put those dang tissues?