Ami Masler from Holy Rosary Troop 10105 shows off a box of Thin Mints.
If putting Thin Mints in the freezer is as gourmet as you get, check out the recipes that tag along with the Girl Scouts’ annual cookie sale currently underway. Thank You Berry Much Granola works for breakfast, Do-Si-Dos Peanut Thai Chicken takes care of dinner, and Thin Mint Brownies is a perfect dessert.
Clearly, the Girl Scouts of America are thinking outside of the box. So are their moms.
“I hear a favorite for moms is mixing Kahlua, vanilla ice cream, and Thin Mints in a blender,” said Linda Safford, annual appeals manager for the regional Girl Scouts organization in Memphis called Heart of the South. “But we don’t share that recipe with the girls.”
A springtime ritual for Brownies, Girl Scouts, and cookie lovers, the annual Girl Scout cookie sale begins in mid-February and continues through March 16. Little Brownie Bakers, a division of Kellogg, bakes the organization’s eight trademark cookies sold in the Mid-South. During peak production times, Little Brownie bakes more than 4.5 million Thin Mints a day.
In Memphis, cases of cookies fill two tractor trailers parked in the lot of the organization’s East Memphis headquarters. It’s a good thing, because the organization, which has troops in 59 counties, has set an ambitious sales goal.
“Our goal this year is to sell 140,000 cases,” said Jenny Jones, director of marketing and communications. “There are 12 boxes to a case.”
Do the math, and it means troops in Tennessee and Mississippi need to sell 1,680,000 boxes of cookies, and many of those boxes will be the two most popular varieties.
“Nationally, Thin Mints are the most popular,” Jones said. “But in our council area, it’s Somoas. Maybe it’s a Southern thing.”
Troop Leader Vonda Milnor concurred, although she admitted a propensity for the new lemon cookies called Savannah Smile. Milnor and her Brownies from Holy Rosary School Troop 10105 sold cookies Saturday in the drafty entrance to Superlo in East Memphis. On Friday evening, the girls will set up a table at The Booksellers at Laurelwood.
Troops get to keep about a quarter of the money they raise through cookie sales to help fund troop activities, Milnor said. “Last year we got about $700,” she explained. “It really helps.”
