 
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
              
|
Thursday, February 22, 2001 By Jane Miller
If you're an easy mark for every Daisy, Brownie, Junior, Cadette and Senior during their annual Girl Scout cookie sales, the Scouts have a solution.
There's a way to use the cookies that have escaped the munching, crunching and lunching at your house -- use them as an ingredient.
The girls, their parents and leaders had a contest to develop recipes. For example, Lemon Drops can coat a chicken breast, and Reduced Fat Apple Cinnamon Cookies become the crust of a delicious cheesecake. And save your own ideas, because another contest will take place next January.
Girl Scout cookies should be arriving any day now. If you can't spare a single cookie or no Scout showed up on your doorstep (or parent at your office), beginning tomorrow, troops will sell cookies from booths set up in shopping centers and grocery stores for several weekends.
Susan Orr, director of marketing and communications for Girl Scouts of Southwestern Pennsylvania, says Girl Scout cookie recipe contests have been held across the country. A small one took place a year ago at Century III Mall for Girl Scouts only. Next year, her organization hopes the community, including restaurants, will participate.
"Girl Scouting has always been a place for supporting adults to leave a positive impression on girls and help them grow into successful adults," said Orr, a former Scout herself.
Next year's local contest won't be limited to desserts, she says. In last year's contest an honorable mention was given to the recipe with Lemon Drop cookies as a coating for baked chicken. It was submitted by Karen Lucarelli, then a second-grader in South Park Brownie Girl Scout Troop 160.
The judge's top award went to Cinnamon Cheesecake Squares submitted by Katie Feightner, 10 at the time, from White Oak Junior Girl Scout Troop 853. She is now a fifth-grader in her fifth year of Scouting.
Katie credits her mom, Terry, as the mastermind behind the recipe. They altered a No Bake Cheesecake dessert, available on the grocery store shelves, and replaced the graham cracker crust with the Reduced Fat Apple Cinnamon Cookies.
"I wanted it to have a little bit of nutritional value, and cut down on the fat," said Terry. It was also important that the recipe be simple enough for a child to help out.
"For crushing the cookies, put them in a plastic bag, and have your child use a rolling pin or the bottom of a drinking glass to crush them up," she said.
"Do the same for mixing the filling, too. You can mix it all in a plastic bag. It's adult-friendly, too, because a lot of adults don't have the time."
The recipe was judged on appeal, taste, aroma and texture. It took two tries to perfect the recipe.
"The first time the crust fell apart. We didn't have enough margarine," she said. They also added a little cinnamon and vanilla the second time. "You do get a nice aroma. It just kind of fell together then."
"People really liked it," added Katie. Mother and daughter plan to come up with another recipe for next year's contest.
For Orr, who has a daughter old enough for Scouting next year, the contest will be about emphasizing the values of Scouting. "Whether it's through leading a troop, or volunteering during a camping trip, or creating recipes using Girl Scout cookies, spending time with your child is an important part of the Girl Scout experience, not to mention their childhood."
Girl Scout cookies are not an inexpensive ingredient, though many buyers probably purchase them as much for good cause as good cookies. They cost $3 a box. Of that, 80 cents is the actual cost of the cookies. Marcia Barber, executive director of Girl Scouts of Southwestern Pennsylvania, gives the rest of the breakdown: Each troop gets an average of 53 cents for each box sold and an additional 13 cents pays for the cost of conducting the sale, including the incentives for the girls.
"What remains is $1.54, which supports the troops indirectly through our resource center, training for leaders or camp program," she says.
In southwestern Pennsylvania, there are five camp properties totaling 1,400 acres. "When a troop uses the facility for a weekend, we charge $25. You know that doesn't cover the cost and upkeep of what 20 girls can use," she says.
Girl Scout cookies have come a long way since 1917, the first year they were sold. This year marks the 89th anniversary for Girl Scouts, which now has more than 3.5 million members, making it the world's largest voluntary organization for girls. The Girl Scouts of Southwestern Pennsylvania is the 17th largest of the nation's 327 Girl Scout councils.
When adults and children work together to create recipes from Girl Scout cookies, it reflects the early days of cookie sales. In the 1920s, Girl Scouts across the country baked simple sugar cookies at home with their mothers, packaged them in wax paper sealed bags with stickers, and sold them at neighborhood bake sales for 25 to 30 cents per dozen.
During the 1930s, licensed bakers across the country created sugar cookies. The bakers were also allowed to use the Girl Scout name and trademark Trefoil design. When the Girl Scout logo changed several years ago, so did the cookie design.
This original cookie always has consistently high sales across the country, says Susan Jenkins, associate director of sales for the region. But the top two nationwide favorites are from the 1950s.
Depending upon where you live, the favorites are Thin Mints, the chocolate-covered mint wafer, or Samoas, the caramel, chocolate and coconut cookie.
"North of the Mason-Dixon Line, thin mints are No. 1, and south of the Mason-Dixon Line, Samoas are No.1. You can even see in this council: The farther south you go, the more Samoas are sold," Jenkins says.
Today there are two commercial bakers that produce a total of 18 varieties of Girl Scout cookies to be sold this year. Each baker has its specialty offered only to the geographical region it serves. Animal Treasures, a chocolate-drizzled shortbread cookie shaped like an endangered species, is made by ABC/Interbake. The Pittsburgh region's specialty cookie is Aloha Chips with Macadamia Nuts, offered for the first time by Little Brownie Bakers, in Louisville, Ky.
Little Brownie Bakers sends Scout leaders copies of recipes that have won some of the regional contests. Many are based on existing recipes, but replace a crumbled ingredient with the cookies. Replacing a graham cracker crust with a favorite Girl Scout cookie is one suggestion. Usually, one box of crushed cookies is enough to make a base for an 8-by-8-inch dish or pie plate.
Girl Scout cookies will be sold at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center Home Show March 9 to 18. Also look for cookies at grocery stores and shopping centers in more than 100 Pittsburgh-area communities on the weekends of Feb. 24 and March 3 and 10.
Jane Miller is an Avalon-based free-lance writer who kitchen-tested the recipes.
Related Recipes:
|
||||||||||||||||||||
