It’s Girl Scout Cookie time!
By Karen Rice
Girl Scouts – Diamonds of Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas had a blast recently, kicking off the 2019 Girl Scout Cookie program.
About 1,000 Girl Scouts and their leaders gathered at Fayetteville High School for a day of workshops, activity booths, prizes and getting pumped to sell the cookies everyone loves.
Ruby B., a 10-year-old Junior Girl Scout from Springdale was there with her 5-year-old sister Alexa, who’s a Daisy Girl Scout. Ruby sold more than 400 boxes of cookies last year, but it will be Alexa’s first year, and she’s hoping her sister will share her sales tips.
Audrey C., a five-year-old Daisy Girl Scout from Rogers is also excited about selling cookies for the first time, and says her favorite Girl Scout cookies are Thin Mints.
Brownie Girl Scout Addie P., who’s seven and from Bentonville, sold 400 boxes last year. This will be her third year selling and she’s looking forward to selling even more this year.
Neveah F., a nine-year-old from Tuckerman visited the booth run by Senior Girl Scout Grace S. and Cadette Girl Scout Eve R., and learned the do’s and don’t of booth sales.
Troops vote on how to spend their cookie sale money. Most troops said they would use the money to go camping, buy camping supplies or go on fun overnight trips to a zoo or aquarium. They also plan to donate money to help foster children and others in need.
This year, Girl Scouts in our area will be selling S’mores™, the most popular flavor to launch in the 102 years of Girl Scouts selling cookies; Thin Mints, the country’s national best-seller; Arkansas’ best-selling Samoas; and the classics, Tagalongs, Trefoils, Do-si-dos, Savannah Smiles and gluten-free Toffee-tastic cookies.
Selling cookies gives girls great lessons in setting goals, making decisions, managing money and learning people and business skills.
You can buy Girl Scout cookies by ordering from a Girl Scout, having a Girl Scout send you a Digital Cookie link to order online and have cookies shipped to you or visiting a booth sale in your area (booth sales begin March 1.)
To find a Girl Scout in your area,
email: info@girlscoutsdiamonds.org
Original Girl Scout Cookie Recipe from 1922
Ingredients:
1 cup of butter, or substitute
1 cup of sugar
2 tablespoons of milk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla
2 cups of flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
Directions:
Cream butter and sugar; add well-beaten eggs, then milk, flavoring, flour, and baking powder. Roll thin and bake in quick oven. (Sprinkle sugar on top.)
This amount makes six to seven dozen.
Modern-day tips (not part of the original recipe): Refrigerate batter for at least one hour before rolling and cutting cookies. Bake in a quick oven (375°) for approximately 8 to 10 minutes or until the edges begin to brown.
Fun Facts
The sale of cookies as a way to finance troop activities began as early as 1917, five years after Juliette Gordon Low started Girl Scouts in the United States, when the Mistletoe Troop in Muskogee, Oklahoma, baked cookies and sold them in its high school cafeteria as a service project.
Girls Scout cookies began as simple sugar cookies but now, 102 years later, there are many flavors to pick from:
Girl Scout S’mores® (dipped and sandwich), Thin Mints®, Samoas®, Tagalongs®, Trefoils®, Do-si-dos®, Savannah Smiles® and Toffee-tastic®.
In 1933, Girl Scouts of Greater Philadelphia Council baked cookies and sold them in the city’s gas and electric company windows. The price was just 23 cents per box of 44 cookies, or six boxes for $1.24!
In 1944, during World War II, when sugar, flour, and butter were in short supply, the Girl Scouts had to sell calendars as an alternative to cookies to raise money for activities.