Girl Scout Cookies

Girl Scout Cookies

After nearly 100 years of selling cookies, the Girl Scouts are adding a few new twists this year.

There will be a new cookie, new environmentally friendly packaging, and a twist to the selling process for some areas in the Girls Scouts of Eastern Iowa & Western Illinois (GSEIWI) district.

First, the new cookie. Shout Outs are a light and crisp Belgian-style carmelized cookie with no artificial colors, zero trans fat, no artificial preservatives, no high fructose syrup and no hydrogenated oils.

Next, the Thanks-A-Lot cookies will be sporting new packaging that doesn’t use paperboard, just a wrapper around the plastic container holding the cookies. Nationwide, the Girl Scouts organization says 150 tons of paperboard and countless trees will be saved through use of the new packaging. And the packaging is smaller, thus saving 35,000 gallons of gas in transportation.

And lastly, while most cookies will be sold in the area door-to-door beginning Jan. 14 through Jan. 30, some girls in 25 troops in the GSEIWI district will participate in a direct sales pilot. This will allow them to sell cookies on the spot to the homes they visit.

Those buying cookies also can donate to soldiers through the Troop 2 Troop program. Last year, scouts in the district provided 15,000 boxes of cookies to Iowa’s Bravest and River Bend Troop Support for distribution to soldiers from Iowa and Illinois.

The cookie sales provide funds for programming.

And of course, the top-selling Thin Mint and popular Caramel deLite are back.

Through the spring, Girl Scout troops will be selling cookies at booths set up in areas such as department stores and shopping centers. If you wish to buy cookies and have not been called on by Jan. 30, look for cookie booths in your community (posted on the council’s website at GirlScoutsToday.com) or call Girl Scouts of Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois at (800) 798-0833 to be connected with a local troop.

And Girl Scout Cookies aren’t just good to eat by themselves, they’re perfect to use in creating interesting desserts.

Check out the following recipes, courtesy of ABC Bakery, the manufacturer of Girl Scout Cookies.

Thanks-A-Lot Ice Cream Cake

1 package Thanks-A-Lot cookies, crushed

1 cup butter, melted

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 gallon vanilla ice cream, softened

1/2 cup milk

2 (3.4 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix

1 (12 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed

Combine Thanks-A-Lot cookies, butter and sugar in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish and press mixture into sides and bottom of dish. In a large bowl, combine ice cream and milk with electric mixer. Blend in pudding mix, then pour mixture into prepared crust. Top with whipped topping and refrigerate for 2 hours before serving. Refrigerate until served. Makes 6 to 8 servings.