Emergency Snow Day Girl Scout Cookies

Not-So-Thin Mints

Oh my goodness, how lucky we have been.

Ice? Yes.

Snow? Yes.

Power? YES!

And then cabin fever set in. One of my friends mentioned Girl Scout cookies, specifically Thin Mints, on Facebook. Why did she have to do that? Poked around the internet and found this recipe. There were other recipes out there, but they required chocolate cake mix. Not in my pantry. I had the ingredients for this one, so the experiment was a go.

My mother was the troop leader.
This is the only picture I have of
us together in our uniforms

I've been a girl scout since I was 4 years old. They don't technically have a category for 4-yr-olds, but my mother was the camp nurse that year, so I went too. Official enough for me. Oh yes, I have many happy girl scout memories. I know all the songs. How many of you know "High up, high on the mountain, they founded Our Chalet"? My first experience cleaning a stove was for a girl scout badge. I could go on and on.

A letter I sent home from camp.
It's hilarious.

Camp was a entire world to itself. The flag ceremonies, table hopping for meals, the crafts cabin! I will always associate the smell of Prell shampoo with Camp Bear Creek because they sold little tubes of it at the trading post. We washed our hair in the outdoor concrete block showers, along with the spiders and other creepy crawlies. We sent hand-written letters to our parents and received goodie boxes, as if two weeks away from home was an eternity. 

The dough scraper is a perfect
tool for cutting these. The recipe
says 1/4" but they should
definitely be thinner.

The dough is stiff!
Powerful mixer helps.

My daughter at one of her first
Brownie meetings.

I got to experience girl scouting from a whole new perspective when my daughter became a scout. Oh, the times we had. Yes, there were camping trips. Let me tell you, the first time we arrived at a camp and there was air-conditioning, I knew times had changed! So many memories. The ballet, kangaroo farm, waterfall hikes, tent camping at Stone Mountain, horseback riding ("vaulting" they call it, where you learn to do tricks), quiltmaking, river clean-ups, Thinking Day overnights, dolphin-watching, Juliette Gordon Low's home in Savannah. What a close little group her troop became over the years. I will always love each one of those girls.

The troop learning about marine life at Tybee Island.

I've managed to write lots more than you want to know and haven't even mentioned the star of the family, my sister, the overachiever girl scout who filled her sash with badges all the way up the back! She even went on a trip to California as a Senior scout by winning some kind of contest. Forgive me for not knowing all the details. Scouting prepared her to be a community leader. Last year, she was honored by the Girl Scouts of Kentuckiana with the Tough Cookie Award. I'm so proud of her. I only wish our mother could have been there to see it.

Out of the oven.
They don't spread at all.

Mint-flavored chocolate chips
are definitely the way to go if you
can find them.

And did I mention COOKIES? I'd hate to think how many boxes have passed through these hands over the years. I believe they cost 50 cents when I first sold them. I could wax nostalgic about unloading a semi trailer truckload on a rainy morning, or sorting hundreds of boxes for distribution, or the variety of flavors that have come and gone over the years (does anybody remember Sugar 'n Spice?)...   But through it all, there were Thin Mints. They have nothing to fear from the homemade variety. Sure, the ones I made are free from preservatives. For an emergency craving, they weren't bad. But I'll be stocking up when the real ones come out this year. They freeze beautifully.

Just for fun, here's a video you might enjoy:

And a shoe: