(Girl Scouts of Northern California/Little Brownie Bakers)
That Girl Scout knocking on your door represents much more than a box of cookies; the sale of Girl Scout cookies represents the world’s largest girl-led business, and Girl Scouts are profiting from it in more ways than just raising money.
What started as a way to finance troop activities in 1917 has developed into a program that helps scouts hone important life skills. Whether it is with business, making tough decisions, communicating with people, or just becoming better organized, many of a Girl Scout’s successes are thanks to a box of cookies. To make sure those cookies are paid their dues and to celebrate the achievements they represent, the organization has nominated Feb. 8 as National Girl Scout Cookies Day. The day not only pays tribute to the beloved scouts and cookies, but highlights all of the positive impacts that they make.
Here at The Daily Meal we think imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so we’ve developed a recipe for one our favorite Girl Scout cookies: Thin Mints. Peppermint, dark chocolate, and a crumbly texture make this cookie irresistible, and as it accounts for 25 percent of the Girl Scouts’ annual sales, it’s one of the most popular, too. You’ll find that the cookie is as easy to make as a shortbread recipe, and as always, there’s something about a warm cookie right out of the oven that makes it special. So whip up a batch of these minty coins in honor of the Girl Scouts and all of their successful cookies, and don’t forget to put in your order for a few boxes, too.
The Dough
For our cookie, we started with a basic shortbread recipe and added a little cocoa powder to the dry ingredients. To the butter and sugar, we added peppermint extract to get that mint flavor that we’ve all come to know and love in our Thin Mints.
Thinning a Thin Mint
They’re not called Thin Mints for nothing. To get our cookies nice and skinny, we rolled the dough out into golf ball-sized rounds and gave them a little smash with the bottom of a glass.
The Cookie
Our baked cookies were crisp, rustically round, and delicious. So delicious that some may have met their demise before getting a coat of chocolate icing.
See all the steps and the recipe here
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