WASHINGTON — December may be the most wonderful time of the year, but this year, we're calling February the most delicious! Girl Scout cookie season has officially arrived, and this year our favorite little entrepreneurs are making it even easier for you to have your cookie and eat it, too -- all without ever leaving your couch.
Just like everything else that COVID has upended for the past two years the Girl Scouts of America have had to get inventive to continue safely selling their cookies in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, hosting drive-thru cookie booths and virtual events.
But for 2022, the Girl Scouts have teamed up with delivery app DoorDash to offer cookies on-demand from February through April. Customers can purchase three or more boxes of their favorite cookies from Thin Mints to Samoas, Tagalongs and Trefoils at $5 per box.
"As a Girl Scout Cookie lover myself, I am so excited to welcome Girl Scouts of the USA to our platform, providing a fast and convenient option for customers to access beloved Girl Scout Cookies on-demand, while empowering Girl Scouts to meaningfully grow their cookie businesses," said Shanna Prevé, DoorDash's VP of strategic partnerships and business development, in a release "Through this collaboration, we aim to provide access and opportunity for Girl Scouts, while providing their neighborhoods with safe, efficient, and enjoyable ways to support their local troops."
Cookie lovers who don't want to pay delivery fees can also use the Girl Scouts "cookie finder" tool online. Just type in your zipcode and you'll find all the dates and locations for Girl Scout Cookie sales in your area. Or text the word "cookies" to 59618 and the cookie finder will be sent straight to your phone.
If you know a Girl Scout you personally want to support from afar, check to see if she can send you a link to her "digital cookie sales" platform.
The Girl Scouts of America also introduced a new cookie this year, called an Adventureful. It's described as "an indulgent, brownie-inspired cookie with caramel-flavored crème and a hint of sea salt," according to a release from the GSA.
Girl Scout cookie season is recognized nationally from January through April, but local timing and product availability varies.
In 2019, Girl Scouts of Greater Washington, the largest council in the country, sold 4.6 million boxes of cookie deliciousness. And at $5 a box, the sales are a triumph of both marketing and female empowerment.
"The cookie sales teach girls important life skills beyond just selling," Lidia Soto-Harmon, CEO of Girl Scouts Nation’s Capital, said in an interview in 2020. "Last year, girls in the community raised over $3M to be able to fund their works and activities locally, and the same will happen this year," Soto-Harmon said. "We are fueling the next generation of business leaders. We are also fueling the next generation of confident women."
It seems like a cardinal sin to eat only one type of Girl Scout Cookie, especially when there are so many to choose from. While the long-time fan favorites like Thin Mints and Samoas sell quickly for a reason, here's your cheat sheet to flavors in case you want to branch out ... or if you're grabbing another round of boxes "for a friend."
- For the traditionalist: Thin Mints
- For the traditionalist who hates chocolate: Trefoils
- Or for the chocolate lover with a twist: Samoas
- For the gluten-free and sweet lovers: Toffee-tastics
- For the ones who prefer fruity over chocolate: Lemon-Ups
- For the peanut-butter lovers: You have two options, and both are great. If you like rich and chocolatey, Tagalongs are your go-to. For those who want less sweet but just as nutty, Do-si-do's are on the menu.
According to Girl Scouts, the Mistletoe Troop in Muskogee, Okla., baked and sold the first-ever batch of Girl Scout Cookies in a high school cafeteria in 1917. A couple of years later, in 1922, American Girl magazine showcased a simple sugar cookie recipe. By 1939 the fist version of Thin Mints, called "Cooky-Mints," had appeared.
Soto-Harmon said First Lady Lou Henry Hoover can be given major credit for the switch from homemade cookies to bakeries.
"She was president of Girl Scouts and was the First Lady at the same time. She was the one in the 1920s who said, 'Wait a minute – why are we baking these cookies?'" Soto-Harmon said. "Can you imagine if we had cooks bake the cookies and then had the girls really honed in on the selling and the marketing instead of being in the kitchen? So the first commercial cookie sale happened under her lead."
The organization also amped up its production by growing its number of licensed baking sites. In an effort to be more consistent, the group went from 14 bakers in the 1960s to four by 1978. Now, just two bake the country's supply: Little Brownie Bakers in Louisville, Kentucky, and ABC Bakers in Richmond, Virginia.
While one might think a council uses the bakery closest to them, that's not the case. Each regional council – of which there are 112 – chooses which bakery to do business with. Even though the D.C. council is closer to Richmond, their baker is actually Little Brownie.