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Monday, March 22, 2010

The Ten Retired Girl Scout Cookies Fans Miss Most


Everyone has a favorite when it comes to Girl Scout cookies. You can claim to like many of them, but at the end of the day, allegiance usually falls into one cookie camp. I’m on Team Thin Mint and have been since childhood. My loyalty was only cemented in college when my roommate introduced me to the wonder that is frozen Thin Mints. Clearly, I’m not alone in my love, since they’re currently the most popular cookie, monopolizing 25 percent of sales. (Sorry, coconut lovers: Samoas trail behind, at 19 percent.)

But, whether you live for Samoas (also known as Caramel deLites, depending on which of the two Girl Scout cookie suppliers—ABC Smart Cookie and Little Brownie Bakers—sells in your area) or hoard Tagalongs (aka Peanut Butter Patties), chances are, you feel quite strongly about them. So imagine how devastating it would be to find out they were put into retirement. Every year, old and often beloved cookies have to make way for newer kinds, much to the chagrin of Girl Scout cookie enthusiasts across the land. But though they’re no longer in production, certain varieties remain steadfastly in consumers’ memories—and hearts. (Some pictures approximated).

1. Lemon Coolers
These vanilla wafers had a touch of lemon zest and were dusted with powdered sugar. The sugar was replaced with lemon icing and the name changed to Lemonades, but hardcore fans still pine for the powdered variety.


2. Aloha Chips
Aloha Chips were around for only a couple of years in the early 2000s and sold only in certain areas of the country, but they’re still mentioned in online forums and articles dedicated to Girl Scout cookie nostalgia. They were dotted with white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts.


3. Kookaburras
Some remember these as Kit Kats in cookie form. Kookaburras had layers of wafers and caramel that were coated in milk chocolate.


4. Scot-Teas
Shortbread cookies are one of three types that must be offered every year by Girl Scout troops. (The other two are Thin Mints and Peanut Butter Sandwiches/Do-Si-Dos.) But whether they’re called Shortbreads or Trefoils in your town, they lack the sprinkled sugar that endeared cookie enthusiasts to Scot-Teas.


5. Oxfords/Chalet Cremes
Back before the Girl Scouts organization focused on selling cookies you couldn’t get anywhere else (sneaky!), it offered what we know today as Oreos. These chocolate cookies with vanilla crème filling were sold back in the early fundraising days.

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6. Ole Oles
Think of Ole Oles like Mexican wedding cookies with coconut. These powdered sugar cookies had pecans and bits of coconut and were sold between 2001 and 2003 before they got the ax.



7. Iced Berry Piñatas
Sounds like a fun name for party punch, but Piñatas were actually cookie versions of the Danish pastry. They were sugar cookies with berry jam at the center and icing drizzled on top.



8. Juliettes
Juliettes were supposedly named after the Girl Scouts’ founder, Juliette Low. In some parts of the country, they were called Golden Nut Clusters. With milk chocolate, caramel, and pecans, they developed a wide fan base during their run from the 1980s to the mid-’90s.


9. Double Dutch
Like Oxfords/Chalet Cremes, these chocolate cookies with chocolate chips weren’t unique enough for the Girl Scouts organization to keep them in rotation longer than a couple of years.



10. Golden Yangles
Technically, these aren’t cookies, but I found enough references to them on the Internet to warrant their inclusion. During the 1980s, the Girl Scouts tried to get into the cracker market with Golden Yangles, cheddar-flavored, triangle-shaped crackers. As far as I can tell, that was the first and last attempt, but fans still haven’t forgotten them.

I’d never heard of some of these prior to my research, but the way people talk about Lemon Coolers, Aloha Chips, and Juliettes, I can’t help but wonder what I’ve missed out on. Thin Mints probably won’t be discontinued anytime soon, but based on how many cookies the Girl Scouts have rotated through since they began selling in 1917, I’d better buy a few extra boxes this season, just to be sure.

1 comments:

W.C.Camp March 23, 2010 at 1:08 AM  

Did they really have a cookie named a Yangle??? I don't think I would stick anything in my mouth called a Yangle - too scary? My favs were the shortbread ones but they had the SUGAR on top. Now they have gotten rid of that. Too Bad. Nice post and blog. W.C.C.

Here is my own experience with Girl Scout cookies.
http://pjmonolog.blogspot.com/2010/03/cookie-conundrum.html