Cookie Season

It's once again Girl Scout cookie season, but this year comes with some changes. Most notably, the addition of online ordering and that the price of a box of cookies went up 50 cents to $4.00 per box. It's all for the kids, I know, I know... but I will agree with my mom in that they are going to price themselves out of selling cookies before too long; especially when you consider that you only get 16 or less cookies in most boxes. There will always be those people who buy them no matter what, but for those of us who don't have a niece, cousin, or relative selling cookies, it's a bit of a tough sell to convince me to buy cookies just for the heck of it. Jarrod and I don't plan on getting any this year because, honestly, we don't love those cookies that much. Heck, I still have Tagalongs from last year, that's how rarely I eat them.

In thinking about the price change, it doesn't seem all that surprising considering food costs for everything have risen over the past year. So I'm guessing the ingredients to make the cookies went up in price, thus they needed to raise the price.

I've never been a fan of the Thin Mints, which I am sure is still their biggest seller (take this from a girl who used to sell 200-250+ cookies a year [when they were $2-2.50 a box, mind you] the Thin Mints always outsold everything else by a landslide.) But if you are a fan of the Samoas*, like myself, I am here to tell you there is an alternative...

Not to rain on the Girl Scouts' parade, but you can get Samoas in the grocery store year round. I finally tried a package of Keebler "Coconut Dreams" cookies which, by the example on the front, looked to be like Samoas.

They ARE Samoas.

They are the same size and they taste EXACTLY the same. And I'm not speaking in terms of how some off-brand things 'kind of' taste like the name brand, enough so that you think to yourself 'Ok this will do, it tastes pretty much the same.' No, these are dead on; in a blind taste test, you'd have no idea which one was which. I even compared the nutrition labels: they have the exact same calories, same fat content, and the ingredients list is the same except for being in a slightly different order—but not by much.

And just for funzies:

• Keebler Coconut Dreams: $2.50 per box, 18 cookies, 14¢/cookie
• Girl Scout Samoas: $4.00 per box, 15 cookies, 26¢/cookie

*I'm talking about "Samoas", not the stupid "Caramel DeLites" our area was treated to a couple years ago because the region's chapter decided to switch bakers. The Caramel DeLites sucked, and I have no doubt it was because they were a "lighter" cookie with less calories and fat (it's true, they have less than Samoas.)