90+ Years of Cookies

By: Becky F.

            Thin Mints, Samoas, Trefoils, Do-Si-Dos, Tagalongs, Savannah Smiles. You don't need to be a Girl Scout to recognize these names. Everybody knows the names of the Girl Scout cookies. The Girl Scouts have been selling these delicious treats for more than 90 years. The first cookie sale was in December of 1917 in Muskogee, Oklahoma. A troop was having a cookie sale at their cafeteria for a service project.

In the summer of 1922, a magazine published by the Girl Scout National Headquarters showed an article by Florence E. Neil. Miss Neil featured a cookie recipe that was given to the 2,000 girls in the council.

An Early Girl Scout Cookie Recipe:

Ingredients

1 cup butter


1 cup sugar plus additional amount for topping (optional)


2 eggs


2 tablespoons milk


1 teaspoon vanilla


2 cups flour


1 teaspoon salt


2 teaspoons baking powder

Directions

Cream butter and the cup of sugar; add well-beaten eggs, then milk, vanilla, flour, salt, and baking powder. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Roll dough, cut into trefoil shapes, and sprinkle sugar on top, if desired. Bake in a quick oven (375°) for approximately 8 to 10 minutes or until the edges begin to brown. Makes six- to seven-dozen cookies.

Click here to see this recipe at GirlScouts.org.

In 1934, the first commercially manufactured cookies were sold by the Greater Philadelphia Girl Scout Council. Quickly following them was the Girl Scout Federation of Greater New York, which consisted of the councils from Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island in 1935. They bought their own die in the shape of a trefoil and put the words Girl Scout Cookies on the box.

By the next year, the Girl Scouts were processing the license for the very first commercial bakers to make the cookies. 
The very next year in 1937, over 125 councils held cookie sales.

For a long time, there was only one type of cookie available. It was almost 15 years later that two more cookies were introduced.  In 1951, the cookies were: Sandwich, Shortbread, and Chocolate Mints. The Chocolate Mints would become what is our most popular cookie, the Thin Mint. By 1960, a fourth cookie was made available, a peanut butter sandwich cookie.

In 1978, the cookie boxes began showing pictures that we would be more familiar with today. They depicted different pictures of Girl Scouts in action. Since then, more cookies have been added and new box designs have been created.

Girl Scout Cookies have been around for over 80 years, and are now enjoyed by people across the world. Thin Mint cookies are shipped to soldiers who are overseas, and Samoas are used to help fund camps. 


Is it any wonder that even after all this time, people are still as crazy about them?