No More Girl Scout Cookies

It’s Girl Scout Cookie Day.  Presumably because it’s that time of year when the cookies are going up for sale.  But we aren’t buying them anymore, for two major reasons.

1) I can’t eat them.  This is kind of a biggie.  Now that I’m gluten-free, I can’t eat the Girl Scout cookies anymore.  But if I find a recipe, I can make my own.  (Even if it’s not a GF recipe, I can adapt it.  I can’t adapt an already-baked cookie to be GF!)

2) The Girl Scouts organization is now donating to Planned Parenthood.  I have two problems with this.  First of all, I just don’t like Planned Parenthood, the lifestyle they encourage, and the activities they support.  But even more fundamentally, I have a problem with an organization supporting another organization like this (even if I like the secondary organization).  I think it’s sneaky.

When I donate to/support an organization, I expect to be supporting that organization.  I shouldn’t have to vet every other organization in the world that I think they might choose to pass my money on to.  Unless you’re dealing with a local religious congregation (which is a whole different ballgame), or an organization specifically designed to distribute funds to other organizations (like United Way) — in which case you know your money is being distributed to other places — you should be able to assume that your money is going to support the organization you gave it to and nothing else.  If I want to also support Planned Parenthood, I’ll give money to Planned Parenthood.  If I don’t, it’s probably because I didn’t want my money going there.

But…Cookies!

But I still want cookies.  I like Girl Scout cookies.  They’re yummy.  I was a Girl Scout for 12 years, so they’re firmly interwoven into my memories.  The solution, then, is to find recipes to make my own.  Then I can make them as healthy (or not) as I like, and I can substitute gluten-free ingredients as necessary.  And I thought that maybe some of you also had some of the same needs that I do — so I’ve rounded up some recipes from around the web.

(All of these cookie names are, I assume, trademarked by the Girl Scouts of America.  They are not associated with this post in any way, as is probably obvious.  The names are used here only to indicate which Girl Scout cookies the recipes most closely resemble.)

• Thin Mints
• Thin Mints (protein)
• Thin Mints (paleo)
• Tagalongs (GF) (my favorites!)
• Samoas (GF)
• Samoa bars (GF)
• Do-si-do’s
• Do-si-do’s
• (lemon) Chalet Creams
• “Trefoils” (Samoa & Thin Mint equivalents also found here)