It’s the most wonderful time of the year, when the Girl Scout cookies are being delivered! It’s still cold enough in many locations that the idea of one (or three) (oh, who am I kidding, ten) boxes and a book (or three, or ten) to read is a very tempting concept.
If you’re not aware of any local Girl Scouts, you can find your local chapter and contact them to buy some. Some chapters sell online, while others do not (WOE mine doesn’t!).
But more importantly, you may see Girl Scout troops outside supermarkets or in other locations selling from a booth. In New Jersey, the local troop used to set up their tables outside a bank ATM, which was devious and brilliant. I’ve seen troops set up outside grocery stores, outside drug stores, and in one brilliant move, outside a movie theatre.
We here at the Hot Pink Palace of Silliness are all about combining purchases that result from inconsistent impulse control. What exactly am I talking about?
Books and Cookies!
This is not a new idea, by any means. Amanda wrote up a recommendation guide in 2015 over at BookRiot. But this year, since there are new cookies and there are always loads of new books, we’re here to help any romance readers who want to pair a book recommendation with a box of cookies. Because who doesn’t want to do that?
Plus, there is a page where you can Meet the Cookies.
YES I WANT TO MEET THE COOKIES. I am very friendly to all cookies, especially the Girl Scout variety.
So here are our recommendations for pairing different Girl Scout cookies with romance. We’re sorry in advance.
Thin Mints®
Loved by many, devoured too easily, they’re chocolate covered peppermint wafers, and one of the few exceptions to my deep dislike of peppermint.
It’s easy to eat 25 cookies without meaning to – and let’s be real, “a sleeve of Thin Mints” is a completely legitimate “serving size.”
We recommend pairing Thin Mints with romances that are easy to keep reading. Bad Decisions Book Club reads pair very well with Bad Decisions I Ate an Entire Sleeve cookies. So we wanted books that are sweet, with depth and satisfying deliciousness, and may involve some nostalgia.
Here are a few selections:
Act Like It is one of my favorites. I’ve read it almost as many time as the number of sleeves of Thin Mints I’ve devoured. Ok, not really. But close. Elyse recommends Mr and Mr Smith, for fun, sexy, and delightful reading, and I think anyone who has tried Julie James, especially Something About You, knows how compulsively readable her books are.
Caramel deLites® AKA Samoas®
Oh, Samoas.
So delicious, so few in a box. They are the sole exception to my deep dislike of coconut, which in all other culinary applications makes me think I am eating wax candle shavings rolled in sawdust.
Those who love Samoas try to savor them, but with about 5 or 6 per box (OH THE HUMANITY) it’s a difficult prospect.
To pair a book with Samoas requires a mix of specific ingredients. It should be unique, and worth savoring – or at least trying to – with complexity and depth. But then you read the whole series in two days because they’re that good and you can’t help yourself.
You know the types of series we’re talking about. Here are some suggestions:
Between the Psy-Changeling Series, the Crows series, and the Kate Daniels series, you can’t eat, or read, just one. It’s impossible.
Girl Scout S’mores
There appear to be two variations, one with chocolate covered graham crackers and creme icing (pictured), and a sandwich cookie with “marshmallowy” filling and chocolate inside.
Both look somewhat addictive and dangerous.
A good book to pair with either variety (and I maintain that a bad s’more is very hard to find) might be a remix or reinvention, or maybe a new combination of familiar elements. Our suggestions:
Superheroes, steampunk, and a vampire sorority. Perfect!
Shortbread/Trefoils®
I’ll be honest with you. I was a Brownie, a Girl Scout, and a Cadet when I was growing up, and I still have no idea if I am saying “trefoils” correctly.
Amanda says she pronounces it “TREE-foils” while I think most of my scout leaders said “treffles,” like one vowel away from “truffles.” Duolingo would probably tell me to pronounce it “trhe-fwah.”
Whichever it is, this is a very classic, simple, and tasty recipe, and pairs well with all sorts of beverages and books.
And, well, I’m almost sorry to share this link, but the Girl Scouts of the USA have a page of recipes you can make using their cookies (like eating them by the box is not the best option?) and the ones for Trefoils are delicious-levels of tempting.
To pair with cookies or cookie-based recipes, we suggest books that work well one their own, but also work spectacularly as part of the series:
Each one is a terrific stand-alone, but there’s a lot going on beneath the surface, and there’s more after (and before) the book, too.
Lemonades
Lemon icing on shortbread?! How is it that I’ve never had this cookie available to me?
I am telling y’all, that is among the worst kind of geographic restriction, because I love all things with lemon.
It’s lemon icing on shortbread! Those are three of my favorite words in one sentence!
And they’re vegan? I am so sad that these are not in my area. I’m going to have to take a road trip.
So for books, of course we need a mix of sweet and angst, tart and smooth, so here are our ideas:
You know that feeling when you’re reading a book that grabs you right in the squeezy feels, and you’re smiling and your eyes might possibly be tearing at the same time? That’s what we’re going for here.
Savannah Smiles®
I learned last year about these after Amanda was upset that her local troops in Boston didn’t carry Savannah Smiles®. But since I’d just moved father south, I was “south enough” that our local troop had about fifty-seven cases of these cookies.
Apparently, they’re very popular. Amanda says they’re terrific – very light, very refreshing, and sweet, though the powdered sugar gets everywhere, she says, so don’t eat them in bed.
I think an ideal book match would be something that leaves you smiling with a little bit of tartness, don’t you think? Here are our wide-ranging suggestions:
Tagalongs® / Peanut Butter Patties®
When I was a kid, Tagalongs were my favorite, even above Thin Mints. They’re so rich, and very indulgent – a few go a long way.
Which is a good thing because there aren’t many in a box. Each cookie in the box packaging gets the equivalent of a 3000 square foot condo to itself. There’s probably a whirlpool bath, too. Same is true for the Samoas®.
For book matching, I’m going entirely with nostalgia and longtime favorites.
These work as stand-alones, so you can get an entirely satisfying story in one title, though one is part of a trilogy. They are timeless and good no matter when I pick them up for a re-read.
Do-Si-Dos® / Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies
Obviously these and the Tagalongs® are off-limits if you’ve got nut allergy dangers, but if you’re not allergic, these are pretty good. I always preferred the Tagalongs®, but the adults I knew who bought cookies bought a ton of these.
An oatmeal cookie with peanut butter filling is a pretty unique pairing, one that I don’t see elsewhere in cookie recipe books and magazines (and I see a lot of those because COOKIES.) So to match books for these cookies, we went with unique combinations of elements.
Here are our suggestions:
American historical with millionaires, NFL with friends to lovers, and historical adventure/ suspense? Something for everyone!
Thanks-A-Lot®
It’s really tempting to read that name with some sarcasm or dry irony.
“Thanks-A-Lot, Girl Scouts. I haven’t left the house in four days and have subsisted entirely on cookies.”
However, there is nothing to be sarcastic about when a cookie is shortbread with a chocolate base.
Chocolate and shortbread! HELLO DELICIOUSNESS I’LL TAKE FOUR BOXES THANKS-A-LOT.
Plus, “Thank you” is embossed in five languages – English, French, Chinese, Swahili, and Spanish. And I really like languages so I’d have a grand time making towers with my (ahem) boxes of cookies.
So for books, here are our suggestions – books that expanded our language and definition of what romance is and can be:
Toffee-Tastic™
This is a gluten free butter cookie with toffee chips. I have never had one of these, either, but I’m betting the flavor and the enjoyment sticks with you (and with your molars). I love anything toffee but the thought of it probably makes my dentist cringe.
Now Charlotte McCourt, a Girl Scout from New Jersey who wrote a brutally honest review of each cookie (and went on to sell close to 17,000 boxes so never let anyone tell you reviews don’t work) said that the Toffee-Tastic is “a bleak, flavorless, gluten free wasteland” that is, alas, “flavorless as dirt.”
On the other hand, a website by the name “Shitty Gluten Free” (I LOVE THIS NAME) says they’re not too bad.
I am going to hope one of you can share your opinion about the Toffee-Tastic™.
Now, I am definitely not going to be all, “these books are bleak and flavorless!”
Oh, HELL, no. There are books that are deeply flavorful, as in they have wonderful, rich world building, and they stick with you long after you’ve finished them. (And if you’re not on board with Toffee-Tastic, by all means, substitute your favorite cookie!)
Originally, I had wanted to recommend Song of Blood and Stone by L. Penelope, but it’s not available for the moment. But when it comes back, GRAB IT.
Trios®
This is another gluten free cookie, but it’s chocolate chip, peanut butter, and oatmeal, and those are all words I really like — and that my husband especially likes.
He has seasonal cookie requests, in fact. For Hanukkah, every year I make him Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread (a Martha Stewart Magazine classic recipe), and for his birthday I make chocolate chip oatmeal walnut cookies.
I’m not sure how these would compare, but I’m curious. Familiar ingredients, gluten-free so more people can enjoy them… could be good! (I confess, many of the gluten-free recipes I’ve tried have not have particularly good texture or flavor, but I keep trying).
But despite my lack of certainty on these cookies, I am certain about these recommendations, all of which are favorites of yours, and site bestsellers, too.
Your turn! What is your favorite of the Girl Scout Cookies? Are there annual cookie sales from other groups that you wait for each year? And what book would you recommend we pair with your favorite cookie?