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    Home » Recipes

    Winning Girl Scout Cookie Recipes (+Tips for Hosting a Kids' Bake-off)

    February 12, 2020 • Updated: April 14, 2020 • by Renée • This post may contain affiliate links.

    Jump to Recipe   Print Recipe
    Girl Scout Cookie Bake-off

    The top three winning Girl Scout Cookie Recipes from our local Cookie Bake-off, plus lots of tips for hosting your own Girl Scout Cookie bake-off. 

    Cupcakes - Girl Scout Cookie Recipe Bake-off | The Good Hearted Woman
    Sweet & Salty S'mores Cupcakes, plus two kinds of Thin Mint Cupcakes!

    I didn't start out to be a Girl Scout leader. I was, am, and will always be a Camp Fire kid at heart, but when my oldest entered Kindergarten a few decades ago, Girl Scouting was it where we lived, so that's what we did. Five Girl Scout daughters, four troops, and twenty years later, I finally hung up my Leader hat... but I kept my Volunteer hat. (Always will.)

    That’s how we all ended up at a Girl Scout Cookie Baking Competition a few cookie seasons ago. Competition in event was open to any Girl Scout from our community. 

    Wavy Line

    Girl Scouts is such an iconic organization that it's easy to overlook how daring an idea it was for founder Juliette Gordon Low to gather those first 18 girls in that troop in Savannah, Georgia. It was 1912, after all, and women wouldn't earn the right to vote for another eight years." — Anna Maria Chavez 

    Wavy Line

    3 Treats - Girl Scout Cookie Recipe Bake-off | The Good Hearted Woman
    ExciteMint Fudge, S'mores Nutella Cheesecake, and Do-Si-Do Brownie Pops

    Wavy Line

    How to Host a Girl Scout Cookie Bake-off

    PLUS Top Winning Girl Scout Cookie Recipes 
    1. Samoa Cheesecake Bars [Judges' Ultimate Winner]
    2. Strawberry Thin Mint Cookie Delight [People's Choice]
    3. Toffeetastic Butterscotch Mud Pie [My Personal Choice!]

    Samples - Girl Scout Cookie Recipe Bake-off | The Good Hearted Woman

    Wavy Line

    Four Important Questions to consider when hosting a Bake-off.

    1. What is kind of Bake-off will it be? 

    Specifically, what is the bake-off challenge?

    In the case of our bake-off, the specific challenge was to create a dessert using at least one variety of Girl Scout cookie as a primary ingredient. 

    Who can enter?

    Our bake-off was open to any registered Girl Scout. 

    Can contestants have more than one entry?

    Can a contestant enter more than one recipe? If there are multiple categories that a contestant is eligible for, can they win with more than one entry?

    Is this an individual competition, or can contestants work in teams? 

    Must recipes be fully cooked at home, or must they be completed at the competition?

    Is there a theme or primary ingredient?

    We had both a theme and a primary ingredient: Desserts and Girl Scout Cookies.

    How much of each recipe must a contestant provide on the day of the contest? 

    Each girl who entered this bake-off was asked to provide two batches of their recipe: one for Judges to observe for appearance, presentation, etc., and a second for tasting by judges and event goers. After the judges had made their determination, the first batch was offered up for tasting by the crowd as well. 

    Lemon Trefoil Cake - Girl Scout Cookie Recipe Bake-off | The Good Hearted Woman
    Tiny Lemon Trefoil Cakes

    2. Who decides who wins? 

    Will you have a panel of Judges? Do the attendees get a vote? 

    For our Girl Scout Cookie Bake-off, the hosting troop assembled a panel of five judges. Because of my long history with the hosting troop, I was asked to be a Judge. However, I've been trying to cut back on sugar lately, so at the last minute I handed that esteemed privileged over to Mr B. 

    (Passing the Judge's torch to Mr B ended up being a good move for a number of reasons. Most importantly, it allowed me time to walk around and take pictures of all the sweet entries. It also saved me from the imminent tummy ache that would plague him for the rest of the day.)

    PRO TIP: Mr. B's had one vital tip for would-be Girl Scout Cookie Bake-off judges: Drink water. Lots and lots of water.

    This is, unfortunately, a lesson he learned the hard way. Even though he and the rest of the judges were very careful to eat only a very small tasting from each entry, because he neglected to drink enough water, he spent most of the day following the competition with a very uncomfortable tummy ache.

    Matching Cake & Dress - Girl Scout Cookie Recipe Bake-off | The Good Hearted Woman
    This Mini-Martha-in-training even matched her dress to her entry - "Naomi's Tagalong Storm Cake."

    3. How will winners be decided?

    It is important to clearly define the points and systems upon which the entires will be judged ahead of time. 

    If you are hosting a bake-off, you will need to figure out how the winners will be picked. I won't try to tell you how to run your circus, but this is the system that was used for our Cookie Bake-off, and it seemed to work pretty smoothly. 

    Judges

    Each Judge was given a clipboard, pencil, and instruction sheet outlining a scoring system for assigning points to each point system for scoring each entry. 

    Each contestant was assigned a number for judging.

    Entries were judged on three elements:

    • Taste
    • Presentation
    • Use of Girl Scout Cookies

    Submissions were judged in each of these categories on a scale of 1-5, with 5 being the highest.

    Judges - Girl Scout Cookie Recipe Bake-off | The Good Hearted Woman
    "The Judges"

    Competition was divided into three Divisions, based on age. Three overall winners were then chosen from the winners of each age bracket. An Ultimate Winner was then chosen from the Division winners, for a total of ten winners.

    While I wandered from table to table taking pictures, Mr B spent his time hunching over his clipboard, carefully evaluating each tasty bite that was brought to him by his assigned assistant. Together with his fellow judges, he crunched, munched, nibbled, and savored samples from each of the nearly twenty entries.

    Judging is Hard Work - Girl Scout Cookie Recipe Bake-off | The Good Hearted Woman
    Judging a bake-off is a tough job, but someone's got to do it!

    Mr B and I are both big Chopped fans, and I wasn't surprised that this influenced his role as a judge in the  competition. When Taste and Presentation scores were too close to make a call, Use of Cookie(s) tipped the scales.

    We found ourselves judging not only what[the girls] made, but their use of the cookie as well. Did they get the ingredients in? Could you taste those ingredients? That made it interesting. It also made it challenging for us, because we challenged ourselves to see if the cookies came through in each dish, or if they were just sprinkled on top." ~ Mr B

    Peoples' Choice - Girl Scout Cookie Recipe Bake-off | The Good Hearted Woman
    Cups set up for "Peoples' Choice" voting

    Event Attendees

    Each attendee was given a number of tickets (5). Voting boxes with the name of one recipe was placed on a central table. Attendees circulated, trying samples of each recipe and then placing their tickets in the boxes representing the recipes they liked most. The recipe that received the most tickets won the People's Choice Award.

    4. What kind of recognition and/or prizes will you award? 

    You can award anything from a handshake to a certificate to gift cards donated by the community. What I noticed as the prizes were award was, especially with regard to the younger kiddos, bragging rights were worth more than just about anything. 

    Girl Scout Cookie Recipe Bake-off | The Good Hearted Woman

    Additional Considerations for Hosting a Bake-off

    This certainly isn't an exhaustive list; there are plenty of additional considerations to make, including location and facility set-up, announcement of the contest, timing, and so forth. However, if you can get all these questions answered, you'll be off to a great start! 

    Now, on to the winning recipes in our Girl Scout Cookie Bake-off! 

    Wavy Line

    Winning Recipes from Girl Scout Cookie Recipe Bake-off | The Good Hearted Woman

    Wavy Line

    Judges Choice {The Ultimate Winner}

    At the end of the day, it was the ooey gooey decadence of these Samoa Cheesecake Bars that won out. (Personally, I think using the term "bar" to describe this dessert is probably a bit of a stretch, but then again, who says you can't eat cookies with a spoon?)

    Samoa Cheesecake Bars - Girl Scout Cookie Recipe Bake-off | The Good Hearted Woman
    Oooey, Gooey, Samoa Cheesecake "Bars"
    Girl Scout Cookie Recipe Bake-off | The Good Hearted Woman

    Samoa Cheesecake Bars

    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    Course: Dessert
    Prep Time:4 hours
    Total Time:4 hours
    Author: Renee

    Ingredients

    Oreo Crust
    • 20 Oreos
    • 5 tablespoons butter melted
    Cheesecake Layer
    • 16 oz. cream cheese softened to room temperature
    • 1 large egg
    • ¼ cup sugar
    • 2 teaspoons vanilla
    Coconut Caramel Chocolate Layer
    • 11 oz. package caramels
    • 3 tablespoons heavy cream
    • 1 ½ cups coconut toasted
    • 6 crushed Samoa cookies
    • 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

    Instructions

    • Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 8x8 baking pan by lining it with foil.
    • With a rolling pin or In a food processor, crush the oreos into a fine crumbs.
    • Combine the crushed cookies and butter together in a medium bowl. Press cookie mixture into the bottom of the pan and bake for 9-10 minutes. Cool completely.
    • With an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese, egg, sugar and vanilla together until smooth and creamy.
    • Spread cream cheese mixture over the prepared crust. Bake it for 30-35 minutes or until cheesecake is set. Cool completely, and then refrigerate for an hour.
    • In a microwave-safe bowl, heat the caramel and heavy cream in the microwave on high for 30 seconds at a time. Stir and return to microwave until melted and smooth.
    • Add the toasted coconut and crushed Samoas to the melted caramel mixture. Cool 10 minutes.
    • Spread melted caramel mixture over cheesecake layer. Return to refrigerator and chill for 3 hours.
    • Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave, 30 seconds at a time until smooth. Drizzle on top of caramel.
    • Allow to sit for 30 minutes before cutting.

    Notes

    According to the recipe directions provided at time of the competition, this recipe was adapted from one found on TheRecipeCritic.com.
    This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. You are solely responsible for ensuring that any nutritional information provided is accurate, complete, and useful.
    Have you tried this recipe?Mention @TheGoodHeartedWoman or tag #thegoodheartedwoman!

    The People's Choice

    Twins - Girl Scout Cookie Recipe Bake-off | The Good Hearted Woman
    "It's really hard to decide on a winner. Maybe we need to try them all again!"

    Ultimately, "The People" chose the freshest, lightest, most simple dessert in the contest as their favorite. (Not a bad lesson there, folks.) Strawberry Thin Mint Cookie Delight has only three ingredients and takes less than five minutes to prepare.

    Girl Scout Cookie Recipe Bake-off | The Good Hearted Woman
    People's Choice Winner - "Strawberry Thin Mint Cookie Delight"
    Girl Scout Cookie Recipe Bake-off | The Good Hearted Woman

    Strawberry Thin Mint Cookie Delight

    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    Course: Dessert
    Author: Renee

    Ingredients

    • Whipped cream
    • Strawberries cut up
    • Girl Scout Thin Mints crumbled

    Instructions

    • Layer ingredients in cup. Serve immediately or refrigerate.
    This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. You are solely responsible for ensuring that any nutritional information provided is accurate, complete, and useful.
    Have you tried this recipe?Mention @TheGoodHeartedWoman or tag #thegoodheartedwoman!

    Wavy Line

    My Personal Choice

    Finally, as a lover of all things caramelly and butterscotchy, this Toffeetastic Butterscotch Mud Pie with Shaved Chocolate was my personal favorite entry in the contest. My insider source (i.e., Mr B) tells me that it had a great chance to be the overall winner, but ended up coming in fourth because of poor pudding execution: the texture was just too grainy for the judges' tastes. Flavor-wise though, it was delicious.

    Girl Scout Cookie Recipe Bake-off | The Good Hearted Woman

    [Note: Granular consistency in homemade butterscotch pudding is a common, tricky challenge. It can be avoided by (a) being patient as you whisk in the cream, (b) tempering the cornstarch mixture, and (c) whisking continually as the mixture reaches a boil. You can make the pudding even smoother by straining the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve. For more complete directions about how to make super-smooth butterscotch pudding, check out this great post on TheKitchn.com]

    Girl Scout Cookie Recipe Bake-off | The Good Hearted Woman

    Toffeetastic Butterscotch Mud Pie

    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    Prep Time:4 hours
    Total Time:4 hours
    Author: Renee

    Ingredients

    Crust
    • 1 box Toffeetastic Girl Scout Cookies
    • 2 Tbls sugar
    • 6 Tbls melted butter
    Butterscotch Pudding
    • 4 tbls butter
    • ¾ cup packed dark brown sugar
    • ½ teaspoon salt
    • 2 ⅓ cups whole milk
    • 4 large egg yolks
    • 1 cup heavy cream
    • ¼ cup cornstarch
    • 2 tablespoons vanilla
    Topping
    • 2 cups heavy cream
    • ¼ cup sugar
    • 2 ounces chocolate shaved

    Instructions

    Crust

    • Preheat oven to 350 degrees
    • In a food processor or by hand, finely crush your cookie crumbs. Add sugar and melted butter and stir to combine.
    • Press crumb mixture into a 9" pie pan, and bake in preheated oven for for 8 to 10 minutes, or until warm, fragrant and lightly toasted.
    • Set aside to cool.

    Butterscotch Pudding

    • In heavy saucepan, heat butter, brown sugar, and salt to boiling, stirring frequently. Remove from heat; set aside.
    • In small bowl, stir cornstarch into ⅓ cup of the milk until dissolved. Add egg yolks; beat with whisk until blended.
    • Into saucepan with brown sugar mixture, pour remaining 2 cups milk, heavy cream and stir to combine. Add the cornstarch mixture. Heat to boiling over medium heat, stirring constantly. When pudding comes to a rolling boil, remove from heat. Allow to cool for 5 minutes.
    • Pour pudding into prepared pie shell. Refrigerate for 3 hours.

    Topping

    • Beat heavy cream in a chilled bowl with electric mixer on high speed until soft peaks form. Slowly add sugar and continue to beat until stiff peaks form.
    • Spread whipped cream over cold pudding-pie and sprinkle with shaved chocolate. Chill until serving time.
    This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. You are solely responsible for ensuring that any nutritional information provided is accurate, complete, and useful.
    Have you tried this recipe?Mention @TheGoodHeartedWoman or tag #thegoodheartedwoman!

    Congratulations to all the winners!

    Wavy Line

    THANK YOU so much for being a faithful reader and supporter
    of The Good Hearted Woman. ? Be sure to PIN this post!

    Girl Scout Cookie Bake-off   Winning Recipes from Girl Scout Cookie Recipe Bake-off | The Good Hearted WomanWavy Line

    Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, including Amazon affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something that we have recommended. While clicking these links won't cost you any extra money, they do help keep this site up and running. As always, all opinions and images are my own. Please check out our disclosure policy for more details. Thank you for your support!

    Originally published April 11, 2017. 

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    About Renée

    Renée is writer, music maker, artist, and storyteller. In her spare time, you can find her writing love songs about cowboys, exploring the moss-covered nooks and crannies of the Pacific Northwest, and making music with her talented singer-husband.

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Sadia says

      January 13, 2020 at 7:25 am

      Thank you so much for sharing this! I'm a Girl Scout leader for older girls, and half my troop is super techy and loves to lead STEM-based events. However, I've been looking for an idea that engages the girls who have other interests, and hosting a bakeoff right after cookie sale season might be just the thing. Thanks for inspiring a leadership opportunity for some Cadettes and Seniors!

      Reply
    2. Hillary Harper says

      April 12, 2017 at 8:37 pm

      What a fun idea!!! I would have loved to be the taste tester 🙂

      Reply
    3. Dorothy at Shockingly Delicious says

      April 11, 2017 at 5:52 pm

      How do you one-up a already good cookie? Make it into a cheesecake bar!!

      Reply
    4. Mary says

      April 11, 2017 at 4:13 pm

      I'm melting at what a cute idea this is! And I have to share this. When I found out I was having two boys (no girls) the first thing I thought was, "Oh no, I won't have Girl Scouts to raise!" 🙁
      I was a Girl Scout growing up and always imagined I'd have daughters to follow in my footsteps. Nope.
      Going back to this challenge, I love this. So darn cute. Thanks for sharing the pics and awesome looking recipes!

      Reply
    5. Marlynn | UrbanBlissLife says

      April 11, 2017 at 3:58 pm

      I love this so much! Congrats to all of the winners and to Mr B for being a judge! BTW, I was also a Campfire Girl...and also a Girl Scout 😉 I loved both but stuck with Girl Scouts longer.

      Reply
    6. Jessica (Swanky Recipes) says

      April 11, 2017 at 1:24 pm

      Omgosh, I want to make these all right now! I only have a few boxes left now but can't wait to give these a try!

      Reply
    7. Jehan Hale says

      April 11, 2017 at 1:12 pm

      These are so creative! Neat way to use girl scout cookies, other than eating them. Lol

      Reply
    8. Dahn says

      April 11, 2017 at 12:49 pm

      wow, If I could only pick one of these for tonights dinner, the Toffeetastic Butterscotch Mud Pie sounds like it would be my favorite but I would have a hard time not tasting the Somoa Cheesecake Bars. They sound amazing

      Reply
    9. Chrisy @ Homemade Hooplah says

      April 11, 2017 at 12:45 pm

      All the submissions look so creative! Wish I could have been a taste tester 😀

      Reply
    10. Pech says

      April 11, 2017 at 11:20 am

      Wow, what a fun way to use the cookies, and I'm with you I think I would have gone with the toffee caramel flavors of the mud pie myself, but wonderful job by all the girls and judges, we appreciate your sacrifice. So glad you had a chance to take photos to help share the event!

      Reply
    11. Create/Enjoy says

      April 11, 2017 at 11:19 am

      What a fun idea! Great to teach kids to cook early!

      Reply
    12. Erin (Platings and Pairings) says

      April 11, 2017 at 10:59 am

      What a fun idea for a bake off! I love the use of the Girl Scout cookies - Everyone was so creative!

      Reply
    13. meredith says

      April 11, 2017 at 10:09 am

      I love-hate this post. I've made a deal with myself that GS bingeing can happen for 4-6 weeks a year. I can't have this knowledge!

      Reply
    14. Michele says

      April 11, 2017 at 9:23 am

      Wow, I'm getting a sugar high just looking at all these darling desserts! What a fun event (and great way to get the girls using their creativity)!

      Reply
      • Renée ♥ says

        April 12, 2017 at 10:47 am

        It was a lot of fun! The girls came up with some really unique desserts.

        Reply

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