In Which Mr B Judges a Girl Scout Cookie Recipe Bake-off, Eats a LOT of Delicious Desserts, and Gets a Bit of a Tummy Ache

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 

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 some twenty-five years ago, Girl Scouting was it out here in the Portland’s westerly burbs, so that’s what we did. Five GS daughters, four troops, and 20 years later, I finally hung up my leader hat; however, Miss Em is currently a Senior Girl Scout, so we still stay pretty close to the action. That’s how we all ended up at a Girl Scout Cookie Baking Competition last month. The event, hosted by Em’s troop, was open to any Girl Scout from our community.

The challenge was to create a dessert using at least one variety of Girl Scout cookie as a primary ingredient. As a troop mom (and maybe a little because of the blog) and I was asked to be a Judge, but I’ve been trying to cut back on sugar lately, so at the last minute I handed that esteemed privileged over to Mr B.

Tiny Lemon Trefoil Cakes

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.

Sweet & Salty S’mores Cupcakes, plus two kinds of Thin Mint Cupcakes!

ExciteMint Fudge, S’mores Nutella Cheesecake, and Do-Si-Do Brownie Pops

This Mini-Martha-in-training even matched her dress to her entry – “Naomi’s Tagalong Storm Cake.”

Lemon Berry Parfait

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.

“The Judges”

Entries were judged on three points: Taste, Presentation, and Use of Girl Scout Cookies. Prizes were awarded in three divisions, based on age. Three overall winners were then chosen from the winners of each age bracket. A prize for overall People’s Choice was also awarded.

Mr. B’s had one important tip for would-be 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.

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, and 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

The People’s Choice 

Cups set up for “Peoples’ Choice” voting

“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.

People’s Choice Winner – “Strawberry Thin Mint Cookie Delight”

Strawberry Thin Mint Cookie Delight

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Course: Dessert

Author: Daisy M, Brownie Troop #40602

Ingredients

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

Instructions

• Layer ingredients in cup. Serve immediately or refrigerate.

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My Personal Choice

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.

[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]

Toffeetastic Butterscotch Mud Pie

Prep Time4 hrs

Total Time4 hrs

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Author: Renée B. ♥ The Good Hearted Woman

Ingredients

Crust

• 1 box Toffeetastic Girl Scout Cookies
• 2 Tbls sugar
• 6 Tbls melted butter

Butterscotch Pudding

• 4 tbls butter
• 3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 1/3 cups whole milk
• 4 large egg yolks
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons vanilla

Topping

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1/4 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 1/3 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.

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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?)

Oooey, Gooey, Samoa Cheesecake “Bars”

Samoa Cheesecake Bars

Prep Time4 hrs

Total Time4 hrs

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Course: Dessert

Author: Alyssa M - Troop 40273

Ingredients

Oreo Crust

• 20 Oreos
• 5 tablespoons butter melted

Cheesecake Layer

• 16 oz. cream cheese softened to room temperature
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Coconut Caramel Chocolate Layer

• 11 oz. package caramels
• 3 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1 1/2 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.

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Congratulations to all the winners!

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