Girl Scout cookies are a four-letter word in my house. Well, maybe not. Not really. Yes, they are. They absolutely are and I will take a second to tell you why. My wife, Sheila, is the cookie mom for our daughter’s troop. Every year my living room and dining room fills up with thousands of cookies. Quite literally. For the girls, of course, it’s the most wonderful time of the year. The booths are set up at all of the usual locations around town with young ladies raising money for their particular troops. So many are glad to buy them. Still others (like Casa Blanco) have a freezer full of last year’s cookies, but you can’t NOT buy Girl Scout cookies, right? No you cannot not. It’s un-American and we have enough conflict in that department right now.
There are two new flavors this year. Toffee Tastic and S’mores. If you know a Girl Scout who has some S’mores left and you want some, grab them. As in, as soon as you are done with this column. The regional warehouse ran out of S’mores within a week or so. There will be no replacements. When they are gone, they are gone. My daughter’s troop sold out last weekend. Sold out at $6 a box instead of the normal $4. That will tell you how popular they are/were. There is, however, another chance for you to try either those cookies or some others and get a fabulous dessert out of it at the same time.
National Girl Scouts Cookie Weekend is coming to Savannah this weekend. February 24-26th. A couple of dozen area restaurants are going to prepare a special dessert using Girl Scout cookies. You get to make your way around town and try a few and then vote for your favorite on the Scout’s website.
This year the list of restaurant entries includes a great variety of cuisines, styles and price ranges. Barracuda Bob’s, Corleone’s, Kitchen 320 and Cotton and Rye are just a few of the downtown participants. Others include Papa’s BBQ on Whitemarsh Island and 40 East Grill in Statesboro. There will likely be close to 30 by the time they are done adding restaurants to the list which is beyond my deadline for this column. You can see a complete list right now below.
There were some tremendous desserts last year including the eventual winner Lori Collins at Savannah Coffee Roasters. So many were fantastic. One that caught my eye was a Samoa Bread Pudding. Yeah, these desserts are no joke. Best part is, you get to try as many as you’d like and get to have a say in who the winner is.
In order to level the playing field a tiny bit, there will be two categories this year. Full service restaurants and Specialty Eateries. This will include bakeries, cupcake shops and other novelty stores. That should make it easier to decide which are truly the best. Once those votes are tallied, a panel of judges will convene next week to decide which they like best. I can tell you as one of the judges last year, it was some stiff competition. These are all great desserts.
So make your plans for the weekend. Maybe pick a couple of them make a point of paying some of your favorite restaurants a visit if for no other reason, just you can start with dessert. Why not? If you can’t make it out this weekend, keep in mind Girl Scouts Cookies will be gone by the weekend of March 4-5th. We don’t have much time left to Eat It and Like It.
See you on TV,
Jesse
FINAL LIST OF PARTICIPANTS
40 East Grill (Statesboro)
700 Drayton at the Mansion
Barracuda Bob’s
Ben and Jerry’s
Boomy’s
Corleone’s
Cotton & Rye
Flashback
Full Lunch & Late Night
Kitchen 320 at B Historic
Ordinary Pub
Papa’s Barbeque & Seafood
Pirates House
River House Seafood Restaurant
Savannah Coffee Roasters
Savannah Rae’s Gourmet Popcorn
Shrimp Factory
