March: the bringer of longer days, emerging crocus, and melting snow. Also when little girls dressed in uniforms of brown and green can be spied at grocery store entrances hawking their wares. Welcome to Girl Scout cookie season!
Pre-kids, I was a big fan of Girl Scout cookies. My boss’s daughter delivered the goods and I bought them right up–at least a dozen boxes, under the premise that I would freeze them and save them for the impending Girl Scout cookie drought. Yeah, right. They didn’t last long. Still, they were a regular fixture in our home every spring; a brief orgy of oral delight that was gone just as quickly as they arrived. Rats!
Once the kids came along, ironically, I stopped buying Girl Scout cookies. Money was tighter and it was harder to justify paying the rising prices for the shrinking quantities. Intermittent attempts at eating better also thwarted those little girls with their highly decorated sashes, heading them off at the pass before they could even get a foothold. I was virtuous!
I’m learning in Philosophy of Social Ethics that deep down inside, very few of us are truly virtuous. Girl Scout cookie season this year has proven this to be the case, as I had 3 boxes shipped to me from across the state and the Big Guy ordered 3 more from a friend out of state. So much for that.
Still, I had a plan for my bounty–there was reason for my transgression! Last month on Picky Palate, a post caught my eye and invaded my consciousness, begging for replication at a time when it was entirely impossible: Girl Scout Thin Mint Oven Strudels. Just thinking about them puts me into a Homer-esque state of drooling. Sure, you have to sacrifice a sleeve of these precious cookies to the creation, but they are so worth it. Easy, too! Just thaw some sheets of puff pastry, cut them up, smear the Thin Mint crumbs/cream cheese combo on top, top with another piece of puff pastry, egg wash, sprinkle of sugar, and you’re all set for the oven. You don’t even have to wait long after baking to bathe them in powdered sugar drizzle. Mmmmm…
These truly are best on the day they are made, but will keep for a few days. The drizzle will get wet again if they’re kept in an air-tight container, but they still taste good. I think I may have to add a few more boxes of Girl Scout cookies to the freezer…just in case.
You can find the recipe on Picky Palate‘s blog here. One note: she mentions at the end that it makes 18 strudels: you actually get 18 pieces of puff pastry which, when paired together to make the strudels, comes out to 9 strudels. Other than that, she has achieved perfection!
