Girl Scout Cookies: Dulce de Leche

I'm not gonna lie: the Girl Scouts at my local markets see me coming every time. No matter how many times I tell myself I am not, not, not going to buy another box, those beguiling little temptresses have a way of waving those boxes in front of me...and, faster than my brother at a strip club, the dollar bills are out of my pocket being flashed about for a further show of their wares...makes me feel dirty just thinking about it.



The last trip I took to Vons supermarket was no exception. There they stood, all lined up and ready to tempt me -- and like magic, out came my money. I was all set to buy yet another box of Samoas, but those were sold out. OK, I can deal. Thin Mints it would be! Ummm, no it wouldn't -- those were sold out too. How about Tagalongs? Yeah, out.

Well, you can see where this was going. It was down to the plain shortbread (Trefoils) or this box of Dulce de Leche. Yeah, I could have left empty-handed, but I am sure that the girls needed my money to save for college or law school or something, and who am I to deprive young girls of an education? (Also the logic my brother uses.)

So while I may have parted with my hard-earned $4.00 (Seriously! $4.00 for 20 cookies! But that is another rant for another time), I did get this lovely box of cookies in exchange. (And it better be lovely for $4.00.)

I happen to like dulce de leche. It is being used more and more in this country, but in case you don't know what it is -- dulce de leche is a confection made by slowly heating milk and sugar until it becomes like caramel. It's creamy and sweet, and it's my second favorite type of caramel after salted caramels.



Each cookie is bite sized (maybe 2 inches across). It's a hard textured cookie. They smell overly sweet -- kinda like palm oil and caramel -- and that's pretty much what they taste like. The texture is weird. It's clumpy and it breaks off into hard pebbles.

I wouldn't mind the fact that the strongest taste is coconut, if it was good -- as in the Samoas or even in the old Mother's Taffy cookies. But this is just like someone dropped some suntan lotion into the batter and opted to leave it there.



The dulce de leche chips are like little splotches on the cookies. If you are lucky enough to get a decent sized piece, it's the best part of the cookie. It's sweet and milky, and picks up a little salt from the cookie base. If you aren't lucky enough to get one...well, blecch.

I ate two and they were not worth the calories. The Girl Scouts do make some good cookies, but these are not an example of such. In the end I was left both unsatisfied and bereft of all my dollar bills.

Sort of like my brother when he leaves the strip club.



PURCHASED FROM:
Local Girl Scouts, duh.

PRICE:
$4.00

CALORIES:
160 calories per 4 cookies

ADDITIONAL INFO:
Contains wheat, soy, and milk. May also contain peanuts and/or tree nuts. Kosher.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE:
girlscoutcookies.org