It’s Girl Scouts Cookies season again! Nationwide, the Girl Scouts outsource their cookie production to two different companies, Little Brownie Bakers (LBB) and ABC Bakers.
I live in an LBB region, and LBB is a subsidiary of Keebler; ostensibly, Girl Scouts licenses their recipes to Keebler via LBB for their actual cookie production. Two of their cookies, Thin Mints and Samoas, have supposedly-identical equivalents available from Keebler, namely Grasshoppers and Coconut Dreams, respectively.
Whenever the Girl Scouts aren’t selling cookies, or whenever joyless grownups want to enjoy their cookies without actually funding the Girl Scouts, common knowledge is that you can satisfy your cravings by buying the Keebler equivalents. But is that true?
I bought a box each of Thin Mints, Grasshoppers, and (outside of the comparison) Samoas, which are my actual favorite. Even from the exterior it’s pretty clear that they’re somewhat different:
The shape of the cookies are slightly different (Thin Mints are slightly larger and thicker), and the color of their chocolate is also different, with Thin Mints looking a bit more grayish and Grasshoppers looking slightly browner. Both cookies smelled pretty similar, however.
Cutting into the cookies made their differences even more apparent:
Visually, you can see that the biscuit on Grasshoppers has a tighter, denser crumb. Audibly and tactilely they were absolutely different; the Thin Mints had an airy, crispy sound and feel, and it was much easier to cut through it.
Flavor-wise, they were pretty similar but, again, not quite the same. The Grasshoppers tasted a bit sweeter, and a bit waxier, with a softer coating. Both were about the same in terms of mintiness overall. I felt like the Grasshoppers were a bit more chocolate-forward, while the Thin Mints tasted a bit more alkaline, and like the chocolate was much higher-quality. The cookie in the Thin Mints also tasted vaguely more buttery, and had a more rounded-out flavor.
After increasing my statistical sample size (i.e. eating way too many cookies) my conclusion is: I wouldn’t say that one is better than the other, but they are absolutely different, albeit subtly.
Their ingredients lists are pretty similar, however:
Interestingly, Thin Mints show flour as the first ingredient and sugar as the second, while Grasshoppers are the other way around, which goes a lot to explain why Grasshoppers taste so much sweeter. Thin Mints seem to use natural cocoa while Grasshoppers are Dutch process (which explains the more forward chocolate flavor, as well as the browner color). It appears that the Grasshoppers also have added whey (making them non-vegan, and probably giving them a more milky flavor) while Thin Mints are vegan.
Anyway, in short, no, Thin Mints and Grasshoppers are not the same cookie. However, they are close enough that I’d consider Grasshoppers to be a reasonable substitute outside of the Girl Scouts cookies season, if you need a quick Thin Mints fix.
As far as Samoas vs. Coconut Dreams go? I didn’t buy any Coconut Dreams for direct comparison but I buy them pretty frequently and am pretty familiar with their flavor. The Samoas taste more buttery and more coconutty than I remember Coconut Dreams tasting, but the texture is very similar. So, again, while I don’t think they’re the exact same cookie, they’re good enough to be a substitute, and are much closer than the difference between Grasshoppers and Thin Mints.
Either way, support the Girl Scouts! They’re an amazing organization that does a world of good.
Anyway, in short, no, Thin Mints and Grasshoppers are not the same cookie. However, they are close enough that I'd consider Grasshoppers to be a reasonable substitute outside of the Girl Scouts cookies season, if you need a quick Thin Mints fix.
Each Girl Scout council contracts with one of two licensed bakers, whose recipes and ingredients may differ slightly: ABC Bakers and Little Brownie Bakers. That's why some of our cookies look the same but have two different names.
I also wanted to see which Girl Scout cookie was the favorite among the CNET staff. To my surprise, nearly 55% voted for Samoas, with Thin Mints coming in second place with just over 27%.
In the 1990s, the National Council limited the bakeries providing cookies to just ABC Bakers (a division of Interbake Foods) and Little Brownie Bakers (a division of the Keebler Company).
That's because the Girl Scouts use two different bakeries to distribute the cookies. According to the Los Angeles Times, the Thin Mint cookie that's "crunchier, with more mint than chocolate" comes from Virginia-based bakery ABC Cookies.
The Rallies was introduced last year as a “sister” cookie to the iconic Thin Mints, a crisp mint-flavored cookie encased in chocolate, but in the Raspberry Rally, the cookie was replaced with a bright pink berry-flavored one. It was dipped in the same chocolate coating as its sibling.
Turns out, Aldi makes its own version of some Girl Scout staples: Caramel Coconut, Fudge Mint, and Peanut Butter-filled cookies. While they don't have knock-offs of every cookie, if you're a Samoas, Thin Mint, or Tagalong fan, you'll be on happy camper.
Most of the cookies are $5 per package, according to Gutkind. S'mores and gluten-free Toffee-tastic are $6 because there's a higher production cost due to the specialty ingredients. With that said, each of the 111 Girl Scout councils set its own prices.
According to the Girl Scouts website, Thin Mints is the highest-selling flavor of cookies nationally, followed by Samoas. The top 5 flavors of cookies sold nationally include: Thin Mints® Caramel deLites®/Samoas®
In July 1922, Girl Scout national headquarters published an edition of The American Girl magazine for all Girl Scouts. The issue contained a recipe for a sugar cookie that could be baked and sold to raise funds for local councils. Thus, the simple sugar cookie was arguably the first true Girl Scout Cookie.
"Girl Scout cookies are not a potentially hazardous food from a food-safety perspective" so they don't require an expiration date, says food-safety expert Paul VanLandingham, professor of hospitality at Johnson & Wales University's Center for Food and Beverage Management in Providence, R.I.
Other nearby councils were impressed with the success of the Greater Philadelphia council and requested to be included in the bakery orders. Hence, Keebler-Weyl was the first commercial company to bake the cookies and became the official baker of Girl Scout Cookies.
There are several recipes online that call for using mint essential oil in addition to a little dish soap, crushed fresh garlic, and cayenne pepper in water to deter grasshoppers from feeding on garden plants.
Some say that grasshoppers taste of savory umami, like miso. Others describe it as having a mushroomy, earthy taste. Grasshoppers are crunchy with a chewy and meaty texture. Experts say that because of the size of insects, they'll taste of what they're fed.
Damage. Grasshoppers become economic pests when young tree foliage is extensively chewed by large numbers of insects migrating from unmanaged vegetation. Grasshopper feeding does not harm mature trees.
Introduction: My name is Aracelis Kilback, I am a nice, gentle, agreeable, joyous, attractive, combative, gifted person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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