Cookie Snob

It's that time of year again. After the holidays end and the new year begins solicitors here in North Texas start to practice their pitch. Seldom do I enjoy talking to unwelcome visitors who interrupt my evenings or weekend afternoons knocking on my door to peddle something I don't want, but these visitors are different. I expectantly look forward to their arrival every year and often end up purchasing the same thing from more than one member of their sales force. Yes, it's time for Girl Scout cookies again.

Not only do I enjoy these once a year treats, but I admit that I am a Girl Scout cookie snob. (I prefer to think of myself as just being particular.) You see, not just any Girl Scout cookie will do for me. When a green-clad young girl wearing a patch-covered vest offers to sell me a box of those famous treats, I first inquire of the little entrepreneur one thing, "Who makes your cookies?" It's a simple question, but one that often baffles unprepared girls who then turn to their mothers for assistance with the answer. Even then, most parents are unsure how to respond themselves.

Aware of the awkwardness that a reply to such a question presupposes, I usually offer a follow up question to my original inquiry during that brief moment of uncertainty when no one wants to answer my question with the obvious "the Girl Scouts make them, of course." I ask whether their cookies are made by ABC Bakers or Little Brownie Bakers. I ask because there is a difference. Two different bakers handle the Girl Scouts' orders for cookie sales nationwide, although there have been others in the past. Each council chooses to order from one of these two bakers who provide the same selection plus one or two cookies exclusive to each individual baker. That's the reason why you can't always find the same cookies for sale from different Girl Scout Troops.

To the casual observer, each baker produces identical cookies whose only difference is their names: Peanut Butter Sandwiches or Do-Si-Dos, Caramel Delites or Samoas, Peanut Butter Patties or Tagalongs. I don't agree. I think the names aren't the only thing that's different. For example, although both bakers call their chocolate-covered mint cookies by the same name, I have detected a noticable difference in the two varieties. I prefer those produced by Little Brownie Bakers. Not only does a comparison of the two readily show a difference in appearance (Little Brownie Bakers' Thin Mint is smooth-edged whereas ABC Bakers' Thin Mint has little ridges along the outside) but I think there is a slight difference in taste. That's what makes me a Girl Scout cookie snob.

Now it's not as bad as when AMC employees flat out lie to me and say with a straight face, "Mr. Pibb is just like Dr. Pepper." This difference in taste is subtle. It is discernable, though. If you can appreciate it then you may be a snob, too, when it comes to your favorite Girl Scout cookie. Maybe Trefoils just taste a little bit better to you than Classic Shortbread. Try one of each and see if you don't agree. Then you might find yourself asking the same question I do.

"Who makes your cookies?"