We’re in the middle of Girl Scout cookie season, and that means people around the country are reveling in the delights of Samoas, Tagalongs, Trefoils, Do-si-Dos and Thin Mints. Err, or maybe they’re eating Caramel deLites, Peanut Butter Patties, Shortbread, Peanut Butter Sandwiches and Thin Mints.
Two hundred million boxes of Girl Scout cookies are sold every year, but which one ends up on your kitchen counter is determined by where you live in the U.S. As it turns out, there are two different bakers of Girl Scout cookies in America. Some regions get Little Brownie Bakers, who make Thin Mints, Samoas, Tagalongs, Do-si-dos, Trefoils, Lemon-Ups, Girl Scout S’mores and Toffee-tastic. Other regions are supplied by ABC Bakers, who make Thin Mints, Caramel deLites, Peanut Butter Patties, Peanut Butter Sandwich, Shortbread, Lemonades, Girl Scout S’mores, Toast-Yay! and Caramel Chocolate Chip.
It’s rare to be able to find both in one area to compare them. Luckily, our friends at Grubhub, who partnered with Girl Scouts in 2021 to deliver cookies during the coronavirus pandemic, sent us both versions of four Girl Scout cookies: Thin Mints (which share their name across both bakeries1), Samoas/Caramel deLites, Trefoils/Shortbread, and Tagalongs/Peanut Butter Patties.
Though the idea was to go into this taste test as a blind one, this former Girl Scout of eight years ran into a big problem when photographing the cookies. They didn’t just have different bakers, they looked completely different. I couldn’t blindly taste a Samoa vs. a Caramel deLite because I could instantly tell which one was the cookie I grew up with, which happened to be Little Brownie Bakers, the makers of Samoas, Tagalongs and Trefoils.
So, instead of focusing on which cookie was better blindly I instead tried to really taste and analyze the differences in detail in order to decipher which version is best for what kind of cookie fan. For the purposes of said taste test, I had a big glass of vanilla soy milk and plenty of water on hand to dip all of these goodies and cleanse my palate.
Trefoils/Shortbread
You may think a shortbread cookie is a shortbread cookie, but just looking at ABC Bakers’ Shortbread versus Little Brownie Bakers’ Trefoils proved otherwise. Appearance-wise, ABC Bakers’ Shortbread had no holes, thick lines on the Girl Scout logo and was a slightly thinner cookie than Little Brownies’, which had thinner lines in the logo and six holes in the cookie. The thinner lines are also a bit more raised, giving the Trefoils a bit more of a golden brown color.
ABC had a sweet, sugary and very vanilla taste with a nice crispy bite. Little Brownie Bakers’ Trefoils show the other side of the shortbread coin, with a very buttery flavor and tiny notes of salt and vanilla. Trefoils were still crisp cookies, though they were slightly less so than the Shortbreads.
Growing up, I found Trefoils to be quite the dull cookie, but as a 29-year-old, I find myself enjoying its simplicity. Which is better? Well, that is hard to say, and will boil down to what you look for in a classic shortbread. If you like a golden, buttery flavor, the Trefoil is your girl; if you’re a vanilla fan, seek out the Shortbread.
