Girl Scout Cookies, Oh My!

So during our family vacation to Disneyland, we of course had a beach/chill day. I highly recommend this to anyone doing a 3-day park hopper & who moves at the rate at which we do-- namely, we follow these rules at Disney:
1.) rest is for wimps.
2.) the family who rides the most rides wins.
3.) every person you pass is one less person you have to stand behind in line. so hustle.

I must give credit to my kids, especially Kelly with her teeny little legs-- they kept up! I felt so guilty at the end of the night that I let her ride me piggy-backed all the way back to the hotel. So after day 2, it's time for a break. Our break day, though a bit chilly, included the hotel pool, then a drive to Huntington Beach, where we strolled the shops, ate dinner, and stuck our feet in the sand while watching the sunset. This day was March 1st, so even though I had just enjoyed a treat day on February 29th (which included a Dole Whip, a dipped banana, and dark chocolate coconut Tasty Kakes I had frozen from my Jersey trip & packed for this very occasion), I was toying with the idea of taking my March treat day while on vacation.

I had been treat-free all that day because I originally wanted to save my March day for the 2nd, our final day at the Disney parks. But here we were, in Huntington Beach on March 1st, and there on the corner was a Girl Scout and her mom, pandering their colorful boxes of gooey edible childhood memories. In that moment, I made March 1st my treat day. With little thought, I tore open the ones formerly known as Samoas & took 2. Then I needed to wash those down with what I term a Tagalong-- you can't change these names, I don't know why they tried. It wasn't until later that I decided to actually see what goes into these magic cookies to make them so delightful. Here's what the label showed:

This doesn't even show the calories & fat grams, which are much higher than the size of the cookie would warrant. But this is what concerned me most: every ingredient is a refined sugar, a trans or saturated fat, a preservative, or a food coloring, with the exception of coconut & cocoa. Apparently, it requires 4 different colors to make the "caramel" look like caramel. If you've ever made real caramel, you know there is no food coloring required-- the butter and sugar make it that perfect caramelly color. Not that I include brown sugar & butter in my regular diet, but at least those are REAL. And if I'm splurging on a treat day, I want my treats to be REAL, for the love! Aren't Girl Scouts supposed to be wholesome & good? These cookies sure ain't. At $5 a box, I expect the good, pricey, organic stuff! These are the same ingredients that go into the cheap $1 cookies at your local grocery. Just sayin' . . .

So there's my rant on Girl Scout Cookies. Though I confess, I may still enjoy one in the future. And those Tasty Kakes are just as evil. I call on my baking friends: find a recipe to make these Samoas & Tagalongs that is 100% REAL. And I urge the Girl Scouts to do the same . . .