Girl Scouts
(continued)
The selling techniques have changed over the years and now
many cookies are sold by the girl scouts from booths and
stands instead of the old fashioned door to door order
taking. Girl Scout troops order the cookies in advance based
on what they feel they can sell. For safety reasons the
cookies cannot be returned to the baker once they have been
delivered. Nationwide the scouts have noticed an increasing
number of merchants no longer allow the girls to set up
tables at businesses to sell the cookies, leading parents to
be concerned
that all cookies will not be able to be sold. Statistics
show that 80% of those asked to buy Gils Scout cookies will
do so.
The all time record holder for Girl Scout cookies sales is
Jennifer Sharpe, of Michigan, who as a fifteen year old in
2008 sold 17,328 boxes.
The cookies were replaced by calendars in 1942
because of a shortage of sugar, flour and butter during
WWII. The first
cookie sales were held in 1917. Girls baked their own
batches of cookies at home. Today two major bakeries supply
the products for the annual sale.
The following sugar cookie recipe was published in The
American Girl magazine in July 1922 by a Chicago director
named Florence E. Neil. The recipe was given to 2,000 Girl
Scouts, and girls across America began to sell their
homemade cookie packages from door to door for about a
quarter a dozen.
Original Girl Scout Sugar Cookie Recipe
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar plus additional amount for topping (optional)
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
Cream butter and the cup of sugar; add well-beaten eggs,
then milk, vanilla, flour, salt and baking powder.
Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Roll dough, cut into
trefoil shapes, and sprinkle sugar on top, if desired. Bake
in a quick oven (375 degrees) for approximately 8 to 10
minutes or until the edges begin to brown. Makes six- to
seven-dozen cookies.