Feb. 26--Gordon Ramsay hates Girl Scout Cookies, we learned this week when Jimmy Kimmel offered the explosive, expletive throwing chef his first taste ever.
"They look like dog biscuits," said Ramsay about Tagalongs and Samoas. And Thin Mints? "That's like a cheap After Eight dinner mint," he said, after spitting it out.
Full disclosure: I am a Girl Scout alumna, of Troop 232 in Chicago, who of course sold and ate Girl Scout Cookies, proudly wearing my green Girl Scout sash and all. It's been years since I flashed the three finger Girl Scout sign, but when Ramsay dismissed our cookie culture I silently summoned my inner Girl Scout Friendship Circle.
Kimmel tried to explain to Ramsay the popular methodology for tasting the beloved chocolate peppermint wafers, "I put these in the freezer, and then you pull out a sleeve, and you eat all of them in one sitting."
Perhaps the Girl Scout cookies Ramsay tasted in Los Angeles, where "Jimmy Kimmel Live" is taped, were different than ours in Chicago, or not. There are two big makers: Little Brownie Bakers in Louisville, Ken., and ABC Bakers in Richmond, Va.
Neither supplies strictly by region, but more of a crafty patchwork.
Little Brownie Bakers makes our Thin Mints in Chicago, and surprisingly Los Angeles. They've been described as "richer" with a "smoother chocolate coating" and "distinct peppermint taste" by our colleagues at the Los Angeles Times. But if those cookies came from a troop in nearby Orange County, then they have been "crunchier, with more mint than chocolate in each bite."
Either way, this is Girl Scout cookie season, which you either know well, with boxes popping up in your office, or you're searching for desperately. Find local cookie sales via girlscouts.org, and as of just last year, yes, you can finally buy them online.
Proceeds fund among other things, charitable giving and camp outs, a first for many of us city kids.
Personally I prefer to savor Thin Mints, still my favorite, by sliding a whole cookie in my mouth, then letting it melt slowly through its layers, from dark chocolate glaze, to dense crunchy crumbs.
So Chef Ramsay, maybe you don't know our ways. I'll try to remember the Girl Scout slogan which dates back to 1912: "Do a good turn daily." It's supposed to be "a reminder of the many ways girls can contribute positively to the lives of others." But slam our cookies again? Well, the Girl Scout motto is "Be Prepared." Not a threat. Just be prepared.
