Press Enterprise - March 3, 2004

11:07 AM PST on Wednesday, March 3, 2004

Believe it or not, selling Girl Scout cookies takes more than a sweet smile: It takes marketing genius and a few great recipes to turn the scrumptious seasonal favorites into over-the-top desserts. -->

Just ask 13-year-old Erin Sanders, veteran hawker of more than a thousand boxes a year. With help from her parents and some sophisticated marketing techniques, the fast-talking cadet from Cherry Valley has parlayed her acting experience into a successful business.

She uses a computer program - written by her father - to track the preferences of her loyal customers and help keep them buying at least the same amount as the year before. And with the same enthusiasm she devotes to her commercial scripts, Erin delivers her sales pitch door to door while her mother jots down the orders.

Fudgy Peanut Butter Balls recipe using Peanut Butter Patties.

She peddled 1,600 boxes this year - down from her record 1,900 boxes last year - but still worth about $1,350 for her troop.

Erin epitomizes the spirit of this seasonal tradition, when young girls hit the streets in hopes of exercising selling skills and earning money for trips and activities. But it's not always easy, especially with this year's grocery strike and lockout, which has left troops searching for other locations for their public booth sales that start March 5.

The sales pitch
And of course there's the ever-popular "I'm on a diet" rejection, even more prevalent in these days of low-carb everything. Like the good scouts they are, the girls are prepared with a comeback.

"We tell the girls to tell the people 'Would you like to donate the cost of a box and we'll donate it to a homeless shelter?' " said Diane Hewitt, product sales manager for the San Gorgonio Council, which covers all of Riverside and most of San Bernardino counties. "As a general rule, people buy Girl Scout cookies to support Girl Scouts."

For each $4 box of cookies, troops get 71 cents and the girls get 18 cents of "cookie dough" to spend at their discretion. The two biggest chunks of money go toward scouting programs (86 cents) and the cost of the product (83 cents).

"It's not so much the money that is raised, but the skills girls use. They're essentially running their own small business," said Marion Swan, spokeswoman for Girl Scouts USA. "Our emphasis is, when you buy a box of Girls Scout cookies, you're contributing to the future of one of the business leaders of tomorrow."

This year, Gavuzzi's girls will donate to the Ronald McDonald House in Loma Linda, which helps families of sick children. The troop's second- and third-graders will spend the rest of their profits on a trip to Sea World, a day of painting ceramics, horseback riding and a slumber party.

"I don't want to milk the parents for a nickel here, a dime there (for activities). I like to see the girls earn it," said Gavuzzi, whose 7-year-old daughter, Alannah, sold 1,700 boxes this year.

Gavuzzi chalks up Alannah's stellar sales to youthful enthusiasm. "She loves to get out there and sell. She loves to talk to people." The eagerness starts at 6 a.m., but Gavuzzi makes her daughter wait until she - and the customers - have had at least one cup of coffee.

Alannah has also become proficient at e-mailing, and has enlisted her family members to get the word out about cookies. "She takes the order card wherever we go. She doesn't worry if they say no," Gavuzzi said.

More persuasion
And that includes the old diet excuse. For customers who try to use that one, Alannah recommends the Reduced Fat Lemon Pastry Cremes (4.5 grams for three cookies, compared to 8 grams for two Peanut Butter Patties) or the Shortbread, which has the lowest number of carbs (4.5 grams per cookie, compared to 12.5 for Animal Treasures). She tells them even cookies can be part of a healthy diet.

The two bakers that make all the cookies have looked into a low-carb version, but it would be at least twice as expensive to produce, said Hewitt, who trains 3,000 girls at an annual rally to kick off the cookie season in January. They're betting that the trend will fade.

Besides, she said, "many of the people who are on these low-carb diets do treat themselves once in a while."

The bakers even supply recipes for concocting treats for those who want to do more than just eat the cookies out of the box. Here are some of their suggestions:

Piñatas de Fresa
¾ cup plus 3 tablespoons (topping) sugar
1 pound cream cheese
3 eggs
¾ cup plus 3 tablespoons sour cream
1 cup strawberry preserves
1 box crushed Piñatas Girl Scout cookies (save 6-8 for garnish)

Cream together ¾ cup sugar and cream cheese. Add eggs, one at a time. Add ¾ cup sour cream. Add strawberry preserves. Crush one box of Piñatas, saving 6-8 for garnish. Press into bottom of spring-form pan. Pour cheesecake batter slowly over crust. Bake in 325-degree oven for 1½ hours.

For topping: Whisk remaining sugar and sour cream. Spread mixture on top of cheesecake five minutes after removing from oven. Slightly arrange cookies on top.
Source: Helen Berens, Radisson Paper Valley Hotel, Wis.

Trefoils S'Mores
Trefoils (two cookies for each S'More)
Miniature marshmallows
Chocolate candy bar

David Bauman / The Press-Enterprise On cake stand - Pinatas de Fresa. Right - Chocolate Thin Mint Pizza. At left - Fudgy Peanut Butter Balls,Trefoils S'Mores and Safari Cookie Sandwiches.

Place a Trefoil cookie face down on a microwave plate. Put four miniature marshmallows on top of the cookie. Lay a 1-inch square of chocolate candy bar on marshmallows. Top with a Trefoil cookie. Microwave for 10 seconds on high. Allow to cool before eating.
Source: Little Brownie Bakers

Fudgy Peanut Butter Balls
1 ½ boxes (24 cookies) Peanut Butter Patties
3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
2/3 cup salted peanuts, finely chopped

Place cookies in food processor or blender; process until fine crumbs. Combine crumbs and butter; mix until well blended. Roll mixture into 1-inch balls. Place peanuts in small narrow bowl. Roll each ball in peanuts, gently pressing peanuts into balls. Store in covered container in refrigerator until ready to serve.
Makes: 28
Source: ABC Bakers

Safari Cookie Sandwiches
1 tablespoon prepared vanilla frosting
1 tablespoon creamy peanut butter
2 Animal Treasures cookies
Chopped peanuts
Mini chocolate chips

In a small bowl stir together frosting and peanut butter. Spoon onto the chocolate side of one Animal Treasures cookie. Spread evenly to edges of cookie. Top with another Animal Treasures cookie, chocolate side down. Squeeze slightly so that frosting comes out to edges. Dip two sides of cookie sandwich into chopped peanuts and the other two sides into chocolate chips.
Makes: 1 cookie sandwich
Option: Add 1 miniature candy bar, chopped, to frosting mixture.
Some suggested flavors are milk chocolate peanut butter cups or chocolate-covered peanuts, caramel and nougat candy.
Source: ABC Bakers

Chocolate Thin Mint Pizza Supreme
1 18-ounce package refrigerated chocolate chunk cookie dough
½ package (19 cookies) Girl Scout Thin Mints
½ cup white chocolate morsels
Vanilla ice cream, optional

Press cookie dough evenly in the bottom of an ungreased 12-inch pizza pan or a 13-by-9-by-2-inch baking pan. (Dough will barely cover the pan.) Break Thin Mints into halves or thirds; press cookie pieces into dough, covering evenly. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 18 minutes or until golden brown. Place white chocolate morsels into a small self-closing bag. Microwave the bag of morsels on medium high (70 percent power) for 40 to 50 seconds or until melted. Snip one corner off the bottom of the bag. Hold bag tightly at top and drizzle white chocolate stripes over top of pizza. When cool, cut pizza into 8 or 10 wedges. If desired, top each serving with a scoop of ice cream.
Makes: 8 to 10 servings
Source: ABC Bakers

Katie Roche, 8, left, and Alannah Gavuzzi, 7, from a Highland troop prepare Fudgy Peanut Butter Balls.

1 box Thin Mint cookies, crushed
1 cup Double Dutch cookies, crushed
3 ½ ounces roasted hazelnuts
5 eggs, separated
¾ cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup self-rising flour
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
Use cream, raspberries and chocolate curls for decoration
Raspberry Cream:
2/3 cup cream
6 ½ ounces raspberries, lightly mashed
1 tablespoon castor sugar
1 tablespoon brandy

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a food processor, grind the Double Dutch cookies into fine crumbs, remove them and then do the same thing to the Thin Mints. Grind the hazelnuts 15 seconds. Set aside.

Brush a 12-by-10 inch Swiss roll tin with oil. Line the pan with paper and grease the paper. Sprinkle pan with castor sugar and the crushed Double Dutch cookies. Beat the egg yolks and sugar with an electric mixer until thick and pale. Add the vanilla.

In a clean, dry bowl, beat the egg whites until peaks form. Using a metal spoon, add sifted flours into the egg yolks, one-third at a time. Fold in the hazelnuts with the last third.

Spoon the mixture into the pan and smooth the surface. Bake for 15 minutes until lightly golden and spongy to the touch.

Turn onto a dry tea towel covered with grease-proof paper and sprinkle with sugar and let stand for a minute.

Using the tea towel as a guide, roll the cake up and let it stand for 5 minutes. Then gently unroll. Discard the paper.

For the raspberry cream, beat the cream until stiff peaks form. Fold in the raspberries, sugar and brandy. Spread the cream over the cake. Sprinkle the Thin Mint crumbs in one straight line down the center, lengthwise. Gently roll the cake up and decorate with whipped cream, raspberries and chocolate curls.
Source: Little Brownie Bakers

Safari Cookie Sandwiches made with Animal Treasures cookies.

Lemon Crunch Parfait
12 Reduced Fat Lemon Pastry Cremes
1 quart frozen reduced fat or fat free vanilla yogurt
1 15-ounce jar scalloped apples
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Place cookies in a small self-sealing plastic bag. With a rolling pin crumble cookies into small pieces; set aside. Spoon one-half of yogurt into six parfait glasses or dessert dishes. In a small bowl combine apples and cinnamon. Layer 2 tablespoons of apple mixture over yogurt in each dessert dish; sprinkle with half of cookie crumbs. Spoon remaining yogurt over cookie crumbs; layer remaining apple mixture on top. Sprinkle with remaining cookie crumbs.
Makes: 6 servings
Source: ABC Bakers