Nearly everyone in the U.S. has experienced that annual knock on the door from a Girl Scout selling cookies. Many of us also did time in that uniform, going door to door and trying to outsell our troop-mates. Girl Scout cookies were special; you could only buy them once a year, and they had kinds of cookies you couldn’t find anywhere else, like Tagalongs (cookies with a peanut butter patty, drenched in chocolate), Samoas (a wonderful concoction of chocolate, caramel, and coconut), and of course, everybody’s favorite, the Thin Mints. The Thin Mint is actually the best-selling Girl Scout cookie, cornering 25% of total cookie sales. When you look at how many other varieties there are, you can see why that is actually a very high percentage.
The only problem was, those Girl Scouts only came once a year. How many boxes can you buy at one time, and not appear greedy? How many will fit in your freezer, a greater problem for those of us whose only freezer is part of our refrigerator. And can you hold out until it’s cookie time again? They won’t even sell them on-line! Then, a solution seemed to appear, when the Keebler company introduced its Fudge Shoppe line, which included the chocolate mint Grasshopper. Available all year long. At grocery stores everywhere. Great cheering was heard at my house.
But is the Grasshopper as good as the Girl Scout Thin Mint? Or possibly (sacrilege!) even better? Let’s do a point by point comparison, and find out.
First, who gets the money? One-third of what you pay for Girl Scout cookies goes to the Girl Scouts. What you pay for Grasshoppers goes in part to the grocery store, and in larger part, to the Keebler Company. That’s one point for Thin Mints, zero points for Grasshoppers.
(As an aside, and not truly related to a comparison, Girl Scout cookies are baked by two companies licensed to do so: Little Brownie Bakers, and ABC Bakers. The cookies I purchased were manufactured at Little Brownie Bakers in Louisville, Kentucky, but both companies are required to use the same recipe. Keebler Cookies are distributed by Kellogg Sales Company, who probably manufacture them as well.)
Second point, appearance. Both cookies are about the same size. The chocolate on the Thin Mints looks darker, and there are six little dimples on the top of the cookie. The chocolate on the Grasshoppers look more like milk chocolate, and the edge has an attractive scallop. The chocolate coating on the Grasshopper is also very slightly thicker, while the chocolate on the Thin Mints has a more intense chocolate flavor. I’m calling it a tie, and giving one point to each.
Third, serving size. Both packages state that a serving is 4 cookies. The Girl Scout Thin Mints contain nine servings, while the Keebler Grasshoppers contain 10. That gives each one point for numbers of cookies in a serving, and one more point to the Grasshoppers for having four more cookies than a box of Thin Mints.
Fourth, how many calories are there in a serving? There are 150 calories in a serving of Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies, and “only” 140 calories in a serving of Keebler Grasshoppers. Both have 60 calories from fat. We’ll call the fat calories even right here, and give one point to the Grasshoppers for fewer calories per serving.
But, let’s take a closer look at that fat. The Thin Mints have no trans fat; the Grasshoppers have 1.5 grams of trans fat. Let’s give the Girl Scout Thin Mints one more point for heart-healthier cookies. Since we’re talking health here, the Thin Mints have 1 gm of dietary fiber, admittedly not a lot; but the Grasshoppers have less than 1 gm, 1% less of your recommended daily fiber intake. So the Thin Mints get half a point for the tiny difference in fiber.
How much do they cost? I paid $3.50 for my box of Thin Mints. The Girl Scout website says the price for a box of cookies is between $2.50 and $4.00 per box, depending on your region, and the ingredients of the cookies, which isn’t terribly helpful. I just paid $2.85 (regular price, not a sale) for a package of Keebler Grasshoppers. So the Grasshoppers get one point on this comparison.
That brings us to the last, and probably most important, point of comparison. Which cookie tastes better? That is a difficult and highly personal choice. Since I prefer milk chocolate to its darker (and healthier) sister, I have to say I prefer the Keebler Fudge Shoppe Grasshoppers. My sister, who loves dark chocolate, says it can only be the Girl Scout cookies. So, I’ll leave it to the readers to see who gets this point!
Without considering taste, that leaves us with3.5 points to the Girl Scout Thin Mints, and 4 to the Keebler Fudge Shoppe Grasshoppers. If you like dark chocolate better, the Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies will win by half a point. If you prefer the milk chocolate flavor of the Keebler Grasshoppers, then they will win by 1.5 points.
While I will continue to buy Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies every year, both because I love them and to support the Girl Scouts (and because of my horrible memories of people saying “no” to me when I knocked on their door). But the rest of the year, my chocolate mint cookie will be the Keebler Fudge Shoppe Grasshopper.
