When I was younger I was a Brownie. I used to do activities and earn badges for a few years. I remember little ceremonies at our local library. But when I remember the most were the cookies. Oh, those Girl Scout cookies were so awesome.

I used to sell the cookies at my dad’s office and things would get pretty insane. My chart would fill up and then some. And then of course the cookies would be delivered to our house and things would be even crazier. Boxes and boxes filled with boxes of girl scout cookies would fill our living room. My parents would have to sort the cookies quickly that night since my mom ran a day care in our house and we could not have a bunch of toddlers attack boxes of cookies. Their sugar high would just be out of control! ha!

Now my best friend’s daughter is a Brownie so when the opportunity to help our the Girl Scout’s organization fund-raise I could not pass that up. Nor could I pass up the chance for cookies that only come around 1 time a year. I love Thin Mints and Caramel deLites so I definitely had to order those. But I did order the new Mango Cremes to give them a try.

The Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts sent me a box of Thin Mint Cookies and a recipe for Thin Mint Gooey Cake Bars so I could see how versatile the cookies are, besides just being so yummy. Oh, my gosh! I thought I was going to have to lock up the box of cookies so Price couldn’t eat them before I made the Thin Mint Gooey Cake Bars.

These were so easy to make and before I knew it our house was filled with the sweet smells of chocolate and mint. Just be sure to well grease the pan to make it easy to remove the bars once they are cooled. And the worst part is that you really do have to wait until they are cooled before cutting into them or they will fall apart. Oh it was so hard to wait!! But it was worth the wait since these were so good. The cake layer is a great base and then it gets intense with all that chocolate and mint piled high. It’s a bar you are going to want to sink your teeth in as they are soft, chewy and yet crunchy at the same time.

Girl Scout Cookies are available for sale until March 12th. Find a Girl Scout you know to purchase directly from her or you can find a booth where they are being sold in your area. There even is an app you can download to find cookie sale locations!

Thin Mint Gooey Cake Bars

Makes 24 or 32 bars, depending on size you cut

Ingredients

• 1 box of yellow cake mix
• 1 stick of unsalted butter, softened
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup Andes mint chips or candies chopped into small pieces
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• 20 Girl Scout thin Mint Cookies, broken into pieces.

Process

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 9×13 baking dish by coating with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Mix together the cake mix, butter, and egg in a large bowl.
3. Press the dough mixture into the bottom of the prepared baking dish.
4. Spread the chocolate chips and Andes mint chips evenly over the dough. Then pour the condensed milk over the chips and then sprinkle the pieces of the Thin Mint Cookies over it all.
5. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until baked through. Let cool completely before cutting into squares.

I received a box of Thin Mint Cookies from the Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts to write this post. The options are my own.