Pastry Chef Attempts to Make Gourmet Girl Scout Cookies

The cookie-- [clattering]

The cookie itself-- [clattering]

[Claire laughing]

[Producer] Hold for sound.

The cookie-- Wait, there's more.

[all laughing]

[Claire] Do you need a hand?

I don't know who put these out,

unless it's him.

You want me to hand it to you?

Yeah, I think-- Here, do you want?

You got it?

I'm not really helping.

Okay, it's going in.

It's done.

That's it.

[Claire laughing]

Good job.

Bye! Bye.

[upbeat jazzy music]

[Claire yelps] [chuckles]

Hey everyone, I'm Claire.

We're in the BA Test Kitchen,

and today I'm making gourmet

Girl Scout Cookies.

This box looks like it's been opened.

[Dan] I'm sorry.

[laughing]

Guilty.

Girl Scout Cookies are sold only through actual Girl Scouts,

children, and it's only certain times of the year

in different parts of the country, so we had to

basically put in like a special order.

I don't know, I haven't had Girl Scout Cookies

in a very long time.

I don't see any Girl Scouts around

to order cookies from.

[Dan] Do children like you?

[laughing]

Yeah.

I'm actually really,

I'm actually really good with kids.

I just don't talk to them that much.

I was a Brownie for one season.

[laughing]

And my friends and I all did it together,

and we sold Girl Scout Cookies,

and I think I sold like 40 boxes,

and I was like, this is hard.

We went up and down the blocks of our neighborhood.

Not that many people bought it.

But the person who won sold like 342,

and I was never gonna do that,

and then I was like, I don't think I'm so into this.

All right.

So this is Thin Mint.

Such a good cookie.

I love Thin Mints.

They're such a good size.

Ah, just such a good little cookie.

So crisp, so simple.

These are so good.

As soon as you bite in, you get some of the aroma

of the mint.

It's just so good.

It's just so perfectly balanced.

Caramel deLites, AKA Samoas.

Samoas are my favorite because I like coconut.

Like, as a recipe developer,

I wish that I'd come up with this shape and decoration

for a cookie.

It's so fun and playful.

It looks like very much kind of a shortbread type cookie.

And then there's caramel, toasted coconut flakes,

and some kind of chocolate thing.

The cookie itself is really tender

but all the texture really comes from the coconut,

which is very, very chewy.

It's really sweet.

What next?

The Tagalong?

Crispy cookies layered with peanut butter

and covered with a chocolatey coating.

[laughing]

[Dan] I don't know anything about that.

How'd that happen?

God, I love peanut butter.

Peanut butter and chocolate.

Looks like it's a lighter chocolate coating

than a Thin Mint.

This is a darker chocolate, and this is lighter.

In this cookie, there's a round kind of shortbread-y cookie,

then a smaller disc of peanut butter filling

in the center, and then covered in chocolate.

What's good about these is the saltiness

of the peanut butter.

Those are top three.

Ooh, these are new.

We have the scoop on Lemon Ups.

Crispy lemon cookies baked with inspiring messages

to lift your spirits.

I am creative.

Ooh!

[laughing]

I am creative.

Oh my god.

I am a go-getter.

I am a leader.

I am gutsy.

I am strong. I love these.

Were you a Girl Scout? Yes.

Really?

Did you win? Obviously.

Did you win? Win?

Like sell the most,

[laughing] sorry.

Did you sell--

It wasn't a competition.

Yes it was.

Did you sell the most cookies?

I guess not.

What's your favorite?

The Caramel deLites.

Oh, whoa.

AKA, Samoas.

Yeah, AKA Samoas.

In Texas they were called Samoas.

They're so sweet.

I know. They're so sweet.

What flavor, or flavors

should I make for this episode?

I think you should go with our big three.

Thin Mint, Samoa, Tagalong.

Okay.

This is the only Girl Scout Cookie that matters.

Wow.

They weren't always called Samoas.

Like, when I was growing up it was Caramel deLites.

This is one of the great cookies of the world.

Really?

Tagalong.

Which one are you making?

Thin Mint.

Okay, so we agreed on three.

What are the three?

Tagalongs, Samoas-- Samoas, Thin Mints--

Thin Mint. Yeah.

Agreed? Yeah.

I feel good about those.

That's what I would have said from the beginning.

This could not be easier, by the way.

Could do this blindfolded.

So I'm gonna clean this off,

and then we'll start to do a little research.

Let me measure these.

Okay, so a Thin Mint, four and a half centimeter diameter.

Tagalongs are also four and a half.

These are all four and a half.

The working theory is that all of these cookies

are made out of the same cookie, same dough.

I mean, these all look very, very similar.

The Tagalong cookie looks like it has a depression.

I'm a little bit surprised at the shape,

because it's not actually just a depression,

there's like a weird little button lip

around the center.

I might have to make two separate types of cookies,

one that's only Thin Mint,

and one that's a cookie that I can use

in both the Samoa and the Tagalong.

The mint is definitely in the cookie.

It's a little hard to tell if it's also in the coating.

Time for my favorite part, reading the ingredients.

I'll start with Thin Mints.

Enriched wheat flour, parenthesis, flour, niacin,

reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid,

closed parenthesis sugar, vegetable oil shortening,

parenthesis, palm and palm kernel oils, closed parenthesis.

Cocoa, parenthesis, processed with alkali,

closed parenthesis, caramel color,

high fructose corn syrup, salt, baking soda,

soy lecithin, natural and artificial flavor.

Oh, it says crispy chocolate wafers

dipped in a mint fudge coating,

which leads me to believe that according to this

the mint is only in the coating.

Now this says crisp chocolatey cookies

made with natural oil of peppermint.

Why are they different sizes?

[laughing]

Is one of these bootlegged?

These have different descriptions on the boxes,

and different ingredients.

So this one says manufactured for Little Brownie Bakers,

well this one says manufactured by ABC Bakers

slash Interbake Foods LLC.

One company is probably making Samoas

and one is marketing the same cookie as Caramel deLites.

They all have the same baseline of ingredients,

and then this one has peppermint extract,

this one has peanut butter,

and this one has sweetened condensed milk and coconut.

I wanna go see what I can find online.

Bestselling Girl Scout Cookies in order.

One, Thin Mints.

Two, Caramel deLites slash Samoas.

Three, Tagalongs.

Okay, so we picked the top three.

[gasping] How Girl Scout Cookies are made.

Here we are.

Did you know that, yes we did know that.

Look at how the Tagalongs are filled.

They're not piping the filling into the center

of the buttons, they're just coating the whole thing.

Little Brown Bakers in Louisville, Kentucky.

Ooh.

North Sioux City, South Dakota is the other one.

Wow.

So I feel like I've been eating

the Little Brownie Baker's one.

And not ABC Bakers.

Okay, so this is saying that the mint flavor

is in the coating.

What a great video.

It's so fast.

Wow, they're pressed into a really dramatic wreath shape.

So the wreath shape has a similar kind of well

going around the whole circumference of the wreath,

and that I think is so that it can be filled

with the caramel.

Here's my plan.

I'm gonna start with making, I think, one kind

of cookie dough, and I can flavor some of it

with chocolate to see if I can get three cookies

out of one dough preparation.

[upbeat drums music]

My approach for the dough is to do something

shortbread-like, but with kind of a sable texture.

Okay, so I'm starting with the butter,

and then I'll add the sugar.

I'm gonna add a little bit of vanilla.

I'm measuring out the flour.

Then two tablespoons cornstarch,

kosher salt, baking powder.

All right, so here's my dough.

I'm gonna chill this down,

put it in here, and then day two will really be

about the actual cookie, trying to figure out molds,

dialing in taste and texture.

On day one at the end of the day, I made cookie dough,

and then I was like this has to chill.

Okay.

But then I left for two weeks.

[laughing]

So I need to start over.

I'm gonna actually just make that same,

exact same dough recipe again,

so I can bake it and test it out.

All right.

[jazzy drums music]

Who's responsible for this?

So this has been freezing for a little while.

It's maybe a little thick, but actually

the Girl Scout Cookies are a little thick.

This is just a test for texture and flavor,

so I'm not concerned about cutting cookies

that are the same size or thickness.

Oh!

I burned them.

Wow, that went so fast.

All right, well.

I think it was the oven's fault.

So the cookies held their shape, for the most part,

but you can see there is this lacy edge

where it's kind of spread a little bit,

but that also could be because the oven

was just really, really hot.

So I might have to add a little more flour or cornstarch.

Looks pretty good.

Minus the burned part.

[Dan] Done.

Wow.

I think I did too good a job.

It's very airy, very crisp, and also very tender.

So this is a little fragment of the interior

of the Tagalong.

They look similar, in terms of structure.

Actually very similar in terms of airiness and texture.

My version is a little more tender,

a little bit, not more crumbly,

but it just falls apart more easily.

But I love the flavor.

I think it's actually pretty close on a first try.

This time I'm gonna add a bit of egg white,

a little bit more flour, and a little less cornstarch.

My god.

Your sash.

Oh my god, I didn't even see it.

Why didn't anyone say anything?

These are your badges?

Yeah, they're my badges.

Oh my god, it's on the front and back!

Oh yeah.

I was, yeah. [Claire gasping]

All right, talk to me about these.

Here's a square dancing patch.

Thinking day?

Sports, I think.

It looks good.

It's looking right.

[laughing]

Yes.

It fits.

[classy jazz music]

Thank you.

Oh they look perfect.

The surfaces are pale, there's a little bit

of golden around the edge.

I think it's a right amount of doneness.

That was almost 10 minutes.

They are basically right at four and a half centimeters,

which is where I wanted them to be.

Bottoms look good, little bit of golden.

I don't like the cornstarch in it.

I think it's giving it kind of a grainy texture.

So I might switch to all flour,

but maybe I'll do cake flour

because I want them to be very light.

I actually think it's very, very close

in terms of texture.

I might just make those quick tweaks of swapping out

cornstarch, swapping in cake flour

for all of the flour.

[jazzy drums music]

Alex.

What's up?

Question.

If you were gonna get a badge,

what would your badge be for?

This is making me realize that I have accomplished

nothing in my life.

What would your badge be for?

I think you get--

Patience.

[Claire] Ooh, that's a good one.

That is a good one.

[jazzy music]

It'd be the leisure badge.

Dedicating myself to a lifestyle of leisure.

Delaney.

The Fast and the Furious badge.

I've watched all, well, at the time there were only

eight movies, but I watched them all in one week.

Unless you can drive like they drive

in Fast and the Furious,

you don't get the Fast and Furious badge.

I'm out of practice, but I could learn.

This is black cocoa.

We used this for the Oreo episode.

It's cocoa that's been treated multiple times

but in alkali.

This is peppermint extract.

I've used it many times.

All right, I'm gonna taste the dough.

It doesn't really taste the least bit like chocolate,

but it has a chocolate coating, so maybe that's okay.

Okay, Claire.

How about-- Oh my god.

How about the friendship and encouragement badge?

That's a good one.

You're doing a great job.

Thanks, Delaney.

I really do value our time that we spend together.

Thank you.

I'm sure the cookies are gonna be great.

No, hey Delaney.

Sorry, that one's for Rhoda.

What?

Rhoda gets that one.

Into the fridge.

I don't want that.

Don't try to just find things to throw at me.

Don't do it!

I'll bat it away!

[laughing]

Okay, the dough is looking great.

I'm gonna pop this in the freezer

and try to figure out some kind of a mold

or a stamp for the Tagalong cookies.

All right, here's our old friend.

This is this food-grade putty

where when I mix the two colors,

I don't know what the chemistry is,

but it starts to set, and it has to cure for 20 minutes,

and then it is a usable somewhat flexible silicon mold.

I mean, I don't think it's cheating,

but I think that the best thing to do

would be to make an impression of the cookie

in the mold, and then use that to punch out the dough

[jazzy drums music]

I wish I had done this on something I could then move

because now I can't move it.

But in 20 minutes, I'll pop out the cookie

and the mold should be ready.

In the meantime, I'll punch out some of the cookies.

The center on the Samoa is one centimeter in diameter,

so I have to find a one centimeter cutter.

I'm looking for like a largish round tip.

Oh right.

I forgot about the part where there's like a moat

inside the wreath, and the caramel sits

and rests into that.

I'm looking for a circle like this size

but that's not so sharp.

[Gaby] Do you want to use my bottle?

The goal is to create a little channel running

all the way around the cookie.

I think that this is important for the Samoa

because if there's nowhere for the caramel to go

it's just gonna run right off the cookie,

so I think it's important in giving the caramel

an anchor, something to stick to.

[timer beeping]

They look good.

They held that channel relatively well.

Better than I was hoping, actually.

I don't know if it's going to be enough of a space

for the caramel.

A least thing, it was a really good first pass.

The chocolate ones puffed up quite a bit,

which I'm surprised by.

But that might be because I worked that dough a lot more.

That's for a Samoa?

[beeping] off.

Look. What--

There is like a channel.

A channel?

For the caramel to run through.

Oh my god.

[Claire] I know.

The mint?

I'm sorry.

[Claire] Yeah?

It's just awesome.

[Claire] Okay, good.

I didn't know where you were going with that.

I could take a little more chocolate flavor.

I love the mint.

Oh really?

Okay.

And it's gonna get dipped anyway right?

True.

True.

So this is delicious.

Okay, great.

I think one dough to rule them all.

Well now it's actually gonna be two doughs

because I'm gonna--

Two doughs to rule them all.

I think I'll keep the black cocoa

but then add maybe some dutch process.

Just straight dutch.

And I'll keep the peppermint the same.

Mm, yeah.

I think it could also be dryer.

I mean, snappier.

So, like this,

there's a wetness--

There's a little softness there.

In the center, yeah.

Okay, so that was a good test.

I want to come back to the mold I made

of the Tagalong, just pop that guy out.

It took a pretty nice impression of it.

The downside is that I have to form them one at a time

and then chill them and then pop them out

and then form another one.

The last thing I'll do today

is isolate the cookies from maybe three Tagalongs,

make more molds of just those,

and leave them overnight

[upbeat jazzy music]

Tomorrow will be about forming and baking

all of the cookies, and then I might be able

to move onto some of those coatings

and caramel filling for the Samoas

and that kind of thing.

[jazzy drums music]

All right, day three.

I feel like a lot of things happen on day three.

I wanna look at the molds that I made for Tagalongs.

They look pretty good.

Nice defined button shapes.

What I'm gonna do now is make a two times recipe

of the plain cookie base, and then I'm gonna make

a one times recipe of the chocolate version

separately on its own.

I do need softened butter though

so I'm going to put this butter in the microwave.

Oh this, I can't use this microwave.

It's too disgusting.

That make, ugh.

That microwave is a disgrace to this Test Kitchen.

I don't go over there.

It is horrifying.

While this is softening, I'm gonna go

clean out that microwave.

So tired of looking at this.

This is embarrassing.

You're gonna have to blur this out.

Ugh.

[Man] Ugh!

[Dan] Oh my.

I'm taking this straight to the dish pit.

This maybe has never been cleaned.

I'm just in the middle of a really intense scary process.

A piece of extremely cooked on tomato sauce.

Oh, got it.

Okay.

This is a really good illustration

of my problem getting work done.

I usually just end up cleaning instead.

Ugh, this is the worst part.

Ugh.

Ugh.

Ooh.

Oh no, Dan.

Stop! [Dan laughing]

No!

Ah, all is right.

In case that wasn't clear, that was really more

about anxiety management then anything else.

And the tweaks I'm doing on this one

is just a little more cocoa.

I'm gonna add some dutch processed cocoa.

So I'm gonna do one tablespoon of the black cocoa

and one tablespoon of a good quality dutch processed cocoa.

[whistles]

Thank you.

I'm gonna sift in the dry.

It smells cocoa-y and peppermint-y,

but it smells like it's in balance.

Okay, into the fridge.

And that took so long the first batch might be ready.

And I was right.

So here's my plan.

I'm gonna cut out the circles

and then I'm gonna freeze it, and then any scraps

that I have, I'm gonna use to form into my molds

for Tagalong, so right now I'm only cutting circles

for the wreath.

We ever gonna find out what's happening

with this vodka?

[jazzy drums music]

And now I'm gonna keep rolling out the chocolate dough.

Oh, I didn't even see the gin in the background.

Okay, so I'm gonna do the rest of this in the walk-in

under refrigeration.

Oh, my god.

Thank you.

So cold.

The tray is very gold.

Gaby, this jacket was so great.

Thank you.

So here's that water bottle from yesterday.

This is an extremely cold baking sheet.

It's so cold it hurts my hands.

Okay, these are gonna come over into the oven.

Thank you.

I have all the punched-out Thin Mints,

and then basically everything is formed.

I just have to make more of the Tagalongs.

Didn't I give you,

ah, don't.

Don't, don't, don't.

No, no, no, no, no.

No!

I'm finding this enjoyable and comfortable,

and I'm feeling great.

Okay.

Back into the freezer.

Maybe five minutes.

These puffed up so much more

than they did yesterday, which is kind of strange.

I also kind of wish the channel

was a little bit deeper,

but I think it's gonna be fine.

At least it held the indentation.

So I'm gonna let these cool.

In the meantime, I'll put the Thin Mints in the oven.

All right, these are a little tricky to figure out

when they're done because they're already brown

and so I won't be able to see any browning.

So I have to kind of go by touch.

And I do think that they're done.

Actually, the spread was pretty much the same.

The same cutter.

So at least all the cookies will be the same size

so that looks great.

I think the dimensions look really good.

Homemade's a little bit bigger because of the spread,

but pretty close.

The Thin Mint is much snappier, so I probably will

end up dehydrating the cookies for at least

a couple hours.

They are right on the verge of being not sweet enough,

but I think they have a really nice cocoa flavor,

and good amount of peppermint.

I'm happy with that balance.

Let me taste a wreath also.

Such a good cookie.

So tasty.

I gotta remember this recipe.

This is a good cookie.

Before I bake the final tray

I am putting all of these in the dehydrator

for at least a couple of hours.

I wanna get that snap.

Now I'm gonna go into the freezer,

pop out the final three cookies for Tagalongs

and put them in the oven.

These guys are ready, finally.

These look good.

Ow, ow, ow.

Hot.

I'm gonna put them in the dehydrator with the other ones.

And now fillings.

This is finely shredded dried coconut.

Just gonna bake this.

While that's toasting, I'll put together ingredients

for the caramel.

I'm gonna make a caramel very similar

to the one I made for Milky Way,

but this time instead of adding butter

I'm gonna add virgin coconut oil,

which has a pretty strong coconut flavor.

So everything else I'll keep the same,

a little corn syrup, heavy cream,

my vanilla extract, and some salt.

And the idea is that this is a pretty stiff caramel

that doesn't run all over the place.

All right, look at how beautiful and evenly toasted this is.

This is done.

All right, so that's all the heavy cream.

Now I'm gonna add the coconut oil.

I'm gonna get this into a container and save it

for tomorrow, and then I think the last thing I'll do today

is make filling for the Tagalongs.

I just want to say that this is very special

homemade peanut butter that our good friend John

who's sitting right over there, he brought it in.

The peanut butter filling in the Tagalong

is pretty set.

You can see it's almost dough-like.

I can manipulate it and roll it around.

I think my best bet is to do the filling

that I made for Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.

So I'm gonna beat this together with a teaspoon

and a half of vanilla, which I'm eyeballing.

And a bunch of kosher salt, which I'm also eyeballing

you can see it's looking a little bit dough-like.

That's good.

It is a little separated.

I think that that peanut butter was just really

high in fat, it had a lot of oil in it, and so the oils

are kind of exuding because it's hot,

so I'm just kind of kneading it a little bit

to bring the temperature back down.

It tastes great.

It's just kind of chewy.

How much oil did you add to that peanut butter?

I kind of eyeballed it.

It seems a little greasy.

[John] Oh!

Like it's dripping off of my hands.

I could squeeze it out of this mixture.

[laughing]

Oh boy.

Maybe I'll drain it.

Oh god, it's soaking through faster than I can

tear the paper towels.

Maybe it's fine.

I'm gonna let it set overnight,

and we'll come back tomorrow.

I'm feeling pretty confident.

I'm feeling confident.

I don't have a great feeling

about this peanut butter.

It's not exactly the creamy filling

that you get in a Tagalong.

It is a delicious crumbly peanut butter candy.

It's not gonna be right for the Tagalongs.

I'm using my favorite peanut butter,

besides John's homemade peanut butter,

which is Smoker's Natural.

So what I think I'll do is try that same preparation

again with a lower proportion of that sugar mixture,

and maybe that's it.

I like this peanut butter because the only ingredients

are peanuts and salt, and it is a really salty

peanut butter, which is also why I like it.

And I also didn't mix it as much as I mixed it yesterday.

Honestly needs to be sweeter.

I'm gonna stir in powdered sugar to taste, basically.

I think this is gonna work.

I feel good about that.

I'm gonna let that continue to cool

and set a little bit.

I think in the meantime I can start filling the Samoas.

So I'm just gonna try to coat this guy.

It's definitely settling into that channel,

which is good.

Now I'm worried actually that the caramel is so set

that the coconut won't stick to it.

But let's see.

This is just a test.

Oh, it coated.

Okay, good.

Ooh, look how good it looks.

Now I'm just gonna go one by one

and just keep going until I've done

all the Samoas.

[jazzy drums music]

I wanted to do them all myself,

but I was told I have to have help.

So, thank you for being here.

Um, the strategy is--

That was the most polite thank you for being here.

She's like, I hate that you're here.

[jazzy music]

Are they done?

Rick! No, they're not done!

This is only one of three types of cookies

that I'm doing also.

You're doing three?

You're tapping out?

Rhoda!

Hi!

Oh my god.

I'm alive!

You're here!

You're very, I think you're good, Sarah.

No, I-- I don't wanna--

I think you're good. Disappoint you.

I think you're good.

She's redoing my work.

No, I'm just doing a little finishing touch.

Now it feels a little thin to me, but.

I think it looks great.

[Sarah] Okay.

[Claire] Let's dip it.

[Dan] How do you feel about the way

you treated your friends?

How do you feel about the way I treated people?

Look, I appreciate everyone's

eagerness to help me, but I just think it's better

for everyone if I work alone.

This is always how it was with group projects.

I prefer to work alone.

Look, I'm making a lot of cookies.

I could have made like six and I would have been fine,

but I chose to make a lot.

The last thing I want to do before I move on

to the chocolate stage is fill the Tagalongs.

This process should be a lot faster, hopefully.

This is just a matter of scraping and spreading

this filling onto the cookie.

[jazzy drums music]

All right, look at my Girl Scout Cookies.

Now time for my least favorite part.

I don't want to coat it.

Is Sohla around? [emotional piano music]

Can Sohla help me?

I don't want to do the chocolate part.

It's hard.

And it's gonna be so hard to get these

coated in a thin layer.

Rhoda?

Rhoda, hi.

[Rhoda] Hi!

I need your advice.

So you want me to tell you

you don't have to temper the chocolate?

Yeah, kind of.

That was kind of what I was looking for.

But I think, here's the idea.

So my idea was if I add some additional cocoa butter,

which is very solid at room temp,

to melt the chocolate.

It's kind of like a cheat for tempering.

But because the coconut butter

is very liquid at room temp,

it thins out the chocolate, which will make it

easier to coat in a thin layer.

And I can help you, too.

Thanks, Rhoda.

All right.

I'm melting the chocolate.

This is the milk chocolate.

And really a lot of steam.

They get the different, we already covered this.

The cookies are getting different.

The Thin Mints are getting the dark chocolate

with peppermint extract,

and the Caramel deLites and Tagalongs

are getting milk chocolate.

Thank you, Rhoda.

So the idea is that this cocoa butter will melt

and when cocoa butter is melted,

it's very liquid, and it will increase the fluidity

of the chocolate, which will make it easier to unrobe,

so that's the idea there.

I'm gonna start with the Tagalongs.

So ...

Okay, that worked well.

Wait, should I just be dipping them

the whole way, you guys?

I dropped it in.

It fell.

I think I should just be dipping them.

[jazzy drums music]

Two, four, six, eight,

10, 12, 14.

So these are gonna go into the fridge.

I am moving onto Samoas.

So I just need to be careful

not to drop them in the chocolate.

All right.

This is the last one.

I dropped one.

The one that we did in slow mo

is the one I dropped.

[laughing]

So I'm sure we'll see that replay.

[uplifting classical music]

Everything else is looking great.

Here's what I want to do.

Before I chill these, the chocolate,

I think, is at a good point thickness-wise,

where I'll get really clean lines

if I pipe it.

So I'm gonna make

I'll make a corne.

[jazzy drums music]

Okay, that was the last one.

I had enough chocolate.

But I feel good.

I'm happy with the way they look.

The last step in this process

is enrobing the Thin Mints,

and I'm also gonna add my peppermint extract

to this chocolate.

[jazzy drums music]

You guys, can we do Cadbury Eggs?

Look how shiny and beautiful

and mirror finish they look.

They'll go matte once they set.

They look so flat and even,

and I think that the coating is going to be

just the right thickness.

I think my favorites are the Thin Mints.

But they all look great.

I'm gonna let these set overnight

because I want more of my friends to be proud of me,

and in the meantime.

[laughing]

God.

All right, this is my sash.

This looks like it's made for a child.

Look at how small this is.

[gasps]

Is this an actual Girl Scouts badge?

[gasping]

Wow, look at this iron,

where did this come from?

I used to iron on patches of stuff

back in my bedazzling days.

Oh, I think it's on there.

Oh yeah.

That's on there.

Yes.

[sighs]

Should we write Troupe Test Kitchen?

[upbeat jazzy music]

I can't believe I just did this.

I just get really focused on tasks sometimes

and then lose perspective that I just spent the last

40 minutes working on this.

We all gotta go home.

It's dark out.

That was fun.

That brought me back.

[jazzy drum music]

I love days like today where I get to start off

having already done the thing, and all I get to do

is wear my fun sash.

I'm really excited about these.

Oh no, they got a little,

Aw.

There was a little bit of fat bloom.

[beeping]

It won't affect the flavor,

it just makes the finish not as smooth-looking.

So I'm gonna start with Tagalongs.

I love the cross-section.

It looks very uniform.

I like the amount of peanut butter

relative to the amount of cookie.

That looks really good.

All right, look at this similarity.

I guess that's what happens

when you make the mold out of the real cookie

and then use that.

All of the elements feel really harmonious.

It's not like you taste the cookie first

and the peanut butter and then the chocolate.

It all marries together, and the balance is great

and I think it's really good.

I love how smooth and thin they are.

Colors are very similar too.

I'm glad I used dark chocolate.

I think that was the right call.

I'm really pleased with how thin and even

the coating is.

Mm.

You get a nice saltiness at the end.

I really like the balance of peppermint to chocolate.

This feels like a little more of a grownup Thin Mint

just because it's less sweet.

What I think I nailed with this one

is the proportions, the thickness of the coating

on the bottom, the stripes on the top,

the amount of coconut, and I'm happy that my version

has more caramel.

This version has really good chew.

Cookie kind of breaks down,

mixes with the caramel and the coconut,

so you get this chewy texture

and the amount of sweetness I think is really nice.

Very happy with these.

I'm happy with all of them.

This was really fun.

Purple.

How's it look?

Sohla?

Would you like to taste a cookie?

The texture's really cool

because the cookie melts right away,

and then you have a lot of chewy caramel.

In an ideal world, what Gourmet Makes does

is create something that tastes the way

you remember the original tasting when you were a kid.

Mm-hmm. You know?

You made this way more complicated

than I could have ever imagined.

Really?

Thanks. [Sohla laughing]

I think that's a compliment.

Thank you.

I don't want to go anywhere wearing this though.

I don't want to go in the elevator.

Do I have to say that we're gonna go downstairs?

I'm being forced to go downstairs

and sell these cookies [laughing]

in the BA office.

So here we go.

Are we, oh my gosh.

You guys.

The puffy paint is not quite dry.

I'm sticking to it!

Mom could have just brought the order form to her work.

And I could stay home.

Oh my god, you guys.

I'm doing it again.

Ugh, I'm stuck again!

Here we go.

Hi friends.

Do you want to try one?

I'll have a Tagalong.

I'm gonna see the Thin Mint.

Oh, okay.

That's the one, obviously.

Wow, people really love the Tagalongs.

I love the Tagalongs.

Wow, I'm really glad.

The cookie is so good.

[Claire] Oh, thanks.

Yeah.

On top of Andrew Yang.

Yeah.

Andrea Yang, hilarious.

Okay.

Do you like my sash?

I really like it.

With the puffy paint?

Would you like to try a cookie?

What are these again?

[Claire] Tagalong.

Peanut butter.

No, no. You don't want that. Oh no, no, no, no, no.

[Claire] No, no, no.

Oh my god.

[Claire] Maybe try a Thin Mint.

I love when Andy tastes things.

They are so tender.

[Claire] I know.

Maybe like--

And they're so proportioned.

And this is wonderful.

This might be my favorite thing

you've ever created.

Really? Yeah.

That was kind of the crew consensus too.

Oh god, see I keep sticking to it.

Can we go back to the Test Kitchen now?

Been out of my natural habitat long enough.

This is gonna go in our Gourmet Makes museum

along with my Mentos drying rack.

And overall, this whole experience was kind of nostalgic

and brought me back, even more than the average

Gourmet Makes, which is already pretty nostalgic.

Thanks to the Girl Scouts for giving us a preview

of the cookies before they go on sale in New York,

and buy Girl Scout Cookies from your local Girl Scouts,

money goes to a good causes, teaches entrepreneurship,

and teaches leadership, and I appreciated all the support

from my Test Kitchen colleagues and friends at BA,

so that was great too,

and John's peanut butter.

Thanks, John.

[jazzy drumming music]

Here's how you make gourmet Girl Scout Cookies.

To make the plain dough, in a medium bowl

whisk 1 1/2 cups cake flour, two tablespoons cornstarch,

one teaspoon kosher salt, and one teaspoon baking powder.

Beat two sticks of room temperature

unsalted butter until smooth.

Add a half a cup powdered sugar

and beat until light.

Add a large room temperature egg white

and two teaspoons of vanilla extract

and beat until fluffy and smooth.

Add the dry ingredients and mix on low until combined.

Form the dough into a disc and chill until cold.

To make the chocolate dough, repeat the same dough recipe

halving all the quantities, and whisking one tablespoon

black cocoa and one tablespoon dutch processed cocoa

into the dry ingredients instead of the cornstarch.

Add 1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract into the dough

along with the vanilla extract.

Chill until cold.

In the meantime, make the other cookie components.

Toast one cup of finely shredded unsweetened

dry coconut flakes in a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven,

tossing once until golden brown all over.

Set aside to cool.

To make the peanut butter filling for the Tagalongs,

place one cup of natural smooth peanut butter

in the bowl of a stand mixer,

add a splash of vanilla and a pinch of salt,

and beat briefly to combined.

Bring 1/2 cup sugar and three tablespoons water

to a boil, stirring with a heatproof spatula

to dissolve the sugar.

Boil until the sugar syrup reaches 348 Fahrenheit.

Turn the mixer on medium high and slowly stream

all but a couple of tablespoons of the sugar syrup

into the peanut butter.

Transfer to a bowl and let cool,

then stir in more powdered sugar to sweeten if desired.

To make the caramel for the Samoas,

combine 3/4 of a cup sugar, two tablespoons corn syrup,

and two tablespoons of water in a small saucepan,

and stir over medium heat to dissolve.

Bring to a boil and cook,

swirling the pot and washing down the sides

with a wet pastry brush until the mixture

turns a deep amber.

Slowly stream in 1/2 cup of heavy cream,

stirring and taking care because the mixture will sputter,

followed by two tablespoons of virgin coconut oil.

Stir until the mixture is smooth.

Cook until the mixture is 250 Fahrenheit,

then pour the caramel into a bowl

without scraping the bottom or sides.

Let it cool completely.

To form the cookies roll out the chilled cookie doughs

between pieces of parchment paper

until you have 1/8th of an inch thick slabs.

Chill until cold.

For the Samoas, working with half of the plain dough

cut wreaths the same size as the Samoas

using a round cutter for the larger circle

and the wide end of a pastry tip

for the smaller circle,

and use an appropriately sized bottle top

to imprint a shallow center channel

running around each wreath.

Chill the cookies.

For the Thin Mints, use a circle cutter

to punch out cookies the size of Thin Mints.

Transfer to a baking sheet, spacing evenly, and chill.

For the Tagalongs, use food-grade silicon putty

to make several molds of isolated Tagalong cookies

that have been scraped and cleaned

of any peanut butter filling and chocolate coating.

Let the molds cure, pop out the cookies,

then fill the molds with the remaining plain dough,

freeze the dough until solid,

then pop the cookies out of the molds

onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Bake all the cookies on the center rack

in a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven

until very lightly golden on the bottoms.

Remove from the oven and let cool completely.

To assemble the cookies use a small offset spatula

to spread a small amount of the peanut butter filling

into this central depression of the Tagalongs.

Work a small amount of cold caramel onto the surface

of the wreaths, filling the channel

and spreading the caramel across the entire surface

in a thin layer.

Dip the caramel side in the toasted coconut

and set the cookies aside.

To make a chocolate coating, combine about 12 ounces

of milk chocolate discs and 1.2 ounces of cocoa butter

cut into bits in a medium heatproof bowl

and stir over a large saucepan filled with about an inch

of gently simmering water until it's melted

and completely smooth.

Dip the Tagalong cookies into the milk mixture

to enrobe completely, then allow the excess to drip off

and place the cookies on a chilled

sil-pat lined baking sheet and chill until set.

Dip the bottoms of the Samoas cookies

in the same milk chocolate mixture

and press onto a chilled sil-pat lined baking sheet.

Pipe thin lines of chocolate all across

the coconut-covered surfaces of the Samoas.

Chill until set.

For the Thin Mints, combine about eight ounces

of dark chocolate, .8 ounces of cocoa butter,

and more peppermint extract to taste

in a medium heatproof bowl,

and melt over a double boiler as before.

Dip the Thin Mints in the chocolate mixture

like you did the Tagalongs, and chill until set.

I have to show both of you something.

[Gaby] You cleaned it!

Ooh!

[Gaby] Oh my god, it looks amazing.

Thank you.

I don't know what went on in this microwave,

but it was horrifying.