Cookie Monsters
Bee employees taste test Girl Scout cookies
by JILL SCHMELZER Reporter
It was a grueling task, but eight brave employees of the Bee Group Newspapers volunteered to taste test every one of the Girl Scout cookies.

Katie Chungbin sells a box of cookies to her grandmother Jean Townsend at Amberleigh Retirement Community in Amherst. Alayna Fogle, Kelsey Burger and Meggie McFarland wait for more customers. Photo by John Rusac

The Girl Scout

Council of Buffalo

and Erie County supplied the goodies.

The gaggle of co-workers sat around a table in the office conference room and described each cookie's effect on their taste buds.

On the table sat a gallon of milk, eight boxes of cookies and plastic cups for dunking purposes. One by one, the testers tasted the treats, ranking each cookie on a scale of one to 10 - one being "tastes like paper" and 10 being "exactly what a cookie should taste like."

In first place, receiving several 10s, were the chocolate covered, peanut butter Tagalongs, a definite crowd pleaser.

Clarence editor Kim Karcher said, "In the words of (TV chef) Rachael Ray, Yumm-0."

Breann Howell, editor of The West Seneca Bee, said the cookie was excellent, "but bring out the milk because it makes me thirsty."

Alexis Leyh, left, and Katie Wolf show a box of Samoas cookies Amberleigh Retirement Community resident Jean Wolf, Wolf's grandmother.

In second place were the Thin Mints, a crispy, chocolate covered mint concoction described as a great after-dinner snack.

Sports reporter Patrick Nagy said, "Refreshing. Good cookie to eat after dinner if you don't have any gum."

Keaton DePriest, the Cheektowaga editor, agreed with Nagy, saying, "One of the few cookies that can act as a breath mint."

Newsroom clerk Catherine Smith ranked this one a 10 and said, "This cookie is one of the best."

Coming in a close third were the chocolate, caramel, coconut Samoas. This cookie caused a dispute over whether it should be ranked No. 2, but it ultimately lost out to the Thin Mints.

Ken-Ton editor Nick Primerano gave the Samoas a "very enthusiastic" two thumbs up.

"Coconut? Chocolate? Caramel? These have always been and always will be my favorite," he said.

Howell described the cookie as good, gooey and sweet.

No. 4 on the favorite list were Trefoils, a plain, vanilla flavored cookie.

DePriest argued that this was the best cookie and described it as "perfect for dunking in milk."

Copy editor Beth Hutchinson called it a "great plain cookie."

Cafe cookies were ranked fifth out of the eight. The cinnamon flavored confection makes for a good coffee and dessert snack.

Lifestyle reporter Elizabeth Taufa said it tasted like cinnamon cereal, but the hard texture made it tough to sink her teeth into.

In sixth place was the also thin All Abouts, consisting of a chocolate layer on the bottom of a vanilla cookie. The cookies were imprinted with encouraging words such as "Leadership."

"Not bad, but rather ordinary in taste and appearance," Hutchinson said, adding, "I liked the sayings."

Karcher agreed.

"Good, crunchy texture is nice," she said. "The sayings are encouraging."

In seventh place were the Do-Si-Dos, a peanut butter-flavored sandwich cookie.

DePriest said the cookie has a good flavor and is very dunkable.

"It wasn't a bad cookie, but it just didn't appeal to my discriminate pallet," said Primerano.

In eighth place, the sugar free Little Brownies were the least appetizing of the bunch for this sweets-crazed group.

Karcher said, "Sugar-free - not a fan, but good for those who cannot eat sugar."

Smith described the cookie as dry and flavorless.

As for me, I didn't think the cookie was that bad. But in comparison to my personal favorite, the Thin Mints, it just didn't measure up.

Girl Scout troops throughout Erie County will be selling their cookies at neighborhood booths during the month of November.

For a nearby cookie booth, visit www.bflogirlscouts.org.

e-mail: jschmelzer@beenews.com