Meet the Cape Coral Girl Scout on the front of the Tagalongs box. Fort Myers News-Press
Girl Scout Cookies make people smile. Wine can too. Put them together, with some help from the pros, and you have a happy combo that's all grown up.
Cookies make people smile. They come in all shapes, sizes, textures and flavors, from snack-sized bags at convenience stores to beautiful works of art at bakeries.
Perhaps the most famous cookies of them all, however, are those from the Girl Scouts. Some 200 million boxes of these confections are sold during just a few weeks of each year, raising upwards of $800 million for the organization.
Are Girl Scout Cookies popular because of the mission of helping young girls learn life skills? The limited availability? Or are they just that good? Regardless, it’s Girl Scout Cookie time. Your one shot at stocking up on Tagalongs and Samoas before they disappear for yet another year.
Cookies can easily stand alone. But sometimes pairing them with particular beverages elevates the eating experience. The most iconic pairing is, of course, cookies and milk, followed by teas and coffee.
Coffee is what Indira Vegel had in her cup when someone entered her office with boxes of Girls Scout Cookies to share.
ALSO: Sip, sip and away! A romantic taste of Vienna, from the comfort of home
AND: Sip, sip and away! Taste California's Central Coast, without leaving home
“We were lightheartedly talking about what would go well with the cookies," says Vegel, brand strategist for the Orlando-based ABC Fine Wine & Spirits. "Milk is kind of boring. What about cookies with wine?”
It sparked an idea. Vegel consulted ABC’s team of wine experts for some cookie-pairing ideas, and the research began.
“It was a really tough job,” she laughs.
When most people think about wine pairings, it’s with savory foods. But why not these classic cookies?
The tradition of the annual Girl Scout Cookie sale is more than 100 years old. It began as a service project in 1917, a way to fund Girl Scout troop activities. The cookies were home baked until 1935, when troops in New York solicited the help of commercial bakers to create the famous Trefoil shortbread cookie. The rest is history, and the Trefoil remains a top seller.
When it comes to pairing the comfort of Girls Scout Cookies with the pleasure of grown-up beverages, Vegel says a basic guide is to team buttery cookies with white wines and red wines with chocolate or peanut butter sweets.
I like to have fun with labels, as well, and Napa Valley’s Cakebread Cellars seems almost too perfect for a cookie pairing. The 2018 Cuttings Wharf Vineyard Chardonnay ($50) is a new single-vineyard wine and a great find. Floral with lemon, apple and spice, it’s fun to uncork on a warm afternoon with a plate of iconic Trefoils.
In the brunch category, Vegel puts Girl Scout Lemon-Ups with Hi! Prosecco ($12). The cookies are shortbread with a tangy lemon icing. The Italian wine with the inviting name is inviting in the glass as well, fresh and fruity with flavors of lemon and apple.
“Citrus and bubbles just go together, think mimosas,” Vegel says.
You can also try pairing these cookies with a bubbly cocktail, especially one that has the botanicals found in gin, such as a traditional French 75. Mix 1 ounce of gin with ½ ounce of lemon juice and ½ ounce simple syrup, then top with sparkling wine.
If you’re a beer drinker, a rich stout such as Guinness is dreamy with Do-Si-Dos — oatmeal cookies with a creamy peanut butter filling. Vegel’s pairing pick comes from Argentina, Antucura malbec ($16). She calls the combination “bold without overpowering the velvety texture of the peanut butter.”
When determining which wines to canoodle cookies with, scan labels for tasting notes and clues of which flavors might also be found in the cookies. For instance, oak barrels used for aging wine can impart notes of toasted coconut.
Toasted coconut, along with caramel and chocolate are the ingredients that make Samoas such an indulgent cookie. The ABC tasters paired Samoas with rioja, a Spanish wine that tends to be rustic, full bodied and a pleasing accompaniment to the cookie’s signature ingredients.
Keeping up with the dietary times, the Girl Scouts have a gluten-free cookie, the Toffee-Tastic, that goes particularly well with Panthera pinot noir ($45). The dark fruit, caramel and touch of oak make this a fresh and exciting wine with which to start or finish a meal, especially if the finish comes with a stack of crunchy Toffee-Tastic cookies. The gluten-free sweets are peppered with bits of toffee. You can also try them with a smokey old fashioned or a simple glass of bourbon served neat or on the rocks.
It’s impossible to talk about Girl Scout Cookies without including Thin Mints. The crispy wafers made with natural peppermint oil are dipped in dark chocolate. It’s easy to devour an entire sleeve of them before you know what's happened. Numerous red wines have hints of eucalyptus and various types of mints, making these cookies easier to pair than one might think.
Shannon Ridge Petite Sirah ($13) is Vegel's Thin Mint pairing pick.
“It has these hints of blueberry, cedar and a bit of sweetness,” she says.
For me, I’m going back to Cakebread and the 2017 Syrah from Suscol Springs Vineyard ($60). A beautiful deep color, it’s an intense wine with blackberries, dark cherry and spice. One sip and you’ll already be looking for a second bottle — and a second box of cookies.
ABC has curbside pickup and many of these wines are available year-round. However, Girl Scout cookies sales are coming to a close for 2021, so act fast and stock up (no judgment here). When you open a box, step out of the box and enjoy the cookies with wine and spirits for a fun twist.
Gina Birch writes about food and wine for The News-Press and at thebirchbeat.blogspot.com. Follow her as @ginabirch on Twitter and find her on Facebook.
Read or Share this story: https://ift.tt/3srs5lG
The Link LonkMarch 23, 2021 at 08:04PM
https://ift.tt/3srs5lG
Girl Scout Cookies for grownups: The best wines for Thin Mints, Samoas, Trefoils and more - News-Press
https://ift.tt/2CmfU4u
Cookies
No comments:
Post a Comment