Run out of Girl Scouts’ cookies or want to make a better one? Let’s make these Tagalong Peanut butter patties deliciously done!

Branding is important part of any business that wishes to make a lasting impression on its customers’ life. Companies spend large portion of their ad revenue, carefully crafting their brand image, then spend even larger portion on presenting this image to their audience.

We, as consumers, are suckers for brands and especially nowadays, for their stories. We are capable of fighting endless war of words supporting our favorite brand over others, only to learn later that they both are owned by the same company (Luxottica anyone?) and our archenemy is the same product we despise with only slight visual modifications.

When it comes to food or home supply items, producers don’t even have to make the effort of redesigning the look of their product because everything is hidden under custom packaging which is designed and produced by a third-party producer and shipped ready made to the factory.

We happily pay double price for Pink Lady apples over Cripps Pink just because a sticker is put on them, not to mention branded oats over Great Value ones or any cleaning stuff like dishwasher tablets or liquid.

Some of us can’t be bothered making a statement with their shopping carts though, and simply go with the great value to price options. Most of the times this means getting the same quality produce at half of the price which is a real bargain.

Unfortunately, if we turn the equation around, it sounds much worse because it means that if we buy branded products, like it’s the case with rolled oats, sometimes we buy the same poor-quality stuff as the cheap ones but at double price.

Of course, if we are emotionally invested into a brand, cause or idea, money doesn’t really matter and we are happy to pay double price for the same cheap cookie that we wouldn’t even touch with a 10 feet pool otherwise.

Tagalong cookies, also known as Peanut Butter Patties in some parts of the country, are cookies sold by girl’s scouts for the good of all girls around the country.

Although, girl scout cookies are widely popular in all over the States, it’s probably not because anyone has read the label what’s inside them but rather because they are as sweet as the cause the girl scouts stand for who sell them.

Cookies are baked by one of the two national bakeries and then sold by the local girl scout organization. The bakery which is got to receive 25-35% of cookie profit, is selected by one of the 112 regional Girl’s scout council who in turn for this important responsibility, receives 45 – 65% of the cookie sales. The rest of the money about 10 – 20 % stays with the local troops to spend at their heart desires.

Since the main goal of Girl Scouts USA is improve literacy of girls, apart from raising a ton of money, of course (about $800 million annually), GSUSA states that cookie selling is the largest girl-run and led financial literacy program, not just in the US but in the world.

The fundraising is also intended to teach Girl Scouts valuable entrepreneurial skills, such as planning, teamwork, financial literacy, communication, goal setting and organization which materialize in various badges such as Business Plan, Marketing, Customer Insights or Cookie CEO.

Originally, the first cookies sold, were made by local troops, but girl scouts’ cookies were never about making delicious cookies, so no one really complained when production was outsourced.

Luckily though, we can easily make them at home if we really like to have them but not really into all those stuff that are used to make them. Of course, it doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t spend money from our charity jar for such good cause they stand for, but we don’t have to take the box, let alone eating it.

Tagalong cookies, as their other name the peanut butter patties suggest, are made with peanut butter. Although any kind of peanut butter can be used, our best bet would be to pick one that is somewhat solid at room temperature.

Once the cookies are covered with a finishing layer of chocolate, they are ready to be distributed all around the house, or depending on the type of peanut butter used, kept in the fridge until further notice.

Ingredients

Cookies

Traditional

1¼ cup / 150g All purpose flour
1 cup / 120g Butter (room temperature or slightly melted)
2 tablespoons / 30g Honey or sweetener of choice
1 teaspoon / 5ml Vanilla extract
½ teaspoon / 3g Table salt
2 medium / 40g Egg yolk
25 teaspoons / g Peanut butter (sweetened for tradition’s sake)

Modern

2 cups / 240g Almond flour
4 tablespoons / 60g Butter
2 tablespoons / 30g Sweetener of choice
1 teaspoons / 5ml Vanilla extract
½ teaspoon / 3g Table salt
25 teaspoons / g Peanut butter (unsweetened)

Coating

4 oz / 120g Chocolate to melt (Baking chocolate or chocolate chips)
½cup / 120ml Heavy or whipping cream (optional for smoother coating)
1 tablespoon / 8g Cocoa powder (optional for darker coating)
Sweetener to taste (optional)

How to make Tagalong cookies – Peanut butter patties

Cookies

Traditional

Knead almond flour, butter, sweetener of choice, vanilla extract, salt egg yolk together by hand. Note that there are very little liquid involved so the resulting cookies will crumbly when fresh from the oven.
Roll the dough out into a ½” / 1cm disc. If the dough is too sticky because of the softened butter, chill it in the fridge for half an hour before handling.
With a lightly floured cookie cutter cut out the cookies. Rework the leftover dough the same way until there is no dough left.
Prepare the place for the peanut butter by hollowing a bit out the top of the cookies by our thumbs.
Transfer the cookies onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet.
Bake the cookies in the middle rack of a 360°F / 180°C preheated oven until golden brown spots start to appear, about 20 minutes.
Despite our best efforts the hollowed out middle part comes up due to the moisture content of the butter. Just press it back.
Spoon then spread peanut butter onto the top of the cookies. Use a wet knife to smooth the top.
Put the cookies into the freezer so the peanut butter sets.

Modern – Healthy

Knead flour, butter, honey or sweetener of choice, vanilla extract, salt egg yolk together by hand. Note that there are very little liquid involved so the resulting cookies will crumbly when fresh from the oven.
Flatten the dough out into a ½” / 1cm disc by pressing the dough down with a flat thing. Alternatively cover the dough with cling foil and roll it out with a rolling pin or just shape it into a flat form by any means possible without the sides cracking wide open.
With a cookie cutter cut out the cookies. Rework the leftover dough the same way until there is no dough left.
Prepare the place for the peanut butter by hollowing a bit out the top of the cookies by our thumbs.
Transfer the cookies onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet.
Bake the cookies in the middle rack of a 360°F / 180°C preheated oven until golden brown spots start to appear, about 20 minutes.
Spoon then spread peanut butter onto the top of the cookies. Use a wet knife to smooth the top.
Put the cookies into the freezer so the peanut butter sets.

Coating

Melt chocolate or make ganache by melting chocolate and equal amount of cream by weight. Add cocoa powder for darker, stronger chocolate flavor. Check out How to make ganache.
Dip the frozen cookies into the melted chocolate or ganache. Let the chocolate set on a cooling rack or even better a parchment paper. It’s pretty hard to remove set chocolate from the cooling rack.