Girl Scout Cookies, one of the group's biggest fundraisers, began in 1936. It only took 2 years before the group had sold a million cookies. Cookies were originally baked and "packaged" in the kitchens of the girls.

The official Girl Scout website offers this "early Girl Scout Cookie Recipe."
(recipe taken from: http://www.girlscouts.org/program/gs_cookies/cookie_history/early_years.asp)

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AN EARLY GIRL SCOUT COOKIE® RECIPE

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar plus additional amount for topping (optional)
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder

Cream butter and the cup of sugar; add well-beaten eggs, then milk, vanilla, flour, salt, and baking powder. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Roll dough, cut into trefoil shapes, and sprinkle sugar on top, if desired. Bake in a quick oven (375°) for approximately 8 to 10 minutes or until the edges begin to brown. Makes six- to seven-dozen cookies.

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Two baking companies currently produce the cookies - ABC/Interbake Foods and Little Brownie Bakers. There are always Thin Mints, Do-si-dos (the peanut butter cookie formerly known as the Savannah) and Trefoils (the "original" Girl Scout cookie). Thin mints are the most popular, taking 25% of the sales. The other cookie types vary, depending on what is of interest at the time. Thin Mints are the third-most popular cookie in America.

In 2004, the varieties offered by the ABC Bakers include:
Carmel Delites (vanilla cookies drenched in caramel and sprinkled with coconut)
Iced Berry Pinatas (fruit-filled oatmeal cookie)
Peanut Butter Patties (chocolate covered patties)
Lemon Pastry Creams (reduced-fat lemon-creme cookie)
Amimal Treasures (chocolate-dipped shortbread)

The Little Brownie Bakers are baking the following in 2004:
Samoas (Similar to a Carmel Delite)
Tag Alongs (similar to peanut butter patties offered by ABC)
All Abouts (similar to Animal Treasures)
Double Dutch (A chocolate chocolate-chip cookie)
Lemon Coolers (reduced-fat vanilla cookies with lemon zest; coated in powdered sugar)

Current prices range between $2.50 and $4.00 a box. All profits from cookie sales go directly to the council in which the cookies were sold. A portion go directly to the troop that was responsible for that sale.

In addition to serving as a fundraiser, Girl Scout cookie sales teach young girls about responsibility, pride, setting and meeting goals, money-management, and communication.

If you don't want the calories but still want to help out that little girl at your door, ask her about donating some cookies; if you buy and donate, your purchase becomes tax-deductible.

On the other hand, if you can't resist eating them yourselves but are watching your waist, the Trefoils generally have the lowest calorie count per cookie. The chocolate-covered shortbread varieties have the highest. The chocolate peanut-butter patties, big surprise, have the highest fat content, and the lemon cookies have the lowest. Who are we kidding though? Just order the Thin Mints like everyone else!