Even years ago when I was a Brownie, my favorite girl scout cookie was Thin Mints. Everyone has their favorite cookie from the Girl Scouts that sell them each spring, the only problem is they only sell them for a couple months of the year. Before you know it, your stash is gone – even if you put them in the freezer! But now, you can make your own Girl Scout Cookies at home with a Girl Scout Cookie Oven.
The Girl Scout Cookie Oven was released last year by Wicked Cool Toys, and has the iconic green and purple colors associated with the scouts as well as the logo that lights up while you’re baking. They sent us one to try out, and test just how close the cookies are to the ones we buy every spring. The Girl Scout Cookie Oven is in the style of the old Easy Bake Oven, but updated quite a bit with an LED light cooking unit, and comes with all of the tools you need to make your cookies as well as a starter pack of thin mint cookies!
For a cooking oven for children, the Girl Scout Cookie Oven is pretty basic. The cookie mix is pre-measured and you just add a bit of water to make it the right consistency and then drop 6 cookies on the tiny cookie sheet that comes with the set. The small aluminum pan only holds 6 one inch cookies at a time, so when you buy the larger cookie kits you will have to do more than one batch of cookies at a time.
After preheating your Girl Scout Cookie Oven, all you have to do is place the cookie sheet in the oven and move it into the oven area. The next step is one you’ll do a lot with the Girl Scout Cookie Oven – wait. The cookies will back for 10 minutes, have to cool for 10 minutes, then put them in the fridge for a few minutes, coat with chocolate and then put back in the fridge. I think it took us a total of 45 minutes to make our cookies.
Despite the slow cooking time there are some great features of the the Girl Scout Cookie Oven. The oven overall stays cool to the touch – there is no fear of your child burning themselves while using it. The oven preheats faster than the other kid ovens on the market, in only 5 minutes. After the cookies are done, the baking sheet is relatively cool to the touch, if they skip the cooling step they most likely wont burn themselves. Also, the spatula to remove the cookies actually has a pan grabber on the end! This is really useful even if it’s a bit hard to get the hang of grabbing the cookie sheet to get it out of the machine.
One of my favorite things about the cookie oven is the baking sheet also works in the warming tray area. You simply put your chocolate mint chips in and stir until they are melted. Again, this will take about 10 minutes. But once it’s melted, you can add it on top of your new cooled cookies.
So what is the verdict? Do they really taste like Thin Mints you buy in the box in the spring? According to our taste testers they do! The only problem is the small batch of cookies didn’t last long. But that just means you need to have your little bakers make another set of cookies. If Thin Mints aren’t your favorite, you can also make oatmeal cookies, chocolate shortbread, trefoils, lemon cookies and chocolate pb cookies. Really, the only type of cookie mix they don’t have yet are gluten free mixes – but we can hope they come soon.
Overall we had a lot of fun making our own Thin Mints, and your kids will too. Just be prepared for some wait time due to the lower cooking temperature for safety. But if you need your Girl Scout Cookie fix any time of year, the Girl Scout Cookie Oven will become your best friend.
For those of us who tend to eat a whole box in one sitting, the built in portion control of small batches sounds incredibly helpful!
There is definitely that benefit! 🙂