Ripping Off the Scouts

If you were asked what is your favorite month of the year, you probably would NOT list February. December and January are the calendar months everyone associates with winter, but February is when the brutal stuff always seems to hit. And it's just cold and dreary during the month. But every year I look forward to February for two reasons. First, it's my birthday. Second, and most importantly, it's Girl Scout cookie season! And I don't look forward to Girl Scout cookie season because I enjoy paying exorbitant prices for prepackaged desserts. Actually, I hate it. I can't believe we were charged $3.75 for a box of cookies last year. No, I can sum up why I look forward to Girl Scout cookies in one word*: Samoas! Those cookies, a sort of striped shortbread cookie with coconut and caramel added, are the best pre-packaged cookie EVER! And I was willing to pay really high prices in order to get them.

But now I don't have to. Keebler has introduced a Samoas rip-off that they call simply Coconut Dreams. There's no denying it--these are Samoas rip offs! They look and taste exactly the same. My wife bought some without letting me know and then told me, "I have a treat for you at home--samoa cookies I found stashed in the back of the freezer!" I didn't remember the freezer ever being so crowded that I would have missed something like that, but I shrugged and ate them. I couldn't tell the difference. I asked Lisa where they REALLY came from and she told me, "Okay, I'm just kidding. They're a Keebler rip off!" But they are such a good rip off that I didn't believe that, either.

"Where did they REALLY come from?" I asked her.

"I promise you," she said, "one of those options is the truth. Which do you think it is?"

I looked at the cookies for a minute, trying to find some possible difference between them and samoas. Maybe the chocolate was a little less dark, but would six months in the freezer do that? I didn't know if it would or not. I finally shrugged. "I have NO idea."

She held up the Keebler package. "They're Keebler cookies." And I have to say, as much as the Girl Scouts have been ripping me off for years, I don't mind that Keebler has returned the favor and is now ripping them off. I'd say cookie sales will be down next year, though.

And now I'm down to only one reason to like February.
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*Or for some of you, I can describe it in three words: "Caramel de lites." Apparently these Girl Scout cookies have different names in different parts of the country.