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I was never a Girl Scout.

I guess I either didn’t make the cut, or I just had my fill with being a Brownie, the lower tier in the scouting world. Brownies were to Girl Scouts like Skipper was to Malibu Barbie. Just. Not. Quite. As. Cool.

Thus, I never had the “opportunity” to hit the street, begging door to door, asking kind hearted souls to take pity on a skinny-legged 7 year old sporting a skewed emblem-bellished sash trying to make her troops sales goals.

This was back in the day before kids were discouraged to talk to strangers and parents took the sign-up sheet to the office to guilt their co-workers into supporting their kid. *Full Disclosure: I did just this same thing just this week with the cookie tub fundraiser for my daughter’s school. Um, thank you co-workers.

But different from the wrapping paper drives and the soccer team camp fundraisers, Girl Scouts is celebrating its 100th year of teaching our young ladies skills and grace that actually do lead them into young adulthood armed with some semblance of a higher moral ground and conscience for others and the environment. Oh, and I think you’d all agree they ROCK the cookie world.

I’m sure part of the allure of the Girl Scout cookie is its rarity, only available to satiated our yearlong cookie obsession during the seasone when we’re all looking for a little break from our post-holiday diets and need some serious cookie hoovering time.

My favorite cookie? The Thin Mint. Straight from the freezer. Or just from the sleeve. Or in any form that presents itself. So what am I supposed to do with these 4 packages of Thin Mints begging to be consumed?

And that’s what inspired me and Smudge to create a quick and easy homage to the Girl Scouts in the form of her favorite dessert…say it with me…Pie!continue to the recipe… about Girl Scout Thin Mint Mini Pies Plus Girl Scout Cookie Recipes

photo > foodiecrush

Chocolate Easter bunnies, jelly beans and those not-of-this-world colored Peeps drum up memories of Easter mornings. Memories of a hollow bunny that collapses upon itself at the first bite, jelly beans that glue themselves to the technicolor fake grass at the slightest hint of humidity and Peeps that unless you eat the entire box in one sitting, harden like a rock in a few hours time.

None of those high-octane Easter treats were very tempting to me as a child, yet alone as an adult. But there was, and still is, one Easter treat that I start hunting for the minute the candy sweethearts are stripped from the shelves come February 15.

Oh baby. Russell Stover Egg Nests.

I’m all about the Almond Joy, the German chocolate cake, the macaroons. Bring on the coconut and chocolate, that’s my temptation when it comes to the sugar stuff. And the Russel Stover Egg Nests aren’t usually easy to find. Most years I’ve had to load up at the beginning of the season so I can maintain my sugar high through Good Friday.

But this year I’ve found them still lurking in the stores and I’m wondering to myself, “Why?” And I think I’ve found the answer.

Because there’s no more jelly beans.

This year our chocolate nests are empty and it looks like my Easter tradition has become a casualty to inflation.

So for everyone who’s craving a jelly-filled-nest-alternative—me especially—here are a couple of cures.

photo > Sunday Hotpants

The simple Bird’s Nest cookies – Chocolate Coconut Macaroons recipe from New Zealand’s Sunday Hot Pants showcases the big ingredient winner—coconut—these little nests look very much like the real thing when studded with pastel colored candy eggs.

photo > Kitchen Simplicity

As a teen, my husband would cook up batches of no-bake cookies and eat the entire bowl without ever making a cookie so when I stumbled upon Cheri at Kitchen Simplicity‘s Un-Baked Cookie Nests I couldn’t resist. Love the styling using just white and yellow eggs mimicking the real deal. Check out the additional recipe in the same post for so cute Chocolate Dipped Rice Krispie Eggs.

This recipe for Bird’s Nest Cookies from Art of Dessert forgoes the coconut, but does sound tasty with its combo of salty and sweet combination of chow mein noodles and butterscotch. Would probably be just as tasty with chocolate too.

photo > Two Peas and Their Pod

And if you’re craving soft and gooey chocolate craving, Maria at Two Peas and Their Pod has cooked up Chocolate Pudding Cookies with another one of my favorite Easter treats: malted milk chocolate mini easter eggs. Yum.

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