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19
Cheat a Girl Scout out of a badge and make your own cookies!
Since the 1920s, the Girl Scouts of America have cornered the market on delicious cookie creations. The Girl Scouts started with a simple sugar cookie, leading to the expansion of a more complete line throughout the past 80 years. I’ve often wondered why the Girl Scouts don’t just sell their cookies year-round in super markets or online. The Girl Scout Counsel designed the fundraiser to teach the scouts about the value of money, community, and teamwork. I say they’re being pretty darn protective of a potentially lucrative business. Is scarcity the only leverage a Girl Scout has to sell multiple boxes to a single customer?
Well the jig is up Girl Scouts. Those tired of your cookie monopoly have liberated the public from your cookie stronghold. In fact, people have already cracked the recipe for your delicious and fattening cookies. Empowering the amateur bakers across the country, several sites have already posted recipes to many of the popular Girl Scout cookies.
Now to unveil a recipe for one of my favorites…
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25
“Fake” Dark Chocolate is Unhealthy
It seems like clockwork that the news media has a story about the ways a common food can help defend against heart attacks, cancer, and various other terminal diseases. Every Valentine’s Day there is a push by local media for the predictable fluff story about the wonders of chocolate for your body.
As much as I’d like to believe dark chocolate is the lesser evil of the candy world, it seems odd that the value of antioxidants can allow people to overlook the amount of sugar, fat, and calories contained in most dark chocolate.
After a little searching I discovered this article from 2007 by BBC News that confirmed my suspicion. The article cites that many manufacturers are making “fake” dark chocolate. A real dark chocolate contains a good amount of flavanols (antioxidants) from the cocoa plant. If kept in the chocolate making process, the end product is typically more bitter than other processed chocolates. The more bitter the chocolate, the less it sells. In order to still push dark chocolate, many manufacturers end up removing many antioxidants and add artificial coloring or carmelize the cocoa beans for a darker color. Once the flavanols are removed, sugar or fat are added to the mix to help the taste. The new ingredients make the health benefits of eating dark chocolate almost non-existent. Eating some dark chocolates be just as unhealthy as chowing down on milk chocolate.
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