Thin Mints Are The Girl Scouts Cookies With A Nearly 100-Year-Old History

We tend to forget Girl Scout cookies are available on Amazon year-round, which means that when the time comes around when members are knocking on your door with boxes of delicious desserts, it feels like discovering a Christmas present you forgot to unwrap. But while buying a box is always a treat, some flavors spark more excitement than others — and considering we ranked Thin Mints as Tasting Table's fifth favorite overall, it's hard for us to turn down these minty, chocolaty cookies.

Thin Mints weren't always part of the Girl Scouts' repertoire, but they go back to 1939, making them over 85 years old as of 2024. They were first dubbed the cuter name "Cooky-Mints," which then went through several iterations including "Chocolate Mints." This was a booming era for Girl Scout cookies in general, as members in Philadelphia and New York switched to commercial bakers and began branding their boxes. Plus, the addition of Cooky-Mints expanded their offerings beyond the original basic sugar cookies, which were home-baked and cost customers 26 to 36 cents for six to seven dozen.

While business was booming in 1937, over 125 Girl Scout councils sold cookies, while 29 bakers were whipping up their cookies by the 1940s. In 1951, what we now call Thin Mints were one of only three flavors sold by members, the other two being Peanut Butter Sandwich and Shortbread cookies. Today, however, only two bakeries make all the boxes Girl Scouts have to offer: ABC Bakers in Illinois and Little Brownie Bakers, which falls under the parent company Ferrero U.S.A., Inc. The former has been affiliated with Girl Scouts since 1937, just two years before Thin Mints were created, while the latter didn't start making this flavor until 1974. These minty cookies are one of the only ones (along with Adventurefuls and Trefoils) that are called the same name by both baking companies.

Despite the fact that Thin Mints have undergone multiple naming transformations over the years, today they can proudly call themselves the best-selling Girl Scout cookie (Samoas come in second). In 2022, the brand debuted a sister treat called the Raspberry Rally, which featured a chocolate outer layer and a raspberry filling. However, it was discontinued after a year, as it was only launched to test an online sales program. Despite the disappointment from customers, we can confidently say that we expect Thin Mints to stick around in the foreseeable future — hopefully for another 80 years.