Clover Valley Fudge Peanut Butter Filled Cookies (Dollar General)

Girl Scout cookies are some of my favorite kinds of cookies. Thin Mints. Samoas or Caramel deLites. Do-si-dos or Peanut Butter Sandwiches. Trefoils or Shortbread. S’mores. They’re all good. I was a Girl Scout for much of my childhood, and for a couple of years I also volunteered as a troop co-leader for my daughter, so I know Girl Scout cookies really well. I also know that Girl Scout cookies have addictive properties. Yet when a craving strikes, Girl Scout cookies aren’t always available, depending on the time of year.

Fortunately, many grocery stores and food retailers sell their own versions of Girl Scout cookies for those times when Scouts aren’t peddling those little boxes of sugary goodness. Aldi is my favorite place to buy imitation Girl Scout cookies such as peanut butter cookies and caramel coconut cookies. At one time, Aldi used to sell knockoff Thin Mints but then mysteriously discontinued them.

Yet another unexpected place to buy knockoff Girl Scout cookies is the dollar store. Both Dollar General and Dollar Tree sell their own versions of Thin Mints. Dollar General goes a step farther and also sells its own version of Girl Scout Tagalongs or Peanut Butter Patties.

Clover Valley Fudge Peanut Butter Filled Cookies cost $1.50 for a 7-ounce box at the time of publication, which comes out to about 21 cents per ounce. That’s more than the Great Value Fudge-Covered Peanut Butter Filled Cookies Walmart sold for about 14 cents per ounce at the time of publication, so whether the Dollar General version is a good deal depends on how much you want to avoid Walmart crowds and checkout lines. And of course, genuine Girl Scout cookies sell for at least $5 to $6 a box, so any of these cookies are going to be a better deal cost-wise, although your money will not be going to help fund Girl Scout projects or activities.

The Dollar General peanut butter cookies are kosher and were made in the U.S. with domestic and imported ingredients.

Ingredients are sugar, peanut butter, enriched wheat flour, vegetable oil shortening, cocoa, high fructose corn syrup. leavening, soy lecithin, salt and natural and artificial flavor.

If you’re watching out for allergens, these contain soy, wheat, and peanuts. They may contain milk and coconut.

One package has eight servings. A two-cookie serving has 140 calories, 8 grams of total fat (10% DV), 4 grams of saturated fat (20% DV), 90 mg of sodium (4% DV), 15 grams of total carbohydrates (5% DV), 1 gram of dietary fiber (4% DV), 8 grams of added sugars (16% DV), and 2 grams of protein.

These cookies are surprisingly good. The difference between these dollar store cookies and real Girl Scout cookies is subtle. They have that classic crispy cookie base, creamy peanut butter filling, and a rich and smooth milk chocolate outer coating. The texture may not be exactly the same as Girl Scout Peanut Butter Patties, but it’s really, really close. These are so similar to the real thing that if you served these to guests and didn’t tell people they were from Dollar General, most people would think they were eating actual Girl Scout Tagalongs. These are definitely worth buying again.

The Verdict:

Clover Valley Fudge Peanut Butter Filled Cookies are so similar to Girl Scout Tagalongs or Peanut Butter Patties that if you tried these in a blind taste test, you’d probably think they were real Girl Scout cookies. Of all the knockoff Girl Scout cookies I’ve tried from dollar stores, including dollar store knockoff Thin Mints, these peanut butter cookies come to closest to imitating the real thing.