Girl Scout Cookies are maybe the most famous cookies in the United States. For that reason, Girl Scouts are one of the very few salespeople to come to your door that you might actually do business with. The cookies themselves are very good, if not always good for you.
One of those Girl Scout offerings are “crisp cookies with caramel, coconut, and chocolaty stripes.” They go by one of two names, depending on where you live and what baker produces them. In some parts of the country, they’re called Samoas; in others, they’re known as Caramel deLites. As the second most-popular Girl Scout cookie behind Thin Mints, these caramel coconut striped cookies enjoy a large cult following among the Girl Scout crowd.
We think it’s good to support the Girl Scouts, but Girl Scout Cookies aren’t available year-round. Fortunately, several grocers now stock their own Girl Scout knockoffs so you can get your fix any time of the year. Aldi, for example, sells its own version. So does Dollar General. And Family Dollar also has a Samoas / Caramel deLites imitation, under its Eatz private label.
Eatz Caramel Coconut Fudge Cookies are a Family Dollar exclusive and come in a 7-ounce box. At the time of this writing, the cookies cost $1.85. At 26 cents an ounce, that’s considerably less than a Girl Scout version, which runs $5-6 a box. On the other hand, the Aldi version is closer to 16 cents an ounce. So while Family Dollar isn’t the best knockoff deal out there, the price is still relatively cheap.
You probably didn’t think these were good for you. You were right. Just 2 cookies is good for 130 calories, including a load of carbs and sugars. The cookies also have plenty of saturated fat. And if allergens are a concern, note that these cookies contain wheat, milk, soy, and coconut, and may contain peanuts.
Nutrition and ingredients. (Click to enlarge.)
So how do they taste? I put our professional Samoas / deLites experts to that test. They all felt like these tasted like Samoas. If there was a difference, our testers didn’t see much of them.
The Verdict:
Eatz Caramel Coconut Fudge Cookies from Family Dollar are a good imitation of Girl Scout Samoas or Caramel deLites, although they’re not the cheapest imitation option out there. Still, if you’re out of Girl Scout cookie season and you want a knockoff that’s close to the real thing, these are worth a look.
And if you’re in Girl Scout cookie season? We think it’s good to support the Girl Scouts.
