Every year, an army of young girls descends on grocery store parking lots, community fairs, and your neighborhood to sell cookies. Unlike most people trying to hawk goods, there’s a chance you’ve actually walked toward them rather than steering away and avoiding eye contact. Why? Because Girl Scout cookies are amazing, that’s why.
Thin Mints are the unquestioned titan of Girl Scout cookies, followed by Samoas (called Caramel deLites in some regions). Sitting at #3 are certain “crispy cookies layered with peanut butter and covered with a chocolaty coating” that have one of two names depending on where you live and what bakery makes them: either Peanut Butter Patties or Tagalongs.
We purchase Girl Scout cookies from Girl Scouts because we like supporting their work, but we also can’t always get Girl Scout cookies. Most troops only sell them from January to April, so if it’s June or August we’re out of luck. Fortunately, several stores offer their own imitation peanut butter cookie variations for us to get. Aldi, for instance, carries them. So does Dollar General. Another option is Family Dollar, which sells its own Tagalongs under the Eatz house brand.
Eatz Fudge Covered Peanut Butter Cookies are a Family Dollar exclusive. They come in a 7-ounce box and currently cost $1.85. That comes out to 26 cents an ounce. For comparison, Aldi and Walmart cookies both run about 14 cents an ounce, while Dollar General cookies cost about 21 cents an ounce. So Family Dollar is more than many other imitations. It is lower than the $5-$6 per box you’ll pay for official Girl Scout cookies, though.
These are not good for you, although you probably didn’t need me to tell you that. Just two cookies is good for 140 calories, 4 grams of saturated fat, and 15 grams of carbs. In terms of allergens, these cookies contain soy, wheat, and peanuts, and may contain milk and coconut.
Nutrition and ingredients. (Click to enlarge.)
Tagalongs are my personal favorite Girl Scout cookie, so I was curious to see how these stacked up. I liked them, and the rest of my family did, too. They’re soft on the outside, with a crunchy cookie and soft peanut butter filling on the inside. I thought they might be a little lower on the peanut butter quantity than the official Girl Scout version, but I still thought they were good, and I don’t expect them to last long in our house.
The Verdict:
Eatz Fudge Covered Peanut Butter Cookies from Family Dollar are a good imitation of Girl Scout Peanut Butter Patties or Tagalongs. While they might have a slightly different proportion of peanut butter and cookie compared to the official version, our family still unanimously liked them. There are cheaper options out there at Aldi and Dollar General, but if you’ve got a Family Dollar nearby and don’t mind paying a little more these are worth a look.
