I Tried 5 Girl Scout Cookies And Their Dupes To See Which Is Better

As we settle into every new year, there's always one thing to look out for once spring rolls around: Girl Scout cookies. Every year, like clockwork, Girl Scouts set up camp in front of stores and other businesses, selling boxes of familiar and fan-favorite cookies to raise funds for their local troops and councils. It's something to look forward to, especially fresh off a harsh winter — nothing quite warms the spirit like the bite of a Thin Mint, Samoa, or peanut butter-infused Do-si-do. 

Of course, since Girl Scout cookie season is indeed, well, seasonal, that leaves a gap in the year where you can't easily find or buy cookies. Various cookie brands have caught on and released similar types of cookies — ones so similar that they can really only be described as Girl Scout cookie dupes. Are the cookie dupes actually any good, though? And more importantly, do they taste anything like classic Girl Scout cookies? These are the questions I set out to answer by comparing five popular Girl Scout cookies and their store-bought dupes.

In doing so, I first considered how good each cookie tastes on its own. Then, I got a little more nitpicky with the similarities, pinpointing whether the respective dupes can truly get away with calling themselves that. Finally, I determined which cookie I liked better — the OG Girl Scout version or store-bought dupe — so you can rest easy knowing that even once the Girl Scouts stop selling for the year, you can still get your cookie fix.

If there's one Girl Scout cookie that nearly any American has at least heard of, it's likely the Thin Mints. These were my go-to cookies as a kid, and even though I hadn't had them in many years, they still hit exactly the same when I tried them for this article. 

Crispy, chocolatey, mildly bitter, and just the right amount of minty, Thin Mints are well-known in the Girl Scout cookie game for a reason. They were actually a little bit thicker than I remember, but they still had that notable snappy texture and lovely dark chocolate flavor profile. These cookies are so snackable that they almost don't seem like a dessert, but they ultimately make for a perfectly refreshing and satisfying treat.

One of the closest Thin Mint dupes out there comes in the form of Keebler's Fudge Mint Delights, a cookie that I'd surprisingly never tried before. Flavor-wise, they were almost identical to the Thin Mints, but I'd say there was perhaps a slightly more exaggerated mint flavor at play in the Keebler version. The biggest difference came down to texture, and even then, the two cookies were quite similar. The Keebler cookies almost looked like Ritz crackers coated in chocolate, and as such, they had that distinct thinness and snappiness that I enjoyed.

So, which is better? Ultimately, you can't go wrong with either cookie. But if I had to decide, I actually think I'd give it to the Keebler Fudge Mint Delights, based on the impeccably thin texture and heightened mint flavor. (I'll still always love Thin Mints, though.)

There's no other duo out there that does it quite like chocolate and peanut butter, so naturally, it translates incredibly well to cookie format. Girl Scouts are more than privy to this fact, hence why its Tagalongs — aka chocolate-covered peanut butter cookies — are so beloved. There are a couple of dupes for Tagalongs out there, but the closest one I could find came from Walmart's Great Value brand.

Upon comparing the two cookies, the biggest difference I noticed was that the Girl Scout version has a sort of plain, shortbread-like cookie in the center, while the Great Value version has a chocolate cookie. I immediately preferred the Girl Scout version in that respect, because it provided a nice break from all of that rich, chocolate-PB goodness. Speaking of which, both of these cookies were positively loaded with those flavors, but I also think the Girl Scout Tagalong excelled in terms of highlighting the peanut butter without the chocolate overpowering things. 

The Great Value cookie tasted good, but it was almost just too chocolatey, and the peanut butter got a little lost in the sauce. In terms of texture, both cookies were quite similar, but I also slightly favored the Girl Scout version for being crunchier (the perfect contrast to the softer PB filling and fudge coating).

Unsurprisingly, the Girl Scout Tagalongs are the winner here. I think that the Great Value cookies make for a good attempt at mimicking such a cookie, but to me, it wasn't a successful enough dupe to compete. 

Call me old-fashioned (or even just straight-up old), but I've always been a big fan of plain shortbread cookies (or butter cookies, whatever you want to call them). That said, I'd never actually tried the Girl Scout version of shortbread cookies, aka Trefoils (which happen to be the first-ever Girl Scout cookie), and I can safely say that they didn't let me down.

Trefoils are subtly sweet, buttery, and perfectly crispy — just about everything you could want from a shortbread cookie (which, to be fair, isn't saying a whole lot). Meanwhile, name-brand Lorna Doone cookies pose as a worthy dupe, offering up a similar buttery flavor profile with a hint of sweetness. Between the two cookies, it was hard to tell a difference. Texture, once again, was a defining factor here, with the Trefoils leaning more into the softer/crumblier territory and Lorna Doone being crunchier and snappier. Don't get me wrong, both cookies had crunchy textures, but the Lorna Doone cookies held up a little better and stayed crunchier as I chewed, whereas the Trefoils became a bit crumblier.

Ultimately, with such similar flavor profiles at play, I'm inclined to call the Trefoils versus Lorna Doone battle a draw, or at the very least deem Lorna Doone a worthy dupe of Girl Scout Trefoils. I slightly preferred the crunchier Lorna Doone cookie texture, but I could see the argument for the Trefoils' slightly softer crunch being the preferred texture; it really comes down to personal preference with this one.

Sandwich cookies definitely pull weight in terms of popularity of cookie types. Oreos may be the most well-known of the sandwich cookies, but I'd argue that peanut butter sandwich cookies are up there, too. The Do-si-do Girl Scouts peanut butter sandwich cookies are a great example of a popular version of such a cookie. Aldi's Benton's brand peanut butter crème-filled cookies may be a lesser-known version, but hey, I'll take cookie dupes wherever I can find them.

While the Do-si-do cookie and the Aldi PB sandwich cookie looked quite similar, I'd say these two had the biggest taste difference out of all the options on this list. Sure, they both tasted like peanut butter, but the Girl Scout version nailed that classic, rich, peanut buttery flavor — one that didn't feel bogged down by excess sugar or other additives. The Aldi version lacked that true PB flavor, and instead it tasted overly sweet with a hint of nuttiness (almost like the PB paste you'd find in a Reese's cup). The Do-si-do had a better texture, too, with the oatmeal cookies on either side of the filling offering a sublime snappiness that contrasted well against the soft peanut butter inside. The Aldi cookies were crunchy, but they had a softer crunch and weren't quite as snappy as the Girl Scout version.

In the battle of Do-si-do versus dupe, Girl Scouts win the race. Although I didn't hate the Aldi peanut butter sandwich cookie, it just couldn't compare to the pure peanut butter flavor that the Do-si-do offered.

Of all the Girl Scout cookies out there, I've always had one absolute favorite: Samoas. Being such a Samoa lover, I have indeed sought out a dupe for the cookie in Girl Scout off-season, so I already knew that I liked Keebler's Coconut Dreams as well. But how did the cookies compare side-by-side, neck-in-neck? 

Well, for starters (and as something that I already knew), both cookies were delicious. They both boasted that sweet, caramel-forward flavor that ends on a coconutty note, with just the right amount of bitter dark chocolate to cut through the sweetness. The crunchiness of the coconut was absolutely impeccable in both cookies, as was the slight crispiness of the shortbread cookie underneath, along with the chewiness of the caramel. Truly, it was impossible to establish which cookie was better, or how the two even differ at all. They looked exactly the same and tasted exactly the same, and though I tried hard to pinpoint even one distinction between the two cookies, I simply couldn't.

So, who wins the Samoa versus Keebler race then? To me, it's a total draw. The cookies are too similar to say that one is better than the other, but I can at least say that Keebler makes a worthwhile dupe of Samoas — by far the most impressive and on-point dupe out of all the ones on this list.

When comparing Girl Scout cookies to their store-bought dupes, I was operating on the assumption that all of the cookies were inherently good, but it was more about determining which in a competing pair was better. Sometimes, though, it was even tough to pick a better one, so it was also a question of whether the Girl Scout cookie dupe was simply a worthy dupe (and one worth seeking out in Girl Scout off-season).

So, to determine the better of the two or any worthy dupes, it came down to flavor similarity and texture. Of course, I already knew the cookies tasted good, but I paid attention to small details (slightly stronger mint flavor, more authentic peanut butter flavor) to pinpoint a winner. Texture ended up being a very important factor too (and often the only real distinction I could find), so I favored those cookies that were perhaps a bit crunchier, crisper, or those that had better fillings or filling-to-outside ratios. 

As for how I sampled the cookies, I tried the respective Girl Scout cookie and its dupe side-by-side to see if there were any glaring differences that jumped out right away. I made sure to revisit each Girl Scout cookie and dupe over the course of a couple of days, each on its own, to also give all the cookies a fair trial and attention before determining which I liked better.