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Tuesday, February 01, 2000 Page: 9
Make way for the dough girls
Once again, it’s the time of year for cookies … Girl Scout cookies, that
is. But after the brown- and green-uniformed sellers have passed out their
last boxes of Thin Mints to salivating customers, what have the young
entrepreneurs earned and learned? For 11 members of Brownie Troop 319, the
completion of the selling process meant a field trip to Big Apple Bagels in
Dallas, where they experienced a fun, hands-on afternoon of making bagels,
muffins and of course cookies. The troop, which consists of first-graders
from Fairview Elementary and is led by Angela Cornelius and Mary Ann Zerfoss,
gathered in the huge kitchen of the popular bagel shop and enthusiastically
assisted in the Saturday afternoon baking. Curiously hovering around the
industrial-size mixer, the Brownies took turns adding brown sugar, salt,
yeast, vanilla and chocolate chips to the bagel mixture. They also helped
prepare batches of both peach and blueberry muffins. Finally, each Brownie
shaped her own cookie, molding the gooey dough into original designs such as
hearts, balloons and stars. Like many other Brownie and Girl Scout
activities, the fun afternoon at the bagel shop also was a valuable learning
experience, the final step in earning their “Cookies Count” Try It badge.
After illustrating posters for their cookie sale, practicing selling skills
and actually selling a goal of 50 boxes of cookies each, the girls welcomed
the chance to get elbow-deep in bagel dough. When asked if they wanted to
make a return visit to the shop, all girls yelled out a resounding “YES!”