Ah Girl Scout cookies...these amazingly delicious and outrageously addicting cookies that no one can seem to get enough of.
When I was little, I would see the Girl Scouts outside storefronts and would naturally crave them because,well, COOKIES! As I got older and had some money of my own I was finally able to try these delectable delights. My original favorite was the classic Thin Mints, but when my friend introduced me to Savannah Smiles I fell in love.
Lucky for me, my sister joined Girl Scouts last year so now I have direct access to the cookies and all the things that revolve around cookie season. This is how I found out about the Girl Scout Recipe Contest. For those that don't know, the Girl Scout Recipe Contest is held annually and asks for anyone who wants to submit a recipe. The only requirement is that the must recipe include Girl Scout cookies. How you incorporate the cookies is up to you.
When I found out about the contest my brain went into "chef mode" and I started thinking up ideas right away. Savannah Smiles were the first cookies that popped into my brain and I thought, what dessert could I make that incorporates lemon but can also incorporate the cookies?
The first thing I thought of was cheesecake (one of my favorite types of desserts) and that's how the Savannah Smiles Swirl Cheesecake was born.
I thought, well graham cracker crumbs are typically used to make cheesecake crust so why not use Savannah Smiles instead?
The crust wouldn't be enough though, it needed more, so I started thinking. What are the main flavors in Savannah Smiles? Lemon and sugar!
Why not add some sort of lemon flavor to the cheesecake? How about making a swirl cheesecake? It will add lemon flavor and give it a cool appearance.
I did my research and found basic recipes for the crust, filling, and curd which I then tweaked so that they would marry together perfectly when combined.
I was actually a bit nervous to try my recipe out because this is the is my first time creating a full recipe. I'm not going to lie, I procrastinated a lot when it came to actually trying out the recipe.
Finally I decided to make it, hoping nothing would go wrong and that I wouldn't have to do several trials.
The process of making everything took me around 1-2 hours total due to the fact that there are 3 components in this recipe (crust, filling, and curd).
The only "problem" I experience while making it was when it came to swirling the curd. I had read that using a toothpick would work, but when I tried to swirl the curd with the filling it just sort of spread over the filling and didn't really swirl.
I fixed this issue pretty quickly and with no real difficulty. The toothpick was too thin to swirl the thick curd with the creamy filling so I used a chopstick and did angled whipping and mixing motions which worked perfectly and gave it a very cool look and texture after it baked.
When I pulled it out of the oven I was quite proud of myself and also slightly surprised that it turned out as good as it did, but the real test was the taste test.
The taste test went very well and even my mom approved (she's a hard critic). This made me feel amazing since this was a new recipe that I created!
I am so glad that I decided to participate in this contest because it has inspired me to try more new things and make more recipes!
If you would like more information on this contest you can visit http://www.girlscoutsww.org/recipecontest
Voting begins February 18th, 2016 so if you like this recipe then don't forget to vote! You can use the link above to access the voting once it opens.
If you have any questions please comment below and I will try to answer them to my best abilities.
Enjoy!
- Aimee
