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<< Previous   of   Next >> (click to enlarge) Dairy Queen is mixing Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies into its Blizzards.   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Melanie Munk, Features Editor munk@heraldnet.com   Published: Tuesday, July 1, 2008 DQ throws Girl Scout thin mints into its mix Two classics meet this summer, as Dairy Queen's Blizzard blends Girl Scout thin mint cookies into its signature soft serve. To whet your appetite for the concoction, expected to debut today, here's a look at the history of the two best-selling items. Girl Scout Cookies 1917: The Mistletoe Troop of Muskogee, Okla., becomes the first troop on record to sell cookies. 1936: The national Girl Scout organization began the process to license a commercial baker to make its cookies. A year later, 125 Girl Scout councils sell cookies. 1978: Girl Scout cookies are standardized, as the number of licensed bakers drops to four and packaging is made uniform nationwide. Now: Girl Scout's thin mints ranked as the No. 3 top selling cookie in the U.S. despite the fact it's only sold for a few months each year and it isn't sold on grocery shelves. Overall, 200 million boxes of Girl Scout cookies sell annually. Its No. 1 selling rival, the Oreo, is also available in Blizzards. The Dairy Queen Blizzard 1985: Dairy Queen concocts the Blizzard, a thick, frozen treat that mixes candies, cookies, nuts and fruit with soft serve ice cream; 175 million sell the first year. 2003: The Blizzard of the Month program begins, spotlighting new or favorite flavors. More than 75 flavors have been introduced during the decades. 2005: Dairy Queen grabs a Guinness World Record for making the largest blended soft-serve dessert, an 8,261-pound Blizzard. Now: Dairy Queen has founded a fan club for Blizzard eaters, and it counts more than 1.5 million members so far. Join online at www.blizzardfanclub.com for info on new flavors and coupons. Andy Rathbun, Herald Writer, arathbun@heraldnet.com, 425-339-3455.

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