Girl Scout Dupes

So, I'm sure that everyone is familiar with the Yahoo News story on home recipes for Girl Scout Cookies. I got a little curious and I'm about to start school, so I thought a little stress-relief baking was in order. I tried three different cookies- Trefoils, Tagalongs and Lemonades. The first two I was familiar with but the third...not so much. Regardless, it looked simple enough that I wanted to have a go. I don't have any cookie cutters so I went the way of cookie logs that could be sliced. Here's what happened:

Trefoils
The original recipe looked too simple and flavorless so I subbed in dark brown sugar to give a little more flavor to the cookie. My first (and only) attempt at shortbread was back in high school and it was a disaster, so I was a bit weary for these.

Plain

                                                                                     Dipped in extra chocolate

Issues:
~The baking time on these is off, it took more like 15-18 minutes than the 10-12 the site said it would.
~They're lacking just a bit in the flavor department, I would add 1 tsp vanilla and adjust the flour to compensate for the extra moisture.

Tagalongs
I've made Tagalong dupes before using a Sodium Free/Light Ritz Cracker instead of a cookie base. Those were always good and you can hardly tell the difference. Nevertheless I wanted to try these out because I am a sucker for all things peanut butter.
 
                                  The best of the bunch...hands down.
Issues:
~I would definitely used either 1/2 tsp LESS sugar or 1/2 tsp MORE peanut butter for the filling. The actual recipe gave me a filling that was a little dry and tough to work with.
~ You definitely need to bake them longer, I threw them in for almost three as long as the recipe calls for to get them to the crunchy cookie state they were supposed to achieve. I suspect this is because I went straight from freezer to slices to oven. If you let them come to RT, they shouldn't take as long to bake.
~ Dipping these things in chocolate and then shaking the excess off takes forever and makes your arm hurt....worth it though.

Lemonades
I was curious...that's it really. Oh, and I added 1 tsp of lemon juice to the dough since the only other flavoring was lemon rind. Also, I coated them in powdered sugar just to make them look different from the Trefoils.

Issues:
~Needs more lemon juice, at least 3/4 of a tsp more.

Pretty successful afternoon I'd say. But for anyone who thinks this might take away any monetary support from the Girl Scouts as a company, it won't. The recipes are simple but the time it takes to prep the dough, shape the cookies and bake them are too much of a hassle to go through in lieu of picking up a box from your friendly neighborhood Girl Scout. If after making these you have an attack of conscience, I suggest making a donation to a local troop. Happy baking!