It’s the most wonderful time of the year…
I wrote up most of what I know about how to get vegan Girl Scout cookies in this big blog post a year ago, but I just wanted to do a quick update to let you know that if you’re lucky enough to live near a Girl Scout council that buys their cookies from ABC Bakers instead of Little Brownie Bakers (because Little Brownie puts dairy in all their flavors, boooo!) then you have the opportunity to get your hands on some vegan Girl Scout Cookies! And whereas last year I declared certain ABC cookies to be vegan by simple deduction, this year, for the first time ever, ABC Bakers has labeled some of their cookies as “vegan” right on their website!!! (See the picture above.)
Progress, folks, real progress!
For those of you in the L.A. area like me, be aware that the Girl Scout Cookies sold in L.A. are NOT vegan because they come from Little Brownie. The closest place to get the vegan ones is Orange County. Here’s a link to the Girls Scouts of Orange County cookie finder, which will tell you the time and location of their booth sales which are running from now through March 10th. Just plug in a zip code for a town close to L.A. like Seal Beach (90740) or Westminster (92683) and you’ll be on your way.
Oh, and if you can figure out why the new ABC “Mango Cremes with Nutrifusion” aren’t labeled vegan, please let me know, because I don’t see anything suspect in the ingredients list.
Happy Cookieing!
insufferablevegan 
Wow, a new post! Hooray, it’s about damn time :). Thanks for doing an update to last year’s post. It’s thrilling to see that things are progressing.
Sounds like the ingredients in the Mango Cremes with Nutrifusion are all vegan. The only ingredient that could be questionable is lactic acid. The Vegetarian Resource Group says that it’s typically vegan. Check out this link:
http://www.vrg.org/ingredients/index.php
I thought it was interesting though that it contains “nutrients from natural whole food concentrate of…shitake mushrooms.”
“Hey kids, who wants a mushroom cookie?”
Thanks for posting this! I thought I could never have Girl Scout cookies again! I shared the info and linked to your post from my blog.
btw, I have updated my Girl Scout cookie post to make clear that the ones sold in Los Angeles County are NOT vegan because they all contain milk, and that the closest place to get vegan ones is in Orange County.
This is great info.. Thank you so much!!! I hope ABC is the bakery uses here in Michigan.
Why O Why can’t Samoas be made vegan?!!!
I know, right? I guess we’ll have to make it ourselves :(. Here’s a good recipe from One Green Planet:
http://www.onegreenplanet.org/vegan-food/recipe-samoa-like-coconut-oatmeal-cookie/
Maybe I’ll take a stab at it one of these days…
Bought cookies advertised as vegan then read the side of the box and they had milk.
Which flavor?
Is it possible you bought Girl Scout Cookies made by Little Brownie? As I mentioned in the post, none of the Little Brownie cookies are vegan — they all contain dairy. Only cookies made by ABC are vegan, and only four of the eight ABC flavors, as shown in the photo. If you bought one of those four ABC flavors and the box says it contains milk, please let me know so I can contact ABC and note it on my blog. Thanks!
How did you find out orange county had ABC cookies? Im trying to find out if they are in my area. Do you have to just go booth to booth?
I called the Orange County Girl Scout Council and asked if they sold Little Brownie cookies or ABC cookies and they told me, so my advice is to call your local Girl Scouts council and ask. In populated areas a council usually covers a county, in less populated areas a council may cover multiple counties. There is no point in going booth to booth because all booths within the same council will be selling the same cookies. I just hope your local council gets their cookies from ABC and not from Little Brownie. Good luck and please comment again to tell me how it went. Thanks!
I checked a couple of the ingredients on the boxes. While I am happy there are vegan options, unfortunately they have palm oil. I have not read all of your blog posts, so maybe you are unaware of the link between palm oil, rainforest destruction, and orangutan extinction. Many vegan processed foods have palm oil. I signed a petition in the past to encourage girl scout cookies to remove palm oil from their cookie recipe. Here is a link to an article about it
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/13/palm-oil-and-scout-cookies-the-battle-drags-on/
The Smithsonian magazine has a wonderful comprehensive article about palm oil/deforestation/orangutan habitat with some wonderful pictures at this link:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/A-Quest-to-Save-the-Orangutan.htm
Yes, I’m aware of the link between palm oil, rainforest destruction and orangutan extinction. I feel like I’ve read that organic palm oil is okay because it comes from somewhere else. Do you know if that’s true? Also, I’d have to guess the vegan label on these cookies doesn’t mean the sugar wasn’t refined using bone char. So there’s that. But I still thought it was progress to have them identified as “vegan” on the website, even if just in terms of spreading awareness of the concept to parts of the country that might not be very familiar with the idea. Thanks for your comment!
I guess I am “insufferable” when it comes to palm oil. I was made aware of this issue years ago when I received my World Wildlife Fund newsletter in the mail. Since then, I have done extensive research on this topic because it truly astounds me that corporations are destroying rainforests/ecosystems/habitat/other beings who we share this planet with, in the name of processed food and cosmetics/soaps/cleaning products. 90% of palm oil comes from Indonesia and Malaysia, and with only 350 square miles producing palm oil in Brazil, is it possible that they produce all of the organic palm oil? The hope is that Brazil will become a major palm oil producer if done correctly by using land currently used for cattle ranches, as it can help the environment and the economy of Brazil. Also, btw some members of the “Roundtable of Sustainable Palm Oil” are from some of the worst offenders of deforestation. Kind of like having a Monsanto attorney in charge of GMO regulation. Okay, here are some excellent links to learn more:
http://www.onegreenplanet.org/lifestyle/guide-vegan-products-and-palm-oil/
http://e360.yale.edu/feature/in_brazil_palm_oil_plantations_could_help_preserve_amazon/2415/
On the other hand, yes, I am happy to see that being vegan is going more mainstream. Also, I enjoyed your humor in the post “Aren’t you sick of vegans?” post I read last night.
Thanks for the info, I will read the links.
I purchsed some thinking they we vegan….the order form stated “vegan” but discovered when I received the boxes that it contained lactic acid. Very dissappointed. Do you know thier source of lactic acid? Occasionally I come across plant source lactic acid. Wondering now if truly vegan or not. Do you know?
My understanding is that lactic acid is typically vegan: http://www.vrg.org/nutshell/faqingredients.htm#lac
It might be the vitamin A palmitate. Sometimes it can be animal derived instead of plant derived.
Brittany, thanks for your comment. I wound up calling ABC Bakers and someone there told me that it’s one of the flavorings in the mango cookies that makes them not vegan.