Do Walmart's Girl Scout Cookies Copycats Live Up To The Original?

From January to April, the Girl Scouts show up at your local grocery store, church, or office building for the most wonderful time of the year: cookie season. You help a young woman gain entrepreneurial skills; they help you break your New Year's resolutions. But while Thin Mints, Samoas, and Tagalongs predictably arrive each season, the cookies have gotten more expensive over time. Walmart currently offers copycat versions of the Girl Scout classics all year, selling them at much lower prices than the real deal.

Walmart already has a reputation for replicating iconic foods for a fraction of their original price tag, including frozen breadsticks that measure up to Olive Garden's. But can Walmart reproduce Girl Scout cookies? To find out, I taste-tested Great Value cookies alongside their Girl Scout counterparts. I was impressed that Walmart's cookies can perform capably against the original versions and, in one instance, may be the superior treat.

Some caveats before we begin. First, Girl Scout cookie names differ by region and by bakery; I performed this test in California and therefore am referring to the cookie names used in that state. Second, don't expect frills with the Great Value varieties. These cookies come in nonresealable bags instead of boxes like the Scouts' cookies.

Thin Mints are probably the first cookie you envision when thinking about Girl Scout cookies. First sold by the Scouts in 1951, they are the oldest Girl Scout cookie flavor that's still available. So, I was a bit surprised to find that the Great Value cookies looked more appealing. The Thin Mints had a waxy appearance and the chocolate coating had some spots of "bloom," the white patches that indicate that fat or sugar is starting to separate out of the chocolate. On the other hand, the Great Value Fudge Mint cookies looked fresh and had a lovely scalloped edge and pinhole-sized indentations.

Upon eating, both Thin Mints and the Great Value cookies delivered a subtle hint of mint, but I found that the Thin Mint's flavor lingered longer and tasted less artificial. The winner was Thin Mints, but it was closer than I thought it would be. I paid $6 for a box of Thin Mints, and $2.12 before tax for a bag of Fudge Mint Cookies at my local Walmart. At these kinds of prices, I'd recommend trying to make your own batch of Thin Mints at home — they only require three ingredients! 

First introduced in 1975, Samoas are one of the most popular cookies sold by the Girl Scouts. Upon comparing Samoas to Great Value's product, I was struck by the dark coloring of the Samoas and their thick fudge accents. Sitting next to the Samoas, the Great Value version more closely resembled Keebler Fudge Stripes cookies.

Upon taking a bite of one of the Samoas, I exclaimed, "Is this a perfect cookie?" The chocolate, coconut, and caramel flavors blended in such harmony, with just the right amount of chewiness. Great Value never stood a chance, a feeling confirmed as soon as I tasted the Caramel Coconut and Fudge cookie. Its aroma wasn't as appealing, its flavor was blander, and its texture was strange — closer to a candy bar than a cookie. (Walmart should just rebrand these as a collaboration with Mounds and pretend that was the intention all along.) The Samoas were the clear winner in this matchup. I paid $6 for a box of Samoas, and $3 before tax for a bag of Caramel Coconut & Fudge Cookies at my local Walmart.

The Girl Scouts offer two peanut butter cookies — the peanut butter sandwich known as Do-Si-Dos and a chocolate-coated, peanut butter cookie known as Tagalongs. I focused on the latter, and was sadly disappointed.

Of all the cookies tested, the Great Value Fudge Covered cookies looked most like their Girl Scout counterpart. The Great Value cookies, however, were noticeably larger than the Tagalongs and appeared to contain more peanut butter. The differences between the cookies didn't stop there. The Tagalong's base cookie is vanilla, which isn't bad, but it isn't the first flavor you'd think to pair with peanut butter. Imagine my delight upon biting into the Great Value variety and discovering that the cookie inside was chocolate flavored. This swap turned the Great Value cookies into the superior product, in my opinion. The chocolate crunch of Great Value's inner cookie, paired with the large amount of creamy peanut butter, made for a more delicious bite. I paid $6 for a box of Tagalongs, and $2.12 before tax for a bag of Fudge Covered Peanut Butter Filled Cookies. Although Tagalongs are not one of the two Girl Scout cookies slated for discontinuation in 2025, perhaps they should be.