We Tried Wendy's New Girl Scouts Thin Mints Frosty, And It's A Frozen Slam Dunk

You may have started seeing tables set up around town, stacked with brightly colored boxes of cookies, and hosted by teams of young entrepreneurs — that's right, Girl Scout Cookie Season has arrived. Some of us wait all year to stock up on these irresistible treats, although thanks to several snack collaborations, the flavors of many popular Girl Scout Cookies can be found elsewhere throughout the year. In my house, a bag of Edward Marc Thin Mints Bites lasts hours, not days. Now, fellow Thin Mints lovers have a new way to enjoy the most popular Girl Scouts Cookie flavor with a favorite drive-thru treat at Wendy's. 

Fans of Wendy's Frosty are just as enthusiastic about their treats as Girl Scout Cookie fans are, often demanding the return of discontinued Frosty flavors when seasonal offerings rotate. While the chocolate Frosty is a mainstay, limited-time flavors like strawberry, peppermint, and pumpkin spice have spent time on the menu recently — and the highly coveted vanilla Frosty finally made its return to restaurants nationwide earlier this year. Luckily, Frosty lovers won't have to sacrifice either the chocolate or vanilla flavors to enjoy Wendy's new Frosty flavor with a Girl Scout Cookie twist — the Thin Mints Frosty.

Wendy's invited me to taste the new Thin Mints Frosty in person, ahead of its nationwide release, at one of its restaurants in Manhattan. There I found out what we can expect for the Thin Mints Frosty's availability, ingredients, nutrition, partnership with the Girl Scouts — and, of course, what it tastes like.

Recommendations are based on firsthand impressions of promotional materials and products provided by Wendy's.

The new Thin Mints Frosty is available as an upgrade to either the chocolate or vanilla Frosty flavors that are currently on the menu, meaning that you can still get plain chocolate or vanilla Frostys while the Thin Mints option is available. The Thin Mints flavor comes from a mint chocolate cookie sauce that's swirled around inside the cup, and into the Frosty as it comes out of the machine.

Perhaps you're wondering if the sauce tastes like actual Thin Mints. The answer is yes — not only is the chocolate sauce mint-flavored, but it has the texture of a loose cookie butter, made with pulverized cookie crumbs, which creates a noticeable and welcome cookie texture. And since this sauce is an addition to either the chocolate or vanilla Frosty, that means you can also order it in one of four sizes: junior, small, medium, or large.

The main ingredients in the chocolate sauce include soybean oil, powdered sugar, ground cookie crumbs, and cocoa powder. Allergens in this Frosty — including both the soft serve and the mint chocolate cookie sauce — include milk, soy, and wheat. 

Beginning Friday, February 21, the new Thin Mints Frostys will be available in restaurants nationwide. There's no official word on how long this Frosty flavor will be around — but you'll probably want to jump on it sooner rather than later. According to the Girl Scouts, cookie season runs from January through April, depending on your region. Once the cookies are gone, it's safe to assume that this limited-time Frosty flavor will be gone, too.

The price of the Thin Mints Frosty may also vary, depending on where you buy it. The Thin Mints Frosty has a higher price than either the classic chocolate or vanilla Frosty, since this special treat includes extra ingredients and requires additional preparation. For reference, ordinary Frosty prices can range from $1.39 for a junior size to $2.69 for a large size, before taxes. According to the prices that I saw in the Manhattan Wendy's, the Thin Mints Frostys cost $2.99 for a small, $3.79 for a medium, and $4.39 for a large, also before taxes. 

A Frosty is a splurge that I can never pass up, but for those who want to consider the confection's nutritional information before ordering one, there are a few numbers to consider. There is only a negligible difference in the nutritional values between a chocolate and vanilla Frosty of the same size, so as a base for a Thin Mints Frosty, feel free to order whichever flavor appeals to you most. Calorie counts range from 310 for a junior Thin Mints Frosty to 490 calories for a small, 590 calories for a medium, and 700 calories for a large. 

A small Thin Mints Frosty has 22 grams of fat (including 8 grams of saturated fat), 270 milligrams of sodium, 64 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, a little more than 50 grams of sugar, and 10 grams of protein. In comparison, a small chocolate Frosty has 310 calories, 9 grams of fat, 180 milligrams of sodium, and 49 grams of carbohydrates. 

Not only is Wendy's incorporating the Girl Scouts' most popular cookie into its iconic Frosty, but the restaurant chain is also partnering with troops across the country to help sell their irresistible cookies. More than 4,200 restaurants nationwide have agreed to host Girl Scouts throughout the cookie season, as troops work to meet their fundraising goals through cookie sales. There's no denying that it's a brilliant marketing move for both parties, because who can resist picking up an armful of Girl Scout cookies after ordering a Frosty loaded with Thin Mints sauce? (Not me.)

Additionally, Wendy's will be launching the Thin Mints Frosty Adventure — an exclusive game played via the Wendy's app — on Monday, February 24. Rewards in the game include daily food prizes, as well as entry in a sweepstakes for the chance to win $10,000. (And just in case you were curious, at about $7 per box, you could buy 1,428 boxes of Girl Scout cookies with those winnings.) 

If you're already a fan of Wendy's Frostys and Girl Scouts Thin Mints Cookies, the addition of the new mint chocolate cookie sauce is just going to be a bonus for you. The biggest decision you'll need to make is whether to order it with a chocolate or vanilla Frosty base, and believe it or not, that makes a noticeable difference.

As someone who loves all things chocolate, I dove straight into the classic chocolate Thin Mints Frosty first, and was not disappointed. The chocolate of the sauce doesn't overwhelm the chocolate of the Frosty, but enhances it with its chocolatey cookie flavor. The mint in this version plays a supporting role, boosting the overall cooling effect of the Frosty, without any harsh or toothpaste-like minty notes. But if you're the kind of person who prefers a cookies-and-cream style of dessert, the vanilla Thin Mints Frosty is the way to go. The vanilla base sets a creamy backdrop for the mint chocolate cookie sauce, allowing the mint flavor to shine a little brighter.

Ultimately, there are no wrong choices here — if you're feeling indecisive, get both. And while you're at it, don't hesitate to dip your fries in the Thin Mints Frosty, just like you would with a classic Frosty. Mint and french fries might not seem like the most harmonious pairing, but the salty fries offset the sweet chocolate sauce just as well as they do with the regular chocolate Frosty, if not more so. 

You might think that after spending nearly a decade as a Girl Scout, and selling cookies every year (shoutout to Troop 437!), I might be over the cookies — but the truth is, I love them more than ever. Each year, I excitedly wait for my friends' kids to start selling boxes of cookies, and clean a shelf off in my pantry to stock up. I can also never turn down a Frosty in any format, including the Wendy's Frosty Cream Cold Brew, which is a weekend habit that I don't plan on kicking anytime soon. So, this was a collaboration that I knew would be hard to pass up.

At the same time, I was especially interested to see if each piece of this treat did justice to its original format. Did the sauce actually taste like Thin Mints? Would the sauce overpower the smooth chocolate Frosty that I love so much on its own? I was pleased to find that each element was only enhanced by the addition of the others. And while the mint chocolate cookie sauce is not currently offered with the Frosty cold brew, I'll definitely be asking to see if it can be arranged as a new Wendy's Frosty hack, while juggling half a dozen boxes of Girl Scout cookies from my local troop.