The problem with layer cakes is that beauty often takes the place of function. They have to be gorgeous, so we pile on way too much frosting or fondant and then decorate the whole shebang. A sheet cake, however, is the perfect ratio of cake to frosting (or in this case, icing). The cake is the star, not its good looks.

And it definitely doesn’t hurt that  this one is topped with chopped Thin Mints. America’s favorite Girl Scout cookie is ready for her moment in the sun!

When I was a kid, sheet cakes meant birthdays. My mom is not the most enthusiastic baker, so she would take a Duncan Hines cake mix (the brand is known as “Uncle Duncan” in my family), put it into a sheet cake pan, and cover it with ready-made frosting. She also bought those sugar letters you get in the cake aisle and put them on our cakes.

I loved it. While the grown-up me tends to make fancy layer cakes for birthdays, I’ve never lost that soft spot for a sheet cake in a pan. They’re simplicity itself.

The problem with a chocolate cake is that it’s simply too addictive. I like to put the cake in the fridge once it cools and then once it’s chilled, everyone attacks it. Open season on cake! Did you ever see that Sex and the City episode where Miranda bakes a chocolate cake? She spends the entire episode eating way more of it than she wants to, and the whole thing ends with her dumping the cake in the trash and covering it with dish soap.

I always feel sad when Miranda destroys the cake, but I understand it. A layer cake is too decadent to munch on for any length of time. But you can cut sliver after sliver off a sheet cake and never get tired of it.

If you’re a regular reader here on JAB, you know that mint is not my favorite. But I can’t resist baking with Thin Mints for everyone else. They get so excited when they realize that not only is there a baked good in sight, but that it also contains one of their favorite limited-edition GS cookies.

This cake is very simple. It’s my favorite chocolate cake base (thanks, back of the Hershey cocoa container!) covered with an equally easy icing and chopped Thin Mints. I think the most labor-intensive part of this baking experience was chopping the Thin Mints. Be sure you dump even the crumbled insides of the Thin Mints on the cake, by the way. It really adds to you topping.

When all is said and done, we always come back to the desserts we loved as children. I am a sheet cake devotee and don’t plan on changing that love anytime soon. Thanks for the birthday cakes, Mommy!

Think about it: 40 years ago, women couldn’t do so many important jobs because we weren’t considered worthy. Gradually, thanks to women’s rights and some common sense, the general population has come to realize that we kick butt. I mean, we still make less money and people are still sexist. Nothing changes overnight. But at least we’re moving in the right direction.

But see, that element of choice that has resulted from having more rights has made life a lot harder to navigate. Do we work at home or work outside the home? Claw up the ladder or stay complacently put? Wear heels or flats?

As I get older, by the way, flats. But the bottom line is, choices are quite the double-edged sword. They’re much more fun when the decisions you have to make aren’t that vital to society, but make or break your day. Thus, the Girl Scout cookie conundrum.

Tagalongs all the way for me, baby. But I know a lot of you don’t agree. Thin Mints have a raging following, and Samoas are also pretty dang popular. And while there’s a smaller but loyal contingent who dream of Trefoils, they’re still solidly in the minority.

When I bake with Girl Scout cookies, it’s always with being fair in mind. I use the three top favorites somewhat evenly and then dabble a bit in desserts involving other flavors. Last year, I made these mini-cheesecakes with equity as a goal. I do have one Trefoil recipe coming up, but today is all about those three superstars: Tagalongs, Thin Mints, and Samoas.

This recipe is simple, fun, and easy to do with kids if you’re into that kind of torture. The base is a cake mix chocolate cookie, which then gets wrapped around the various Girl Scout Cookie flavors. I have a code that makes it easy to remember which is which: Tagalongs get topped with peanut butter chips, Thin Mints with chocolate chips, and Samoas with Heath toffee bits.

Like all cake mix cookies, these bake up instantaneously and without additional fridge chill time. And when they’re done, they’re fudgy and an oh-so-perfect pillow for the cookie nestled inside. It really is hidden treasure. What could be more valuable than finding a Girl Scout cookie hiding inside another giant cookie?

Well, women’s rights are probably more valuable, but let’s not squabble over it. The worst thing is when women tear one another down about the choices their sister-friends have made, so let’s let that one go. Instead, go eat a cookie. Do it for yourself, for Girl Scouts, and for women in America!

Earlier today, my son threw away a broken paper fan. As he was getting rid of it, he eyed the plastic casing for the fan and said, “Maybe I should keep this. It might be useful.” I, the anti-hoarder, made it pretty clear that a broken fan plastic casing would never, in any way, be remotely useful.

Now, if I were to hoard anything in this world, it would be baked goods and chocolate. Earlier, I pulled a chocolate-dipped peanut butter Oreo out of the freezer and munched on it. It had been triple-wrapped and frozen since December. But you know, that stuff never gets hoarded for long. Somehow, even with things frozen away, I can’t forget about them.

Now that it’s Girl Scout cookie season, you can be pretty dang sure that I’m storing several boxes of GS cookies in the freezer as well. I’m one of those people who pulls out a sleeve of Thin Mints several months after prime GS cookie selling season and serves them to grateful house guests. If a Thin Mint tastes good in Feburary, its cool appeal is even more seductive in the heat of summer.

Now, I’m a Tagalong girl, and that ain’t no lie. But these right here are for you Thin Mint lovers out there. It’s a little bit of an extreme approach, but you know I’m all about decadence.

So what’s going on here? Simple. Chocolate cookie dough (egg-free, of course!) sandwiched between two Thin Mints and dipped into white chocolate. Yep. I did that. Feel free to let the binge session commence.

These are actually super simple to make, and you can either do fun drizzliness with the white chocolate or you can dunk the sandwich in whole. Or both, in my case. And if you have leftover cookie dough, make truffles!

These traveled with me to a housewarming party for some dear friends of mine, and boy, is their new house clutter-free. Seriously not one bit of mess in sight. So I added to it slightly with these bits of Girl Scout madness, and while they could hoard them, my guess is that everyone at the party ate them already. Moral of the story: don’t hoard, unless it’s chocolate. You can make Girl Scout season go a long way!