A Fairbanks pastry chef is taking her Thin Mints out of the freezer and moving them into the oven. Not just Thin Mints — her Tagalongs and Samoas, too.

Cathy George-Skrivanek is the pastry chef for Lavelle’s Bistro in downtown Fairbanks and the Double Eagle, the restaurant on the grounds of the Fairbanks Golf Course. She has put years of baking experience to the ultimate kitchen test and come up with the Girl Scout Trio, a dessert plate featuring three different end-of-the-meal delights, each using Girl Scout cookies purchased from Fairbanks Girl Scout troops.

The trio will appear on the menus at both restaurants throughout March and has already made an appearance on the menu at Lavelle’s starting last week. The creation was such a hit, it sold out on both days it was featured.

“It went so fast, I had to stop. I couldn’t keep up,” George-Skrivanek said.

The Girl Scout Trio consists of three desserts plated on one dish: a Thin Mint Brownie, a Tagalong Cupcake and a Samoa Cheesecake. The Thin Mint brownie incorporates crushed Thin Mints into the batter; the Tagalong Cupcake uses a Tagalong as the base, topped with a chocolate cupcake and a peanut butter buttercream frosting and peanuts; and the Samoa Cheesecake uses Samoas in the crust of the New York-style cheesecake, which is then topped with a coconut filling and drizzled with chocolate.

Being a chocolate-lover, George-Skrivanek knew she wanted to use the chocolate Girl Scout cookies in her creations and she knew she wanted to create a mix of desserts. She then took to the social media website Pinterest to look for inspiration. After scouring recipes, she opted for a version of the brownie, a cupcake and a cheesecake, three dishes she knew she could create with ease in the Lavelle’s kitchen.

“If I can see a picture of it and then visualize it, I can create it,” George-Skrivanek said. “I knew I wanted different shapes and textures.”

A Fairbanks Girl Scout troop approached Double Eagle manager Nichole Thompson, who also helps with the management at Lavelle’s, in February about using cookies from local troops in the dishes. When Thompson talked to George-Skrivanek about the idea, it was an easy pitch for the pastry chef to grasp, and George-Skrivanek purchased a case each of Thin Mints, Tagalongs and Samoas.

“At this point, I’m definitely going to have to order more,” George-Skrivanek said. “This was a neat idea, especially to come up with three different desserts for people. I’m getting lots of good feedback.”

— Fairbanks Daily News-Miner