By Chuck Martin
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Samoas on the counter, Do-si-Dos in the desk drawer and Thin Mints in the freezer. This time of year, it seems like it's raining Girl Scout Cookies.

In case you failed to order cookies earlier this year, you can still buy them at booths staffed by the girls in uniform in grocery and other store parking lots, usually on weekends. Girl Scouts in Ohio and Indiana will continue booth cookie sales until March 16. Northern Kentucky scouts will sell cookies until March 23. (Information on Northern Kentucky Girl Scout cookies: 859-342-6263; Ohio and Indiana: 489-1025.)

COOKIE FACTS

• Caramel for Samoas is cooked the old-fashioned way - heated to 230 degrees in a copper kettle. • It takes 145,000 pounds of peanut butter per week to make Do-si-dos and Tagalongs. • Thin Mints travel 360 feet on a conveyer belt to cool before being dipped in chocolate. • Trefoils are shaped by a rotary die. There are 100 identical Trefoil shapes on one die, and it rotates 17 times a minute, making 1,700 cookies a minute.

And if you're looking for different ways to use the cookies, here are two prize-winning recipes from the Girl Scouts' Create-a-Dessert Contest held in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Murray Bros. CaddyShack Peanut Butter-Banana Bonanza

6 ounces Tagalong (chocolate-covered) cookies, finely chopped

1/4 cup butter, melted

1 quart each: chocolate and vanilla ice cream

3 ounces chocolate syrup

6 ounces Samoa cookies, coarsely chopped

2 bananas, thinly sliced

2 ounces crumbled Ole Ole (reduced-fat Mexican wedding) cookies

Chop Tagalong cookies in food processor until they make a fine powder. Mix cookies with melted butter until it makes a thick paste. Then spread the inside of a 9-inch pie pan evenly with cookie mixture, about 1/4-inch thick. Freeze or refrigerate 30 minutes.

Soften half of vanilla ice cream and spread evenly across bottom of pie crust. Top ice cream with 1 ounce chocolate syrup, 2 ounces chopped Samoa cookies and half of a sliced banana. Freeze for 1 hour.

Repeat above steps twice, alternating vanilla and chocolate ice cream and remaining banana. The last layer should be chocolate with no toppings.

Cut into eight pieces. Garnish with whipped cream, maraschino cherry and chopped Ole Ole cookies.

Johnny Rockets Peanut Butter Dreams

8 ounces crushed Butterfinger pieces

1 gallon vanilla ice cream, softened

1 jar peanut butter

4 ounces Hershey chocolate syrup

3 boxes of Tagalongs (chocolate-covered peanut butter) cookies

Layer bottom of large baking pan with Butterfinger pieces to act as a crust. Evenly spread half vanilla ice cream on top. Spread peanut butter over the ice cream. Next, layer Tagalong cookies, reserving some for garnish, over the peanut butter. Cover with a thick layer of vanilla ice cream. Drizzle with Hershey syrup and top with Tagalongs.