It’s cookie time, folks! Girl Scout Cookies, that is. Thin Mints, Do Si Dos, Trefoils and my most favorite GS cookie of them all – Samoas. They’re everywhere! You couldn’t escape them, even if you wanted to. But, why would you want to? Who doesn’t love Girl Scout Cookies – or Girl Scouts, for that matter?

There are several little Girl Scouts that live in my neighborhood. Each year they ring my doorbell, one by one in their cute little uniforms, with their hopeful little faces. I buy cookies from all of them. I can’t help it. I mean, you’d have to have a heart carved out of stone to resist them!

So, before I knew it, there I sat with about 20 boxes of Girl Scout cookies sitting in front of me, wondering what the heck to do with all of them! I did a quick inventory in my fridge. I had cream cheese. I had mascarpone (my magic ingredient!). I even had some homemade dulce de leche left over from another recipe. An idea began to take shape in my head and I ended up with this tart, which is quite possibly the most fabulously rich and decadent dessert I have ever made!

This article appears in Mar 3-9, 2010.