One thing is for certain: The Thin Mint Dinner will be anything but a cookie-cutter banquet meal.

For starters the three-course menu will feature Girl Scout cookies in each course including cocktails, appetizers and entrees. And each dish will adhere to the Girl Scout healthy-eating mission. Plus there will be wine and beer pairing guided by an sommelier for the dinner. I know – it’s a jaw-dropping seemingly impossible goal. But I got a sneak preview of the event at a tasting of the foods that would be served and I was impressed.

“We ate a lot of (Girl Scout) cookies to develop the recipes for this event,” Matthew Schee, executive sous chef at Cheyenne Mountain Resort, where the VIP tasting reception was held and the location for the dinner on Sept. 11.

So just what can you do with a box of Girl Scout Thin Mints or other varieties of treats that are sold each spring? How about Toasted “Trefoil” and Autumn Pumpkin Bisque with creme fraiche? Or “Savannah Smile” gremolata seabass, “Do si dos” peanut crusted chicken with sweet onion marmalade; and roasted garlic mashed potatoes with lemon asparagus. All of these savory dishes worked just fine although most of the cookies are, of course, sweet treats. But in the hands of talented chefs the sweet was balanced with seasonings to tone down the sugary notes. I especially liked the chicken number especially with the tangy onion jam.

Desserts were a cakewalk. The chefs stuck with the evening’s signature Girl Scout Thin Mints, whipping them into a parfait and a cheesecake. The bartender will create two signature cocktails using Girl Scout cookies for the evening.

By the way, having a dinner based on Scout cookies is not a new idea.

“Although the Girl Scouts have done cookie infused food before, this is the first dinner in Colorado Springs to use them,” said Kjersten Forseth with Red Rock Strategies, who is helping with the dinner promotion. “So it is a real treat for the community.”

Here are a couple of recipes that were sampled and may be part of the dinner.

Do-si-do Crusted Chicken with Red Onion JamServes 4

1 box Do-si-do Girl Scout Cookies

4 (6 ounce) boneless breasts of chicken

2 tablespoons chopped Italian parsely

1 teaspoon Kosher salt

1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

1 egg white, slightly beaten

1/2 cup seasoned flour

3 tablespoons clarified butter

Place cookies in work bowl of food processor and pulse to fine consistency.  Add parsely and salt and pepper to cookie crumbs.  Dredge chicken in seasoned flour and pat to remove excess flour, place in egg wash and then place in cookie breading and press firmly.  Sear in clarified butter in medium hot frying pan until golden brown on both sides.  Remove from pan and finish in 350 degree oven until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.

Red Onion Jam

2 large red onion medium dice

1 pound brown sugar

2 cups balsamic vinegar

1  cup red wine vinegar

1/2 cup chopped parsely

Place onions in hot sauté pan, stirring until they become caramelized. Add vinegars and then add brown sugar. Cook until jam like consistency is reached.

— Bill Poulin, executive chef at Cheyenne Mountain Resort

Thin Mint Cheesecake

Serves 24

1 sleeve “Thin Mint Cookies”

1/2 cup Oreo cookie crumbs

1/2 cup melted butter

Mix all ingredients and press into a 9-inch cake pan

2 pounds cream cheese, at room temperature

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

2 eggs, slightly beaten

2 egg yolks, slightly beaten

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

Mix cream cheese and half of the sugar until smooth. Mix the remaining sugar and corn starch together, add to cream cheese mixture. Scrape the sides of the bowl; mix untill smooth. Add wet ingredients and mix 2 minutes, scraping the bowl and mixing until smooth. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

Source: Bill Poulin, executive chef at Cheyenne Mountain Resort