No cookies for these Girl Scouts

Whether you remember selling them door to door as a Brownie or buying them from the office Girl Scout mother, most everyone can admit to sneaking a box of Thin Mints (preferably one chilled in the freezer).

But one Orange County Scout leader says that tradition is a bit too sweet.

Monica Serratos of Ladera Ranch and her Daisy Troop 2753 will display a Girl Scouts 100th anniversary "cake" made of fruit at the Orange County Fair on July 27 as part of the Girl Scouts of the United States of America centennial celebration.

Serratos wants to praise Scouting at the fair, but also call attention to the fact that cookies aren't good for kids who already get too much sugar at school and at home.

Serratos, 31, asked parents in her troop a couple of months ago to discuss with their daughters whether to opt out of selling cookies.

While the majority of parents were supportive, one who wanted her daughter to experience the long-standing Girl Scout tradition of selling Trefoils and Do-Si-Dos splintered off, she said, forming another troop.

Serratos asked Girl Scout officials to sell fruit cakes to raise money in June but her request was denied.

"Girl Scout Daisy troops may not participate in fundraisers outside of our product sales programs (cookie sales and fall product sales), which have age-appropriate skill-building curriculum for Daisies," Girl Scouts Communications Manager Emilie Perkins said in an email.

Serratos said she isn't entirely opposed to sweets. She's a baker who competed on "Cupcake Wars" and delivered her confections to the Academy Awards.

As a Viejo Elementary School volunteer in her daughter's classroom, Serratos noticed children eating sweets on far too many occasions.

"They come to school with juice boxes, fruit snacks, chocolate granola bars," she said, noting that kids are often rewarded with sugar. "That all adds up."

Serratos said she also takes issue with the ingredients in Girl Scout cookies, specifically cotton seed oil and palm oil, the latter of which some environmental groups say lead to deforestation.

Perkins said the bakers that Orange County Scouts use, ABC Bakers in Virginia, use as little of the ingredient as possible and will use certifiably sustainable palm oil by 2015.