Girl Scouts add a new cookie, but drop another variety
The Girl Scouts teach skills such as camping and first aid. But the youth organization may be best known for its cookies, which in January will get a new addition: the Caramel Chocolate Chip cookie.
The chewy cookie, featuring caramel and semi-sweet chocolate chips as well as a hint of sea salt, joins classics such as Thin Mints and Samoas. Meanwhile, Trios, a combination of chocolate chips, peanut butter and oats that was introduced in 2015, will be dropped from the lineup.
The new addition is gluten-free, joining the Toffee-tastic cookie as one of the organization's gluten-free options.
The Girl Scouts use the cookie program to teach its youthful sellers entrepreneurial skills, along with helping finance scout-related activities. The group's cookie sale, which grosses $800 million annually, is increasingly important to the organization, which, like other youth-focused groups, is facing an ongoing enrollment challenge.
A recent study delving into the cookie program found 85 percent of girls surveyed learned how to set goals and meet deadlines, while about nine out of 10 said they gained experience with managing money and business ethics, according to Girl Scouts of the USA.
The program "plays a powerful role in developing financially savvy girl leaders," Girl Scout USA CEO Sylvia Acevedo said in an emailed statement. "Girl entrepreneurs learn valuable interpersonal and business skills via the cookie program that help them become successful in their future careers."