Girl Scouts Debut Exploremores

For Girl Scout Cookie lovers, there is still time to score your favorite variety, as well as this year's new flavor, Exploremores. Rocky road ice cream was the inspiration for the new Girl Scout Cookie for the 2026 season, which are chocolate sandwich cookies filled with a creamy blend of marshmallow and toasted almond-flavored creme. The new variety replaces S'mores and Toast-Yay!

In addition to Exploremores, cookie varieties include Adventurefuls, which are brownie-like cookies with a caramel-flavored cream; Trefoils, which are shortbread cookies; Lemonades, which are shortbread cookies with a lemon-flavored icing; and Caramel deLites, which are crispy cookies coated with caramel and coconut and drizzled with chocolate stripes. Peanut butter varieties are Peanut Butter Patties dipped in chocolate and the Peanut Butter Sandwich, which is an oatmeal cookie with a peanut butter filling.

Selling cookies recently at the Paradise Township Building were members of Pequea Valley Troop 70520, along with troop co-leaders Candace Wines and Katie Knaub, who reported that Thin Mints were the most popular selling cookies. "We have sold more of them today than another other cookie," noted Wines.

The goal of the cookie sales, according to http://www.girlscouts.org, is to teach Girl Scouts five essential skills - goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills and business ethics.

"They have to count (change); we have a cheat sheet that helps," said Wines. "They learn how to be an entrepreneur. They learn to meet goals. They have to sell a certain amount of cookies so they can do the sleepovers and camping trips that they like to do."

Since the troop is part of Girl Scouts in the Heart of Pennsylvania, it also takes part in Soldiers' Angels, which partners with Girl Scout councils to distribute donated cookies to deployed service members and veterans.

Troop 70520 meets at the Girl Scout Cabin in Paradise Park. "We are a multilevel troop - kindergarten through seventh grade - so we have Daisies, Brownies, Juniors and Cadettes," explained Knaub. "We have 33 girls in our troop."

"Our Cadettes (the older Scouts) help out at the meetings," Wines added. "We like to have them lead the meeting and help the girls make a craft or whatever (activity) we are doing that day."

The troop members take part in at least one outing per month. Most recently, they participated in a Girl Scout International Friendship Fair. "We (joined) other troops in the area like the Conestoga Valley School District and Garden Spot," Knaub explained. "All the troops (researched) different countries where Girl Scouts or Girl Guides are. The girls made displays, and they went around and learned about the country and tried food from that country. There was also a flag parade."

In addition to Scouting activities, the troop performs community service. "We did a food drive in November for The Factory and donated 430 pounds of food," reported Knaub. "We had our meeting at The Factory so the girls could (hear from) The Factory staff about where the food goes." The girls also donated Girl Scout Cookies to The Factory's food bank.

"We always help out with Pequea Valley Wreaths Across America, both laying the wreaths and collecting them," added Knaub.

For more information about Girl Scout Cookie sales and to locate cookie booths, search for the Cookie Finder at http://www.girlscouts.org. Cookie booths will be open locally through Saturday, April 4.