Girl Scouts of America has introduced a new cookie for the 2026 season. photo courtesy of Girl Scouts of America
Girl Scouts of America maintains their cookie program despite alterations.
Girl Scouts of America have been selling cookies for over one hundred years, starting as a community fundraiser in Oklahoma and expanding to a national enterprise. The cookie sales support Girl Scouts’ other endeavors and programs. In 2026, Girl Scouts introduced a new cookie to the lineup called Exploremores. They will be selling these cookies, alongside the other varieties, until early March.
The system of producing and selling Girl Scout cookies is surprisingly complex. Girl Scouts of America has two licensed producers of Girl Scout cookies, with Little Brownie Bakers and ABC Bakers serving different parts of the country. Both producers sell slightly different versions of the cookies, with different names and recipes, and at times sell completely different products. For example, Little Brownie Bakers offers a gluten-free toffee shortbread cookie, while ABC Bakers’ gluten-free cookie is a caramel chocolate chip cookie. Colorado Girl Scouts are serviced by Little Brownie Bakers. Prices also vary by location, ranging from $4 at the lowest to $7 in high-priced areas. In Colorado, cookies are $6 a box, although the gluten-free Toffee-tastic variety costs $7. The profits of a box of cookies is split between paying back the distributors, funding the Girl Scout organization, and funding the troop of girls that sold the cookies.
Prices have risen over the years, keeping pace with the rising costs of ingredients and inflation. Depending on the region, the cost of a box has risen from around $3.50 to $6 since 2014. Girl Scout cookies tend to cost more than grocery store competitors like Oreos or Chips Ahoy. Despite this, Girl Scout cookies continue to sell, in part because of the organization backing them. “I think that people consider their purchase of Girl Scout cookies a win-win,” said Denver-area troop leader Laura Holloway, who has worked with Girl Scouts for eleven years. “They get to support a troop and enjoy a delicious cookie…I feel like we’ve been doing steady sales even as the prices have increased.” The cookie program is the main source of funding for troops, who use the income to run activities through the year.
With the price increase, Girl Scouts of America has also introduced new cookie varieties to entice customers. Exploremores are chocolate sandwich cookies with a marshmallow-almond filling inspired by rocky road ice cream. They replaced Girl Scout S’mores, which were a similar marshmallow sandwich cookie. While the novelty is exciting, Exploremores seem to have fallen flat for customers. “It tastes like a bad Oreo,” described Alejandra Rivera-Lopez, Denver Scholarship Foundation Intern at the Future Center. “The chocolate in the middle tastes funky, and it doesn’t pair well with the cookie.” Members of the TJ staff and students who sampled the cookie felt that it wasn’t worth the $6 price tag and that they’d rather have a different flavor of cookie instead. “The price makes it hard to want to buy [the cookies],” said TJ junior David Ornelas.
Despite the rising prices and new flavors, it seems as though consumers are still happy to show up for the program for the time being. Girl Scouts of America still sells about 200 million boxes of cookies each year, which funds activities and opportunities for young girls across the country.
