The Emporia Gazette

May 28, 2012

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There is more than a month left in which to order Girl Scout cookies, but if you’re around the mall this weekend, the process will be really easy.

The Girl Scouts will be offering samples and taking orders for their cookies at the Flinthills Mall on Saturday and Sunday.

Cookie orders and booth sales will continue through March 3.

Jessica Hansen, who leads the Walnut Elementary first-grade Brownies troop, explained this year’s cookie line-up. The Girl Scouts organization went with a different baker this year, so there are a couple of new cookies and several old favorites have been re-named.

This year’s new cookie is the Cinna-Spin. Cinna-Spins come in 100-calorie packs and are great for dieters and school lunches alike, Hansen said.

“They kinda taste like cinnamon graham crackers,” she said. “The girls love them.”

Other cookie varieties include the Carmel deLites, Peanut Butter Patties, Shortbread, Thin Mints, Peanut Butter Sandwich, Thanks-A-Lot (shortbread dipped in chocolate) and Lemonades (shortbread dipped in lemon frosting).

Cookies are $3.50 a box. Hansen said changing bakers hasn’t changed the taste of the old favorites.

“As far as I can tell, they look and taste the same,” she said. “They just have a slightly different name.”

Hansen said cookie trucks will be rolling in shortly and more opportunities to get cookies will be available.

“If somebody orders five boxes and they really wanted 10, they can probably do that!” she said, with a laugh.

Hansen explained where the cookie money goes. $1.85 a box goes to programs and services, 4 cents a box goes to postage and other expenses, 38 cents goes to the girls for cookie coupons and special incentives and recognitions, 35 cents goes to troops for programs, activities and supplies and 87 cents a box goes to the baker.

Hansen said the money that goes toward troops and the girls themselves adds up. The girls can use their money to help pay for a variety of things, like uniforms and camp fees.

Community Development Manager Kitty Frank of the Girl Scouts of the Kansas Heartland regional office in Emporia, said the girls earn about half of the money needed to run the girl scout operation. The other half comes from donations and support through organizations such as the United Way.