Special to
L’Observateur

LAPLACE — Two new Girl Scout cookies, including a gluten-free cookie, are joining the Girl Scout Cookie ranks, whose sale begins locally Jan. 16.

The gluten-free Toffee-tastic cookie is a rich, buttery cookie with golden toffee bits and Rah-Rah Raisins is a crispy oatmeal cookie with raisins and Greek yogurt flavored chunks.

The two cookies join favorites like Thin Mints, Samoas (celebrating its 40th birthday), Trefoils, Tagalongs, Do-Si-Dos and Savannah Smiles. All cookies are preservative-free, kosher with zero trans fat per serving.

Girl Scouts Louisiana East is piloting the sale of the gluten-free cookie at $5 per box, with all other cookie varieties remaining at $4 per box, upon delivery.

Girl Scouts Louisiana East serves girls in grades kindergarten through 12th in the parishes of St. John the Baptist, St. James and St. Charles, among others in the region. For more information about Girl Scouts, call the council office in New Orleans at 504-733-8220, in Baton Rouge at 225-927-8946 or visit gsle.org.

“We’re excited to be adding a gluten-free cookie to the Girl Scout Cookie program this year,” Alisha Moore, vice president of sales at Girl Scouts Louisiana East, said. “It’s something customers are requesting more and more across the country. We’re interested to see whether southeast Louisiana customers embrace the cookie as well.”

Girl Scouts will take their initial cookie orders from Jan. 16 – Feb. 1, and will sell them at booth locations throughout the council’s 23 parishes from Feb. 27 – March 15.

With new cookies and this cookie season’s introduction of Digital Cookie, an online platform which allows girls to sell cookies online for the first time through personalized websites and email marketing, the local council hopes to increase its cookie sales, which topped 1 million boxes in 2014.

The Cookie Program is the largest girl-led business in the country, teaching girls skills like goal setting, decision making, money management and ethics.

All proceeds remain within the council’s jurisdiction, funding troop activities with the remainder helping the council to maintain properties, train and recruit volunteers and support council initiatives.