In addition to the traditional favorites like Thin Mints and Peanut Butter Patties, Girl Scouts are offering a new choice for cookie lovers this year - Adventurefuls, which are brownie cookies topped with caramel-flavored crème.

The new cookie, as well as other selections, can be found at Girl Scout cookie booths throughout the area, including the Morgantown Crossing Shopping Center, Crossings Boulevard, Elverson, where cookie booths are open on weekends at Walmart and Lowe's. Sales are also being held at Turkey Hill Minit Market, 2848 Main St., Morgantown, and Little Anthony's Pizza, 21 Cupola Road, Honey Brook.

Despite the cold, Kate Jones, Mia Gore and Laura Trost, members of Brownie Troop 1905 of Honey Brook, were selling cookies outside Walmart on a recent weekend along with the troop's cookie sale coordinator Sarah Jones, dubbed the Cookie Mom. "It's freezing cold, but I love it!" said Mia.

According to http://www.girlscouts.org, the cookie sales primarily help girls to develop five skills: decision making, money management, goal setting, people skills and business ethics. "They learn customer service and to put on a smile," Sarah said, noting that the most popular cookies sold each year are Thin Mints. "If (people) don't want to buy cookies, we tell them to have a nice day."

Sarah said that the girls also learn endurance, since they often have to brave the cold to sell cookies when temperatures are below freezing. "They were very excited for today," she stated. "Yesterday we were at Little Anthony's, but they were inside."

In addition to the new cookie, Girl Scout Cookie selections this year include Caramel deLites, which are vanilla cookies topped with caramel and toasted coconut covered in chocolate stripes; Thin Mints, which are chocolate wafers dipped in mint chocolate; Peanut Butter Patties, which are crispy vanilla cookies layered with peanut butter and covered in chocolate; Peanut Butter Sandwich, which are oatmeal cookies with a peanut butter filling; and Shortbreads. Also offered at a slightly higher price per box is the gluten-free Caramel Chocolate Chip, which includes caramel and semisweet chocolate chips with a touch of sea salt in a chewy cookie.

Those who visit the booths have an opportunity to donate to Hometown Heroes, a program adopted in 2019 by the Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania (GSEP). "When people donate money, we use that money to buy boxes to donate to local places, like the Honey Brook Food Pantry or the Coatesville VA (Veterans Affairs Medical Center)," said Sarah, noting that the troop plans to use proceeds from cookie sales to go camping and to donate to the Honey Brook Food Pantry.

"Our next cookie booth will be associated with a food drive at the Elverson-Honey Brook Area EMS on Saturday, Feb. 26, from noon to 3 p.m.," Sarah added. Elverson-Honey Brook Area EMS, located at 4458 Main St., Elverson, will collect nonperishable food items that day for the Honey Brook Food Pantry.

Cookie sales will run through March. Specific locations of cookie sales can be found by entering a ZIP code at http://www.gsep.org. Information about other ways to order cookies, including a Cookie Finder app, can be found at http://www.girlscouts.org/en/cookies/how-to-buy-cookies.html.