Girl Scouts add new Exploremores chocolate cookie to lineup
The Girl Scouts are launching a new chocolate sandwich cookie, Exploremores, for the 2026 season. Credit: Girl Scouts of the USA
Nom nom nom — Long Island, get ready for a new Girl Scout Cookie.
"Exploremores" is a Rocky Road-inspired chocolate cookie with a cream filling that tastes of chocolate, marshmallow and toasted almond. The name reflects the Girl Scout "spirit of exploration," according to the Girl Scouts of the USA website.
"From a curious kindergartener, amazed by jellyfish at the local aquarium, to a middle schooler finding the courage to go on her first overnight trip with her troop, Girl Scouts know the road to discovery starts with exploration," the website says.
The cookie joins the roster that includes longtime favorites such as Thin Mints and Tagalongs; cookie flavors S’mores and Toast-Yay! are being retired this season.
"I got to taste the cookie in the spring, and it’s pretty good," says Rande Bynum, CEO of Girls Scouts of Nassau County, who attended a national conference of the organization’s CEOs in Chicago where they were introduced to the flavor. "We couldn’t take photos or take them out of the room," she says of the cookies, and they were sworn to secrecy for months.
She’s thrilled to talk about the cookie now. "I’m super excited," she says. "I don’t think we’ve ever had a chocolate sandwich cookie." She says the name is a "mouthful" — no pun intended — but that she loves its theme of discovery. "It reflects what we do in Girl Scouts. It's a safe place for girls to explore their interests and ideas; sometimes they fail, sometimes they succeed," she says.
The new cookies will sell for $7 when Girl Scout cookie season launches in January, she says. The cookie sales raise money annually to fund troop activities and programs for both the Girl Scouts of Nassau County and Girl Scouts of Suffolk County.
Erika Hill, a Suffolk County Girl Scout leader from Troop 487 in Centerport, says it energizes the Scouts to have the additional cookie choice — first, because it’s chocolate, and second, because it’s something new.
"My favorite ice cream is Rocky Road," says Hill, 47, who works in marketing. And her Girl Scout daughter, Calista, 9? "She loves chocolate."
"Listen, there’s always the classics," Hill continues. But, she adds, "In the world we live in today, we’re always looking for what’s new. It’s a good way to keep the sales going. The kids will say, ‘We’ve got another box to sell.’ It keeps the organization fresh."
Beth Whitehouse writes about families, parenting and great things to do with the kids on Long Island. She’s been a Newsday editor and shared a 1997 Newsday staff Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the crash of TWA Flight 800.
