Girl Scout Cookie Sale 2017: S'mores Join List Of Perrenial Favorites In Annual Fundraiser

Thin mints, here we come. The Girl Scouts of the USA Tuesday opened the 2017 cookie season, marking the 100th year of cookie sales.

The annual event, a major fundraiser for the organization that generally results in the sale of 200 million boxes of cookies, has become the largest entrepreneurial training program for girls in the world, teaching girls essential skills to become leaders, manage finances, gain self-sufficiency and develop confidence in handling money. Girls learn goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills and business ethics as well as how to collaborate with other troops from different backgrounds.

The girls win prizes for their efforts, and there are incentives for entire troops that do well.

Joining classics like Thin Mints, Samoas, Tagalongs, Do-si-dos, Savannah Smiles, Lemonades, Thanks-a-Lot, Toffee-tastic, Trios and Trefoils/Shortbread cookies are S’mores. S’mores come in two versions. The first is a chocolate-covered graham cracker with a thin layer of marshmallow; the other is sandwich-style — two vanilla wafers with chocolate and marshmallow in between. People.com said the first has very subtle S’mores flavoring while the second tastes more like marshmallow and is perfect for dipping in milk.

The first cookie sale was in 1917 by the Mistletoe Troop in Muskogee, Oklahoma. The girls baked cookies and sold them in their high school cafeteria as a service project. Commercial bakeries didn’t get into the act until 1936 when 125 troops began participating in cookie sales.

During World War II, Girl Scouts sold calendars as well as cookies because of the shortage of flour, sugar and butter. A big change to the recipes came in 2005 when transfats were removed.

Not all the cookies are available everywhere. Each regional council decides which baking company will be used, determining which varieties will be produced.

While many of us remember Girl Scouts going door-to-door to sell their wares, greater emphasis in recent years has been placed on cookie booths and tables in public areas because of safety concerns. Cookies also are available online. There's even an app to make finding your favorites easier.

The girls are offered such incentives as stuffed animals, trinkets, credits toward Girl Scout camp and uniforms.

The current record-holder for most boxes sold in a season is held by Katie Francis of Oklahoma City, who sold 18,107 boxes in 2014. She was 12 at the time.