Girl Scouts of the USA have unveiled a new cookie for the 2023 sales season, but you won’t be able to buy the Raspberry Rally directly in person.
This one particular cookie will be an online-only deal.
The organization wants the girls to learn entrepreneurship through their own online businesses by building what it calls “relevant omni-channel selling skills, pitching to customers online, and providing convenience to purchasers.” The Girl Scouts have not announced specifics about “pitching,” given that most Girl Scouts are under 12 and are subject to online-privacy restrictions.
Cookies will be shipped directly to the customers.
Other cookie sales — at booths, via online ordering, and directly from scouts — will remain as they have been. Cookie season varies by council, but runs nationally from January to April. Neither the councils covering Eastern Pennsylvania nor Central and Southern New Jersey has announced specific dates.
What is a Raspberry Rally?
The Girl Scouts describe it as “a thin, crispy cookie infused with raspberry flavor and dipped in chocolaty coating,” dubbing it “the sister cookie to the beloved Thin Mints” — the top-selling cookie.
It is made from vegan ingredients, just as Thin Mints are.
Here is what you need to know
— The sales season varies by council.
— The Raspberry Rally will only be available to customers online through the Direct Ship program, which came into its own during the pandemic.
— No cookies will be removed from the lineup. Your Thin Mints are safe.
— The Girl Scout bakery ABC will make a limited quantity of the Raspberry Rally. When they are gone, they are gone.
— There could be a shortage. Last year, Adventurefuls cookies were launched and became hard to find in some councils.
— Girl Scout troops are discouraged from ordering their own supplies through the Direct Ship program for in-person sales. In other words, don’t count on Raspberry Rallys at booths.
— Prices, which vary by council, have not been announced for 2023.
How does the Raspberry Rally taste?
The Scouts did not make Raspberry Rally samples widely available before Tuesday’s announcement — that’s show biz. Here’s a taste of the comments from those who have tried them:
Brett Molina at USA Today: “Initially, I worried the raspberry flavor might taste too sweet. It doesn’t. It blends really well with the chocolate and doesn’t overwhelm. For cookie lovers who want something with more of a fruit flavor, Raspberry Rally fills those needs. But, look, as much as I loved Raspberry Rally, the Caramel deLite continues to hold my personal badge as “Girl Scout Cookie G.O.A.T.”
Joseph Lamour of the "Today" show: “Raspberry Rally is delicious. I don’t often go for many raspberry-flavored treats, as the flavoring often reads artificial to me (like blue-raspberry anything, for instance) but there’s something about the flavor in these that dodge any of those raspberry pitfalls. Also the fact that Raspberry Rally is a companion cookie to Thin Mints and shares almost all of the characteristics of that iconic biscuit conjures the familiarity of its minty sibling with that meltingly thin chocolate coating. Raspberry Rally, though, has a remixed feel to it, inspiring the same kind of flavor impression I get when I have a uniquely flavored Kit Kat or a special edition Oreo. The only thing I haven’t done yet is put them in the freezer, just like so many do with Thin Mints, but this time, with a berry twist.”
Proceeds raised from in-person and online cookie orders directly benefit local councils and troops.
