Girl Scouts Unleash Treats for Dogs and Allergy-Safe Cookies for Humans

Girl Scout cookie season doesn’t start until January, but when it arrives, two new cookies will appeal to groups who likely haven’t been able to indulge in Girl Scout cookies before: people with dietary restrictions, and dogs.

Sparkables, a crunchy, allergy-friendly oatmeal cookie with chocolate chips and rainbow sprinkles, is formulated for those who are nut-free, gluten-free and vegan. They were developed with Partake Foods, and include whole-grain oats, organic brown sugar, semisweet chocolate chips, cassava flour, oat flour, white rice flour and more. See the full ingredient list online.

Patch Pals, a soft-baked, blueberry muffin-flavored treat specifically for pups, was developed with the pet-product company Bark. The treats, which feature four designs representing iconic Girl Scout patches, are for dogs who weigh more than 5 pounds and are older than 6 months. Nutritional info and other details available online.

Sparkables and Patch Pals will only be sold online, so you can’t order them from Girl Scouts outside your local store. The new varieties will be available for shipping when Girl Scout cookie season launches on Jan. 12. You can sign up now to receive a reminder when that date comes.

CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of “Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the ’70s and ’80s,” as well as “The Totally Sweet ’90s.” She’s been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She’s Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she’ll be first in line.

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