It's that time of year again: Girl Scout cookie season. This year all Girl Scout cookies are trans-fat free so you can eat them with slightly less guilt than before.

There are two bakeries that produce Girl Scout Cookies, Little Brownie Bakers and ABC Bakers . Both produce some of the classic cookies, including Thin Mints, Samoas, Trefoils and Tagalongs (a.k.a. Peanut Butter Patties), but each of the bakeries make several cookies that the other does not. Little Brownie Bakers has three original creations this year. Sugar Free Little Brownies are little chewy chocolate squares "packed with chocolate chips" that are diabetic friendly and All-Abouts are all about "Enjoying life as a true Girl Scout" and appear to have a chocolate-flavored coating on one side.

ABC Bakers has Reduced Fat Cartwheels, which are "oatmeal rounds with a cinnamon burst in every bite" and lemon-iced shortbread Lemonades in their lineup this spring, as well as cookies with the odd name Thanks-a-Lot appear to be the same as the All-Abouts from LBB, although they have the words for "thanks" in five different languages written on them.

I'm planning on passing on both the All-Abouts and Thanks-a-Lots, but I'll consider getting a box of Lemonades with my Samoas, Tagalongs and Trefoils this year.

In their efforts to come up with the "next cheddar" the snack industry uses snackologists, who observe the snacking habits of their target audience "to identify flavors the public will like and then find ways to package those flavors into irresistible morsels." A lot of research is done at restaurants, where trends are introduced to the mainstream. Chipotle and jalapeno were some of the most recent snack flavors to spring from the restaurant industry and snackologists are now pondering whether teriyaki, curry and other Asian flavors can make it into the US snack mainstream successfully. These masters of munching aren't going to reveal anything more specific just yet, but you'll know who the idea came from the ext time you see the word "New!" emblazoned on bags in the snack aisle.

Only the blueberry flavor is available at their online store right now, but both should be on store shelves alongside the original flavors within a couple of weeks.

When Kettle Chips decides to introduce a new flavor, they often create a "party pack" of unreleased flavors and let you - the consumer - vote for your favorite. The downside to this is that if your favorite flavor isn't the one that is chosen, you know exactly what you're missing out on, but it's still interesting to try the experimental flavors. The Passport to Flavor Pack is their newest selection. It includes five 5-oz. bags of chips in Royal Indian Curry, Dragon 5 Spice, Aztec Chocolate, Island Jerk and Twisted Chili Lime flavors, as well as a world music sample CD ("A Taste of Putumayo: Music for Every Palate"), food and drink pairing ideas and a chip clip so that you can seal up any uneaten chips. The pack is $19.95 and after you've tried the different flavors, you can go to Passport To Flavor to vote for the one you'd most like to see on store shelves next summer.

Cookie dough ice cream is a favorite of ice cream lovers young and old, but Baskin Robbins is taking the popular flavor to the next level with some new fall flavors. Makin' Cookies ice cream has a base ice cream that blends of brown sugar and butter flavors ice with chunks of baked chocolate chip cookies, mini chocolate chips and swirled with a cookie dough ribbon. Oatmeal Cookie Crunch ice cream is vanilla ice cream packed with oatmeal spiced cookies and swirled with a crunchy cinnamon graham cracker ribbon.

On top of the straight ice cream offerings, they have the Cookie Overload Sundae, which pairs the two cookie ice creams with caramel, whipped cream, and crushed chocolate sandwich cookies.

Head over to a store to try the new flavors when you get a chance because they'll only be available to a limited time. Besides, how could you resist brown sugar and butter flavored ice creams? These cookie flavors may not be around for too long, but I don't think anyone would complain about those being added to the permanent menu.

From now until the end of August, one of my absolute favorite candies is having a contest. Jelly Belly's Taste the Mystery contest has put one of five mystery flavors into bags of Jelly Belly's and, by identifying the flavor in your bag and typing your secret code in on the contest website you have a chance to win the grand prize of $250,000 among other things. Admittedly, the odds of winning are slim, but I am mostly interested in the new flavors and not the grand prize. The question-marked jelly beans come in Apple Pie, Maple Syrup, Raisin, Ice Cream Sandwich and Papaya. This particular package of mine had the Ice Cream Sandwich beans and I can assure you that they are excellent. I hope they add at least a few of the new flavors to the famous 49-flavor mix when the contest ends.

[Photo by Nicole Weston]

Dreyers/Edys is putting out its seasonal, special-edition Girl Scout Cookie flavored ice creams this month. The flavors include Thin Mints, a chocolate mint concoction with cookie chunks based on the best-selling flavor, and Samoas Cookies, a creamy caramel ice cream with fudge swirls and chunks of Samoas cookies. Both of these flavors are available in regular and light varieties. The final limited-edition flavor is based on Tagalongs and is vanilla ice cream with peanut butter and fudge swirls as well as pieces of the famous peanut butter patty cookies mixed in. The flavors will be available in supermarkets through April.

On their website, the company is hosting a Junior Chef recipe contest. Kids 8-12 can enter their favorite dessert or snack recipes that use the Girl Scout ice creams for a chance to win a prize pack including a year’s supply of Dreyer’s ice cream. The grand-prize winner will also receive a $500 savings bond and have their recipe featured on cartons of ice cream. To get inspired, check out last year’s winning recipes.