Homemade Thin Mints
When I was in middle school I distinctly remember eating an entire sleeve of thin mints, no problem. While the days of a completely forgiving metabolism are long gone, once in a while Girl Scout cookies are the perfect guilty indulgence. My friend Scottie made homemade thin mints for a recent get together and they were fantastic. The questionable outer coating in the traditional cookie was replaced by organic, fair trade dark chocolate and the crunchy inside was slightly chewier, but other than that the match was spot on. While these still aren't the healthiest cookies, you can control your ingredients, cut out preservatives, and you know exactly where the cookies came from. Scottie got the recipe from the Crepes of Wrath blog, but the recipe is originally from Baking Bites, a blog famous for creating Girl Scout cookie taste alikes.
When you shape the dough into logs, make the logs close to the same width all the way down because when you slice them, and some are smaller in diameter, they cook inconsistently. And make sure you coat liberally with the chocolate coating.
INGREDIENTS
| Homemade Thin Mints | |
| 2 1/4 cups | all-purpose flour |
| 1/4 cup | cornstarch |
| 6 tbsp | organic unsweetened cocoa powder |
| 1/2 tsp | salt |
| 1 cup | white sugar |
| 1 | stick local butter at room temperature |
| 1/3 cup | local milk |
| 1/2 tsp | real vanilla extract |
| 3/4 tsp | peppermint extract |
| Dark Chocolate Coating: | |
| 20‑oz | organic fair trade dark chocolate |
| 2 | sticks local butter at room temperature |
PREPARATION:
Homemade Thin Mints
- In a small bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, cocoa powder, and salt.
- In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar. With the mixer on low speed, add in the milk and the extracts. Mixture will look curdled, don't worry. Gradually, add in the flour mixture until fully incorporated.
- Shape the dough into two logs, about 1 1/2 inches (or about 4 cm) in diameter, wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for at least 1 to 2 hours, until dough is very firm.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Slice the dough into rounds not more than 1/4 inch thick - if they are too thick, they will not be as crisp - and place on a tin foil lined baking sheet. Cookies will not spread very much, so you can put them quite close together.
- Bake for 13 to 15 minutes, until the cookies are firm at the edges. Cool cookies completely on another surface (try a sheet of parchment paper) before dipping in chocolate.
Dark Chocolate Coating:
- Put the mixture in a double boiler on the stove and melt completely.
- Dip each cookie in melted chocolate, turn with a fork to coat, then transfer to a piece of parchment paper or wax paper to set up for at least 30 minutes, or until chocolate is cool and firm. Reheat the chocolate as needed to keep it smooth and easy to dip into. Work quickly so it doesn't cool too fast.
- Set the cookies on a tray and place in the fridge or freezer to firm up for an hour or so.