C Mom Cook: Homemade Thin Mint Cookies

Happy Monday!

Another Monday and another post for the Secret Recipe Club!

My assignment this month was Peanut Butter and Peppers, an amazing and impressive blog written by the equally amazing and impressive Jennifer. Jennifer has something new and delicious posted every single day, so choosing what to make was darn near impossible.

I know I always steer towards dessert-type dishes, so I really wanted to go savory or more meal-type dishes. And there were so many great options. I had pretty much decided to go with her Taco Lasagna, but then I saw something I couldn't resist.

Who doesn't love Girl Scout cookies?? They are such a treat, but are really only around once a year. Well, wouldn't you know, Jennifer has a recipe for slightly healthier Thin Mint cookies. Thin Mints just happen to be my absolute favorites (which is actually strange, considering that I don't love mint in most other things...), so I knew I had my final choice.

These cookies were interesting to put together, but not overly complicated. The cookies themselves are relatively simple chocolate crisp cookies. The dough was a lot more crumbly than I'd expected, which had me a bit worried.

But it worked out perfectly, as I rolled out and cut the shapes.

Once the cookies were completely cooled, it was time for the fun part - dipping them in mint-flavored chocolate coating. If you know anything about me, you know that, for some reason or another, I have always had trouble melting chocolate. Well, I can melt it, I just can't really work with melted chocolate. No idea why. Which makes it funny that I chose this recipe.

Now, I will admit. This time was... no different. My chocolate was a bit thicker than I was hoping for, so I had a little trouble with the whole dipping process... it wound up being more of a... use any method you can to spread the chocolate onto the cookies. Not necessarily pretty, and definitely messy (the kids had a good laugh at me...), but effective!

And once they're coated, who cares how they got that way?

And let me tell you - it was worth it.

These taste just like the real thing. The texture of my cookies was a bit different from the Girl Scout version - lighter and crispier. But the taste was pretty much spot on, which made everyone very happy.

Thanks, Jennifer, for your wonderful blog, your dedication to providing such wonderful recipes, and for sharing the deliciousness with us!

Oh, and for good measure (or, you know, because there were too many delicious options to limit myself to just one...), I also made Jennifer's Strawberry Banana Baked Oatmeal for breakfast one morning this month. Yum! I'll share that recipe later this week.

Thin Mint Cookies
(from Peanut Butter and Peppers)

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup flour (I used all-purpose, recipe called for whole wheat pastry flour)
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/4 tsp mint extract (I used peppermint extract)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream butter until light and fluffy, then add the powdered sugar and mix until combined. Stir in the salt, vanilla and cocoa powder, mixing until the cocoa powder is integrated and the batter resembles a thick frosting. Add the flour and mix just until the flour is combined, making sure to not over mix. My dough was very crumbly, but this is okay.
Form dough into a ball. Knead a few times to bring together, then flatten into a disk between half an inch and one inch thick, cover in plastic wrap then place in freezer for 15 minutes.
Remove dough from the freezer and roll it out really thin on a floured surface, to about 1/8-inch. Cut cookies using 1 1/2-inch round cutter (or any shape or design you like - I used the lid to a spice jar, as Jennifer mentioned she did, and it worked perfectly).
Place cookies on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool completely.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. This is to place chocolate coated cookies on to dry.

To make chocolate topping: Place chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl and microwave in short 15-20 second bursts, stirring between bursts. Mine took about 2 minutes to fully melt.
Stir in the peppermint extract.

Gently drop the cookies, one at a time, into the coating. Turn to coat entirely, then lift the cookie out of the chocolate with the fork and bang the fork on the side of the pan until the extra coating drips off. My chocolate was a little thick, so I wound up more spreading the chocolate, but do what works for you. Place chocolate covered cookies on prepared baking rack. Repeat for the rest of the cookies. Place the cookies in the refrigerator or freezer to set.
These will be best eaten from either the freezer or fridge, since they start to get a bit melty when outside.

Enjoy!