Homemade Thin Mints

I'm sorry to say that I didn't give Thin Mints a chance until recently.

I hated Peppermint Patties, Junior Mints, mint chocolate chip ice cream- why would I want to eat something that tastes like my toothpaste?

But Thin mints are a different story, because they are subtle. They have such a great crumbly texture and just a hint of peppermint, and anything chocolate-covered is a friend of mine.I just didn't know we were going to be such good friends because I judged them too early. You see what happens when you judge others? Think of all of the good times we could have had ;)

Thin mints happen to be Torrey's favorite Girl Scout cookies, so I couldn't pass up a copycat recipe for the two of us to happily munch on (though to be perfectly honest, samoas are still number one in my heart). The recipe that I found is the spitting image of the original. Same texture, flavor, If I could get my chocolate-covering skills perfected you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

Homemade Thin Mints:

adapted from The view from Great Island

Ingredients

Cookies
 8 ounces butter
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
¾ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups all purpose flour

Coating
10 ounces semi-sweet baking chocolate
1 teaspoon 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. Mix 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.

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, about 1/8-inch. Cut cookies using 1 1/2-inch cutter 

Place cookies on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool completely on a wire rack. While the cookies bake, make the peppermint coating.

 Chop the baking chocolate into very small, thin pieces. Place in a glass measuring cup or similar container and microwave in short 15-20 second bursts. Stir in the peppermint extract. Feel free to add more peppermint as you see fit.

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. Place on a parchment or plastic wrap-lined baking sheet, and repeat for the rest of the cookies. Place the cookies in the refrigerator or freezer to set.