Homemade and All-natural Thin Mint Recipe Recipe
As promised, an all-natural Thin Mint recipe for you. No shortening, no trans-fats from partially hydrogenated vegetable oils - just good old-fashioned butter, cocoa, vanilla, sugar, chocolate, whole grain flour, and peppermint turned into delicious, thin minty goodness.
It is Girl Scout cookie season. I fall prey to the enterprising sugar-pushers every. single. year. I can't help myself, who can? A box only sets you back a few bucks, and for that you get to relive the flavors of your youth.
Truth be told, I was a pint-sized top-seller in my day, so I know all the strategies. The most important strategy of all: get your parents to sell for you. No better way for an eight year-old to learn management skills. Set sales goals for your parents and reward them by clearing the dinner table or emptying the dishwasher when they hit their sales targets.
I wrote about the state of the Thin Mint two years ago. I promised an all-natural Thin Mint recipe for you. It took me two years, but as promised, here it is...No shortening, no trans-fats from partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, no weird, processed cake mix cookies - just good old-fashioned butter, cocoa, vanilla, sugar, chocolate, whole grain flour! and peppermint turned into delicious, thin minty goodness.
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Homemade and All-natural Thin Mint Recipe
Chocolate Wafers:
8 ounces organic butter, room temperature
1 cup organic powdered sugar, (I use Wholesome Sweeteners brand)
1 teaspoon natural vanilla extract
1 cup cocoa powder (I use Dagoba's cacao powder)
3/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flourChocolate Peppermint Coating:
1 pound good quality semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
natural peppermint oil to taste
Preheat your oven to 350. Racks in the middle zone.
Make the cookie dough: In a mixer cream the butter until it is light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar and cream some more, scraping the sides of the bowl a couple times if necessary. Stir in the vanilla extract and then the salt and cocoa powder. Mix until the cocoa powder is integrated and the batter is smooth and creamy, sort of like a thick frosting. Add the whole wheat pastry flour and mix just until the batter is no longer dusty looking, it might still be a bit crumbly, and that's o.k. You don't want to over mix and end up with tough cookies.
Turn the dough out onto a counter, gather it into a ball, and kneed it just once or twice to bring it together into once nice, smooth mass. Place the ball of dough into a large plastic bag and flatten it into a disk roughly 3/4-inch thick. Place the dough in the freezer for 20 minutes to chill.
Rollout and bake: Remove the dough from the freezer and roll it out really thin, remember how thin Thin Mints are? That's how thin you need your dough, about 1/8-inch. You can either roll it out between two sheets of plastic, or dust your counter and rolling pin with a bit of flour and do it that way. Stamp out cookies using a 1 1/2-inch cutter (this time I used one with a fluted edge, I've done hearts and other shapes in the past). Place cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool completely on a baking rack if you've got one.
Make the peppermint coating:
While the cookies are in the oven you can get the coating ready. I use a makeshift double boiler to melt chocolate (a metal pan over a saucepan of gently simmering water), but I know many people who swear by melting chocolate in the microwave. Slowly melt the chocolate, stirring occasionally until it is glossy and smooth. Stir in the peppermint extract. If you think the chocolate needs a bit more peppermint kick, add more extract a drop or two at a time - but don't go overboard.
Finishing the cookies: You are going to coat the cookies one at a time and then gently set them on a parchment-lined baking sheet to set. Drop one cookie into the chocolate and (using a fork) carefully make sure it gets fully coated. Lift the cookie out of the chocolate with the fork and bang the fork on the side of the pan to drain any extra chocolate off the cookie. You are after a thin, even coating of chocolate. Place on the aforementioned prepared baking sheet, and repeat for the rest of the cookies. Place the cookies in the refrigerator or freezer to set. They will set at room temperature, it just takes much longer, and I prefer them straight out of the freezer anyways ;)
Make 3 or 4 dozen cookies.
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Comments
Just discovered this site recently and have made a couple of recipes already. This recipe was fantastic. Next time I try it, I will make the chocolate thinner since I lost a few due to fragility. Since they were in the freezer, and I happened to see some vanilla ice cream in the freezer as well, I made a couple of “sample” ice cream sandwiches–highly recommended!
LOVED this recipe – thank you so much! i particularly liked the crumb, very similar to the originals. the only problem i had was the coating melted immediately upon handling, even after freezing (though of course they are better straight from the freezer anyway….). Is there anything that can be done about that? maybe it’s atypical, i dunno, i don’t usually do much cookie-coating.
oh, and i used MINT instead of peppermint extract, and realized it reminded me too much of my spearmint toothpaste…will adjust to use only peppermint next time. Can’t wait!
I also made these cookies recently and enjoyed them very much. My notes on the recipe:
The dough was a bit dry, which I fixed by adding a little bit (no more than 1 tb) of vegetable oil. Goes against the healthy idea, but it was there. Chances are that it would have been fine without it in the end, though, and I’ll try that next time.
The quality of the chocolate for dipping is important: next time I’ll spring for something better than Safeway chocolate chips! And I’ll probably do a mix of semi-sweet and dark, too – currently they’re a bit too sweet for me. The chocolate was also very thick for dipping, so I’ll keep the whipping cream tip in mind.
I also found that I added a lot more peppermint extract than was called for and I think I’ll add a bit to the dough next time. Apparently I really like peppermint.
Overall they were quite good and I look forward to having GS treats at any time now!
Finally made these. I had to wait until I had plenty of people to eat them or I would eat them all. 🙂
I read all of the comments before I did them. Additionally, I made them with what I had on hand. Here’s how it went.
– Based on the input of the dough being too crumbly, I used 1 T soy flour and 1 T water as a dough conditioner. I had no trouble with the dough. In fact, I probably didn’t need to put it in the freezer before I rolled it out.
– For coating, I used what I had which was 12 oz Ghiradelli semi-sweet chips and a 4 oz bar of Ghiradellio 60% bittersweet and ghiradelli cocoa, too.
– I didn’t have any peppermint extract, so I used the Simply Organic Peppermint Flavoring I had. This is a mixture of peppermint oil and sunflower oil. I added about an eighth of a teaspoon to the dough. I probably used nearly 2 t in the coating.
– I used a teaspoonful of no-trans-fat crisco in the coating
All I can say is WOW. The cookies are delicate, tender and delicious. Much better than the real thing!
Next time I may cut a bit of the cocoa. The chocolate was intense. Delicious, but the GS cookies I remember weren’t so much chocolate in the cookie as in the coating.
Additionally, next time I’ll make a point to buy extract, just to see what difference, if any, it makes.
Thank you for a SUPERB recipe!
http://nataliedee.com/032006/disgruntled-girlscout.jpg
Boo,
If you want to make chocolate thinner, the best thing to add is heavy whipping cream. Add a little at a time till you reach desired consistancy. You may be surprised how a little will go a long way, so add a little at a time. Hope that helps.
Haleh
I made these on Friday night and took them with me when I worked at the market on Saturday. They were a huge hit with my coworkers and a few lucky market patrons. All declared them to be better than the “real” thing.
Since we’re fessing up, I used Trader Joe’s butter and Droste Cocoa. Sharffenberger 62% for dipping. All other ingredients were as-specified.
The dough wasn’t dry, but it was delicate, and had to go back in the freezer a couple of times. I made the cookies on the big side–using my middle biscuit cutter, so they came out to 2+ inches in diameter. This made them a little delicate, both getting them onto the cookie sheet before baking, off the cookie sheet after baking and for dipping in the chocolate. I carefully dropped a cookie in the melted chocolate, then gently turned it over. Then I lifted it out with one fork and used a second fork to skim the extra chocolate off the top and bottom. It was fussy, delicate work and I lost a few cookies to the weight of the chocolate. But the results were worth it!
And they are definitely best straight out of the freezer. 😉
I tried making these this weekend, and the cookies came out super cocoa flavored, to the point of being a little bitter. I used the quick and easy way to fix that (we’ve been dipping the finished cookies in whipped cream, ooh!) but maybe next time I’ll go with a more familiar Hershey’s cocoa as opposed to the fancy organic cocoa. If anyone has a thought on that, let me know.
I’ve added shortening to chocolate to make it a bit thinner when melting. A non-hydrogenated oil that’s solid at room temperature, such as palm or coconut oil, might do the trick.
I tried these last week!
Verdict: Delicious – but I had a few problems.
1. Crumbly dough – thanks for the egg idea, that might work, provided it doesn’t change the taste.
2. Chocolate was smooth but too thick. It took me 15 minutes to successfully coat 3 cookies (which were gobbled up as soon as they were cold). Then I did something silly: added boiling water. Of course my chocolate siezed up! I’ll try again with a different brand of chocolate. Is there anything I can add to make it runny? Oil? Butter?
how about using peppermint oil instead of extract for that extra-cool thin mint flavor?
I wish I knew the conversion rate, oil is bound to be much stronger.
thanks a million for working out this recipe!
your delightful concoction sounds utterly sinful
my next compatriot should be these heavenly-looking baked dessert
please forgive me
i am only 9
Do you need to temper the chocolate to get it to set up properly without freezing? I’m hoping to make these and send to my girlfriend (and her fellow soldiers) in Afghanistan. She says it will be like money in the bank to have these to hand out…
For those of you having trouble with lumpy and thick chocolate…it may be your chocolate chips. I used Guittard semi-sweet chocolate chips (a belgian brand), and then when I ran out I used Nestle. The Guittard choc was my favorite of the two, it was much more smooth and better flavor. It did a more even coating also.
The trick to melting chocolate is to do it slowly. I used a double boiler and put a small amount of water in the bottom pan on low heat just to create sme warm steam. The chocolate melted rather quickly and did not scald even after working on dipping cookies for 1/2 hour.
My daughters are bugging me to try this– I suppose it’ll be our friday project. Hopefully I’ll have a bit more self control than I did as a 3rd grader– I ordered a box from my friend & ate the whole thing. At school. In one day.
I’m assuming you used natural cocoa, not dutched? These do look fabulous – my husband is drooling.
I saw a the blog as a referrer on my sitemeter, couldn’t see the link though.
Nice blog though. Been here often…
I had a tough time making these for some reason. When I put my dough in for 20 minutes, it became frozen solid. When I was able to roll it out the cookies went in for the proper time and bubbled and started spreading–then burned. Not sure what I did wrong. The chocolate coating was very thick and didn’t make for easy dipping. Couldn’t quite get the balance between burnt cookies and very chewy cookies. Perhaps it just warrants some practice. Thanks for the chance to experiment.
Wow! Those look absolutely delicious! I just got some Thin Mints from a co-worker, but your homemade cookies look even better.
And I’d love to see the Samoa recipe, too. Those are my all-time favorites (even more than Thin Mints!)
The dough for mine was quite crumbly as well, so caused quite a bit of frustration on my part. 🙁 I’m not very used to using melted chocolate either, and mine seemed really quick, and hard to get a really thin, “melty” coat on the cookies. This made for comments from my husband such as “not a good chocolate to cookie ratio” (being too much chocolate) Any tips for next time? They were good enough in our house to warrant another try. 😉
Thanks for a great looking recipe! I can’t wait to try it.
On another note I’m so tired of seeing the Girl Scouts on EVERY street corner around here. I think it’s awful! I was a GS when I was a girl and we went to a few houses, family & friends and that was it. Now you can’t walk out of the grocery store without being accousted by Girl Scout MOMS – often without their girls.
Too bad – another nice tradition bites the dust.
I made these today. Did not find the dough too dry. I had to freeze the rolled out dough after cutting the shapes to get the cookies on the parchment paper. It’s pretty warm here today in Texas, so very warm in my kitchen and the dough was too soft after rolling it out. The taste was ok. It’s not going to put the Girl Scouts out of business. I used melted chocolate chips because it was my first time making this & I didn’t want to shell out for expensive chocolate if it didn’t work. That said, the melted chips were a little thick. I would have preferrred to use a better quality chocolate, but I would have to temper it first (for snap, shine & strength!!) and so it wouldn’t melt between my fingers. All that said, thanks for posting the recipe.
wow. when i tasted these cookies out of the oven….i mean orgasmic. seriously. guys, bake some for your ladies and she will treat you like you just bought her a mercedes-benz. the girlscout cookies are ….well o.k. But these cookies will make you cream…..that butter up and bake another batch. hell yeah.
You are brilliant. I am telling you, I just got my box of GS ThinMints this week and they are sitting in my freezer taunting me. I love the taste, but all those trans-fats are a giant turn-off. I am pissed that the Girl Scouts see fit to sell something bad for people! Anyway, thank you so much for this post.
Looks great, but there’s a typo in the recipe. It should be “wafers,” not “Wafters.”
Ok I said I would make the cookies and post….
They are truly delicious!
I had to veer from the recipe a bit for dietary reasons. I used 1 cup of Splenda brand sweetener, insetad of 1 cup powdered sugar. I also used low saturated fat margerine instead of butter.
When I mixed the ingredients as instructed, the batter was way too crumbly and dry, I couldn’t get it to form into a ball let alone stay glued together. So I added 1 egg, and a tad bit of canola oil to make it more wet so it would stick together. This did the trick!
Immediately after mixing and adding these ingredients, I flattened the dough. I didn’t need to put in the fridge/freezer, I just rolled out onto a pie sheet. I used a shot glass as my cookie cutter…worked perfectly!
Bakes for 12 minutes to make them crunchier, took off pan and put on cooling racks. Once they were cool I melted the chocolate and peppermint extract and dipped the cookies in chocolate. I put them into the freezer on a cookie sheet to set which literally took 2-3 minutes and they were solid hard. My husband and I enjoyed quite a few of them last night, they turned out delicious!
Defintely the best right out of the freezer……and a great healthy alternative from the real thing. My batch of cookies made way more than what the recipe says. I made them very small and thin like the real thin mints are, so I got about 60 cookies out of the batch.
Even with alterations to the recipe these are fabulous, enjoy!
Shauna, thank you sooo much!
When I try it I’ll comment on how it went.
Seeing as how everyone loves the delicious Samoa cookies (ahh, caramel! *meltymelt*), I’m not going to say how much I want a recipe for some, and how much I am grateful that my minty-chocophile trans-fat Girl Scout cookie days can end (in dry-heaving violent death throes).
But I’m thinking it. Really hard.
Also, does anybody have a vegan recipe for alternative Tagalong/Peanut Butter Patties (not the sandwiches)? I’m surprised these weren’t already asked about, honestly.
Definitely this sounds fabulous! My co-workers brought in boxes of the thin mints which I couldn’t leave alone a few weeks ago……and every cookie I ate I felt guilty that they were not a healthy option. :o) (Since I normally eat very healthy except when it comes to GS cookies!) I’ve been switching to organic and natural foods as much as possible lately, so a natural thin mint cookie is a wonderful alternative. My husband should be happy about this too! Thanks for the recipe I will try it tonight and repost tomorrow with how it turned out.
Uh I love the idea of making store-bought foods as homemade … but does anyone else think its kinda cheap to get all that girl-guide-cookie-goodness without any dough going to those girls for all their hard work and ongoing contribution to the community?
Why not make a donation-in-kind of what you WOULD have spent. And that way none of the cash goes to Mr. Christie either.
::drool::
I always shell out enough for 6-10 boxes a year….. you just made my hero list. *__*
I thought in the name of food blogs, i would post this web-address for homemade samoa goodness. I haven’t tried the recipe, so don’t hold me accountable!
http://wordstoeatby.blogspot.com/2005/03/sugar-high-friday-i-want-some-moas.html
I tried this last night.. but I didn’t go organic. I used regular ‘everything’.. margarine, powdered sugar, hershey’s baking cocoa, etc etc.. So, any mishaps certainly can’t (and shouldn’t) be automatically blamed on the recipe. I’m more than happy to take the blame.
I made a 3/4 batch, so that i could use a 12oz bag of chocolate chips for melting.
The results: The cookie dough was way too dry. way too dry. it was relatively floury in texture. I added a little butter to it to help some, but I didn’t add enough, I guess. The cookies cooked up ok, for the ones that actually formed good circles.
As far as taste goes, there was a definite cocoa aftertaste. But, after chilling them, the taste is pretty good, and I can definitely get that ‘thin mint’ taste. Thanks for the recipe!
Jazzalto – I was wondering the exact same thing when I read the recipe! I hate rolling dough, so I historically didn’t make any cookie that requires it, recently I started attempting the freeze it first and cut slices from the log. So far I’ve been successful.
Might this recipe be easier to chill in a log and to slice them thinly when they are finished? It wouldn’t have the pretty edges, but it might be quicker and ensure that they are thinner cookies.
Neat! This looks great and I can’t wait to try it out. Thanks!
Sounds good!
Thank you so much for developing this recipe! Thin Mint was always my favorite GS cookie. But how about the Oatmeal/Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies (Do-Si-Dos), those are my second choice.
I have GOT to try this.
Samoas, please!
Thanks for the recipe, must try these, I love peppermint cookies. Oh, and am not keen on the GS cookies which they do sell in Australia.
Susan, I tried more than several of these cookies from this recipe. This is an exceptionally good cookie. While it’s a little larger in size and thickness than a thin mint (though you could perhaps cut and shape them to be the same size), when they are frozen the taste is very similar.
Thanks for all the enthusiasm! Let me know if you try the recipe – I think this recipe is a real keeper, so let me know if any of the steps are unclear or if you find any typos. I can update it.
Shauna, thanks for the Gluten-free flour blend – let me know if any of you try that flour mix – if you do please report back on the consistency of the cookie.
Samosas? Really? Ok. Let me think about it for a bit – mull over a strategy 😉
I was surprised to learn they have transfats…now I gotta wean myself off! Thanks for the recipe you are a star!
So, has anyone actually TRIED this recipe, other than the author? I’m seeing a lot of hype, but no direct confirmation. I’d be interested to hear from some taste testers.
I hope this year’s Girl Scout Thin Mints are better than you folks are making them sound. I used to devour them, and haven’t gotten them in a few years, so I’ve ordered several boxes (intending to share some of them at work). Hope I won’t be too disappointed.
The recipe looks wonderful. Since I know from my past GS Mom days that the girls only get a portion of cookie profits for their troop, now I can just make a donation to them instead, and eat the healthier cookies myself.
I love these cookies! I happen to newly be a stay at home dad and I was having some trouble finding natural alternatives to these delectible snaks.
I have been waiting for this update since I read your first entry on Thin Mints – I’m so glad you nailed down a good recipe. I, my husband, and the entirety of our Thin Mint-obsessed extended families, cannot wait to try these out!
You oughta get a merit badge for making those!
I’m with you Nori! Before I was vegan, I used to LOVE Thin Mints and Samoas. Of course, with all the cruel animal products in them, I would never eat the real GS versions again. But now I can make these at home with a healthy conscience. Earth Balance Buttery Sticks rock! 🙂
This looks great! I love Thin Mints Girl Scout Cookies as well, and must restrain myself from eating a whole box at one sitting. I am not usually a big eater, but Thin Mints are an exception. Thank you for your time and effort in creating a healthy Thin Mint!
Wow! I am super-impressed, as well as worried about my waistline. I resisted buying G.S. cookies all season and now this! 🙂 THANK YOU!
I am such a sucker for Girl Scout cookies, thin mints especially, and Boy Scout fundraisers, too. (The BS in our area do Krispy Kreme weekend fundraisers.) All those years of selling GS cookies…8 years, to be precise…has come back to haunt me in my adult life. I can’t resist buying a box or two from every GS that approaches me. With this delicious looking recipe, I now have a reason to eat them in the off season! ha ha ha
This is going to be sooooo bad for this pregnancy! 🙂
I would have the 3rd the samoa recipe. I love those heavenly delectables. Anyone with info for some recipe, even if it mistakes me into a fat cow, is well appreciated. Moooooo.
I’m having a pavlovian-mouth-watering reaction to the very idea of these. Could somebody get me a napkin?
I can resist the usual GS cookies — trans fats; not vegan! Boo, hiss! But these look awesome. I’m so going to try them with Earth Balance! 🙂
You’ve made me very, very happy. I can’t wait to try this recipe.
I’ve been living in England for 6 years and they don’t do GS cookies here. Lucky for me, a good friend brought a few boxes from a recent trip to the US. We devoured them in a Saturday morning. This version sounds great! Can’t wait to try them and convince my British husband that GS cookies really are a good idea!
i definently second the samoa recipe idea! those are the 2nd favorite for most people!
thanks so much for the recipe. girl scout cookies have gone down in flavor in the past couple years, and i would love to try to make these and be able to make them any time of the year!
thanks!
Thanks for the Thin Mint posting. Like Brian and Emily I look forward to a heavenly “Samoas” recipe.
Gorgeous!
The only way I could avoid buying from the Girl Scouts this year was to console myself: oh, that’s right; I can’t eat gluten.
To answer Annabelle’s question (because, of course, the first thing I thought when seeing these is how to make them gluten-free), I would try the following flour combination for the whole wheat flour:
3/4 cup sweet rice flour
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1/4 cup millet flour
1/4 cup teff flour
If you don’t have all those flours, I’m sure a good gluten-free flour mix (like the ones from Gluten-Free Pantry) would work just fine.
Thanks, Heidi.
good heavens this recipe looks heavenly
i’m defnitely gonna try them
thanx heidi
These cookies look great!
Will try them as soon as possible…and afterwards I also would like to share the recipee with Turkish food bloggers… What yu say?….
Have a nice day
Begüm
what would the nutrional content of these thin mints be?
Bless you for figuring this out – I am excited to try it. And, none of us are surprised that you were a top-selling cookie seller. 😉
What a great recipe! I used to love those cookies but they just don’t taste good anymore. All that hydrogenated everything. I’ll look forward to trying these!
Finding this recipe was like Christmas in March! I’m so excited to try it. Thank you!
Now I just need you to do this with the Samoa’s and I’ll be set!
I second the request for a samoas recipe. Did anyone else think that samoas were pretty bad last year? I think they’ve changed the recipe again this year… they taste a lot sweeter and more like they used to.
Bravo, Heidi. These sound perfectly authentic in texture as well as in appearance.
Talk about universes imploding (Derrick!). I just did a post on my blog about how I’m nasty, I can’t bake and I don’t like sweets. Despite my name.
Ho. Boy.
I think I’m gonna have to try these.
Organic Girl Scout Cookies?
Way to go, Heidi.
I love it!!!!!!
Those look phenomenal! I’m going to to have to try them. Thanks for the recipe.
thanks for sharing- i can hardly wait to try this recipe! i also eat thin mints only out of the freezer 🙂
Wow – I didn’t even know what was missing from my life until I read this recipe! I cannot wait to try this!
Hi Heidi,
Now that I virtually can’t get girl scout cookies really, it looks like your recipe should fit the bill 🙂 Thanks a bunch!
Wow, these look great! Your next mission: an all-natural copy of SAMOAS.
Oh god, the caramel, the coconut, the chocolate…
Girl! You’re gonna put those little Girl Scouts out of buisness :).
Is there anyway to make these gluten-free? My good friend has celiac, and I’d love to make her a batch.
you’re awesome.
Yum! I have a few boxes of the real thing to exhaust with my famous Thin Mint Milkshakes, but after that, I’ll try your special ones. 🙂
Steve, you must have gotten a bad box or dont like mint cookies.
My mouth watereth over!
They look so delicious. Hope i’ll be able to take making them anytime soon.
Love
Fanny
I live in a strange universe where somehow all these years I have avoided Girl Scout cookies. This year, at the SF farmers market, I got suckered in to buying some (from a mom!) and I was very sad to read that there are transfats in the list of ingredients. Plus, nostalgia factor aside, they were AWFUL! I think I’ll try your recipe and write a letter to the Girl Scouts!
They look heavenly
I worry that the convergence of “all-natural” and “thin mint cookie” might cause such a paradox that the universe would implode.
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