Who doesn’t love girl scout cookies? My professor was selling them out of her office, which made me get a craving for some thin mints! I knew I had to try to make some of those well-loved cookies in my own kitchen, so when I saw Heidi Swanson’s recipe using whole wheat pastry flour, I had to give them a try!
These were definitely not the easiest cookies I’ve ever made. The dough was a bit crumbly, then when I rolled them they were too sticky, I burnt the first batch of cookies, the chocolate coating was too thick, and the cookies kept crumbling between my fingers. Okay, so I didn’t have the greatest time baking them, but I sure did love eating them! I only got about half as many cookies as I set out to make, which is okay because I probably would have ended up eating the entire batch if they all survived (minus those few packaged ones, above, that I sent to friends as gifts).
I’m chalking up the hard-t0-work-with dough to the Earth Balance shortening I used (I wanted to make these pareve. It’s always good to have pareve treats lying around) and the fact that I refrigerated the dough and continued the next day. Next time I’ll try butter. And have a partner in the kitchen to tackle the project with.
Thin Mints, adapted from 101 Cookbooks:
- 2 sticks Earth Balance or Butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup cocoa powder
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 pound semi sweet chocolate
- 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
Directions:
1. Make the cookies: In a stand mixer, cream the butter/shortening until it is light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar and cream more, scraping down the sides of the bowl when needed.
2. Stir in the vanilla, salt, and cocoa powder. Mix until creamy and combined. It should look like frosting.
3. Add the flour and mix until the batter comes together. It shouldn’t look dusty, and can be a bit crumbly.
4. Turn the dough onto the counter, knead it to bring it together, and flatten. Wrap and place in freezer to chill for 20 minutes.
5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
6. Roll out the dough until it’s really thin. As thin as you can get it, really, about 1/8 inch.
7. Stamp out cookies using a small cutter, about 1 1/2 inches. I used a regular circle one, but you can go crazy with whatever shape you own.
8. Bake on parchment-lined baking sheets for 10 minutes. Allow to cool on rack completely before continuing.
9. Make the peppermint coating: Melt the chocolate over a double boiler, stirring until smooth, and stir in the peppermint.
10. To coat the cookies, I had the most success holding a cookie in my hand and using a rubber spatula to spread the chocolate over one side, then flipping over and repeating with the other. Heidi says to drop the cookie in the bowl of chocolate, but for me that made the cookies break every time! And when they didn’t break, the coating just was way too thick.
11. Place cookies on parchment-lined cookie sheet until full, then place in the freezer to set. Yum!
