Thin Mint Cookies

Hi Everyone,

Today I would normally post my weekly recap, but I thought I would share that with you tomorrow.  Instead, I decided to share with you a little healthier version of the popular Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookies!  Yum!  They are my favorite Girl Scout Cookies of all time!

I really love Girl Scout Cookies and I would love to support the group, but after reading endless stories about how bad Girl Scout Cookies are, I opted to make my own.  What is bad about the cookies?  They contain hydrogenated oil which is trans fat.  I don’t know if this is true, but trans fat sticks with your forever.  At least that is what little Jenny told me she learned in her college class.  My cookie contains fat, but the fat comes from butter.  I’d rather have saturated fat than trans fat, at least I can get rid of saturated fat if I wanted to, but I don’t need a permanent resident of trans fat in my system!  🙂

But how do the cookies taste?  Just like Girl Scout Cookies!  I don’t think I could have gotten any closer to a Girl Scout Thin Mint if I tried!!  Yah!!  They have a crisp chocolate wafer, covered in semi sweet chocolate with peppermint extract mixed in.  I’m pretty impressed with them!  They were a huge hit with my family and my co-workers.  I’m pretty proud of these cookies, I just wish I did a better job on dipping them in chocolate, but I’m still learning.  Now the only problem I have with them is I now know how to make them!  That could be dangerous!!   Let me tell you , place them in the freezer, oh man they are so good frozen!  That is my favorite way to have my Thin Mints!!

The cookies are pretty easy to make too!  Bonus!  I made my cookie batter, placed it in the freezer for 15 minutes and then rolled them out to the proper cookie size.  I didn’t have a small enough round cookie cutter, so I used the top of one of my spice jars.  Once I baked the cookies I let them cool, then dipped them in semi sweet chocolate with a mix of peppermint extract.  So perfect!  I had chocolate everywhere, yes I dipped my finger into the chocolate.  It was so good!!  Mint and Chocolate is one of my favorite combinations.

I got this recipe from Chicagoist.  They have some nice step by step photos in case you want to see the process.  I did cut the recipe in half, but for easy mixing I used 10 oz of semi-sweet chocolate chips.  I calculated the calories using all of the chocolate, but I did have some left, so the calories are actually less than what I give you.  I’d rather make something higher in calories than less, so if you do make them, you don’t over do on eating them, thinking they are fewer calories than they actually are and trust me, it will be hard to just eat one!!  By the way, in comparison to Girl Scout Cookie calories, mine are more, but it is because these cookies are a little bigger than the standard Girl Scout Cookie.

Thin Mint Cookies

Nutrition Information

• Serves: 37 Cookies

• Serving size: 1 Cookie

Prep time:  30 mins

Cook time:  10 mins

Total time:  40 mins

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A chocolate wafer cookie, covered in chocolate infused with mint.

Ingredients

• ½ cup butter, room temperature
• ½ cup powdered sugar
• ½ cup cocoa powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¾ cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1¼ tsp mint extract

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Remove dough from the freezer and roll it out really thin on a floured surface, about ⅛-inch. Cut cookies using 1½-inch cutter (any shape or design you like, I used the lid to my spice jar which was a perfect size).
5. Place cookies on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven and allow to cool completely.
6. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. This is to place chocolate coated cookies on to dry.
7. To make chocolate topping: In a microwave safe bowl; add chocolate and microwave in short 15-20 second bursts; stirring between bursts. Mine took about 1½ minutes. Stir in the peppermint extract.
8. 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. (I banged mine against the spoon I used to stir the chocolate, that way the cookie wouldn't fall back into the chocolate) Place on prepared baking rack. Repeat for the rest of the cookies. Place the cookies in the refrigerator or freezer to set.
9. These will be best eaten from either the freezer or fridge, since they start to get a bit melty when outside.
10. Recipe slightly adapted from Chicagoist

Notes

Calories per cookie (calories depend on size of cookie cutter you use): 87.8, Fat: 5, Saturated Fat: 3.1, Cholesterol: 6.7, Sodium: 16.3, Potassium: 18.7, Carbs: 10.1, Fiber: 3.1, Sugar: 6.4, Protein: 1.2

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I have seen some other Girl Scout Cookies in the blogging world and I plan on making a couple more.  Maybe even healthier?  Maybe I’ll tackle one over the weekend.  Now that you know how to make Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookies, I have a couple of recipes that I made in the past that do contain Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookies, now we can make them with these cookies.

Thin Mint Mousse

Healthy Shamrock Shake – I need to remake this shake so I can have prettier pictures.  The photo doesn’t do it justice, but trust me this is one heck of a good shake!

Well my Friends that is it for this Saturday!  Stay tuned tomorrow for a fun Sunday!!

Have a wonderful rest of the weekend!

Toodles,

Jennifer

P.S.  Here is a bite out of my Thin Mint Cookie.

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