How to Make Your Own Girl Scout Thin Mints
February 8 is National Girl Scout Cookie Day. If just reading those words make you want to gorge on some Thin Mints right now—and you unfortunately do not see any green-uniform–clad salesgirls in the vicinity—then go get your apron on. Because sometimes, really, the best way to make something happen is to do it yourself.
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Homemade Thin Mint Cookies
(Adapted from Chef Chloe’s Vegan Thin Mints)
Makes 64 cookies
1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
½ cup cocoa powder
¼ t salt
¼ t baking soda
¾ cup butter or vegan margarine (the real thing contains no butter, so margarine—we like Earth Balance for its absence of hydrogenated oil—will taste more accurate)
3 T milk (any kind, dairy or non-)
1 t pure vanilla extract
½ t pure peppermint extract
Chocolate Coating
4 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 T butter or vegan margarine
½ t peppermint extract
Cookie:
Use a food processor to blend dry ingredients, by pulsing. Add margarine, milk, vanilla, and mint extract and pulse until well combined. Scrape out dough, knead until all the ingredients are well incorporated, and chill in refrigerator for 1 to 2 hours, till mixture is firm.
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Preheat the oven to 350° and line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. When dough is ready, roll balls about as big as a heaping teaspoon, and press them, one by one, onto the baking trays, leaving about 3 inches of space around each. Flatten each to about a quarter inch thick and bake for 12-15 minutes. Roll a heaping teaspoon of cookie dough into a ball and place onto prepared baking sheets, leaving about 3 inches in between each ball. Cool on rack completely.
Chocolate coating:
Melt chocolate chips and margarine until smooth using a double boiler or microwave. Stir in the mint extract. Dip cooled cookies into the chocolate using your fingers or a fork. Arrange cookies plates lined with parchment paper and refrigerate until coating sets. Dive in.
Oh, and if you seriously can’t deal with baking—or if you just really need to have the real deal (of which a stunning 200 million boxes are sold annually, for good reason)—then there are a couple more quick solutions: Download the ingenious new Girl Scout Cookie app, which alerts you to the nearest place to get your hands on some, based on your location. Buy a case at a time on eBay (although this is totally against the rules and a very desperate move and we would never support such a thing, Scout's honor). Or, if you’re lucky enough to be in New York City on February 8, you can buy some boxes at the roving Girl Scout Cookie Truck (find the route here). You’ll probably see us there.
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