Thursday, March 24, 2011

Thin Mints



Here is another homemade girl scout recipe! This recipe is from Baking Bites, the same place the Do-Si-Do recipe came from. I have been so "disciplined" about saying no to those cute little girls selling cookies at Wal-Mart. I just knew if I bought a box of thin mints I would not be able to excercise self control, and eat the entire box before we made it home. So instead, I made an entire batch of cookies. ha ha. I did manage to eat a few before I gave them away. I was eating one when I gave half of it to Landon. He didn't know I had baked them, and thought they were girl scout cookies. Success! The only change I made to this recipe was the coating. I had some chocolate mint candy discs on hand that I melted to coat these instead.

Homemade Thin Mints
Makes 3-4 dozen cookies

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
6 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/3 cup milk (any kind)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp peppermint extract

Instructions:
In a small bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, cocoa powder and salt.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar. With the mixer on low speed, add in the milk and the extracts. Mixture will look curdled. Gradually, add in the flour mixture until fully incorporated.
Shape dough into two logs, about 1 1/2 inches (or about 4 cm) in diameter, wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for at least 1-2 hours, until dough is very firm.
Preheat oven to 375F.
Slice dough into rounds not more than 1/4 inch thick – if they are too thick, they will not be as crisp – and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Cookies will not spread very much, so you can put them quite close together.
Bake for 13-15 minutes, until cookies are firm at the edges. Cool cookies completely on a wire rack before dipping in chocolate.

Dark Chocolate Coating
10-oz dark or semisweet chocolate
1/2 cup butter, room temperature

In a microwave safe bowl, combine chocolate and butter. Melt on high power in the microwave, stirring every 45-60 seconds, until chocolate is smooth. Chocolate should have a consistency somewhere between chocolate syrup and fudge for a thin coating.
Dip each cookie in melted chocolate, turn with a fork to coat, then transfer to a piece of parchment paper or wax paper to set up for at least 30 minutes, or until chocolate is cool and firm.

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