Homemade Whole Wheat Thin Mints

Homemade Whole Wheat Thin Mints

It never got above 45 degrees here today, and yet the husband wanted to go play golf this morning. Did I mind? Absolutely not. His lone outing would allow me to go to the grocery store all by myself and pick up top-secret ingredients so I could make him an early birthday surprise. To my surprise, though, he was finished about halfway through my shopping trip and called to see where I was. I told him I was in the pasta aisle; he said he'd see me in 10 minutes.

The husband knew I was planning to make him something special this afternoon, so I asked him not to question any ingredients I bought - or to even try and guess what I had up my sleeve. He promised but, of course, as we were checking out something caught his eye. He looked at me and asked, "peppermint extract?"

About a month ago the husband challenged me to make him homemade Thin Mints. The only school-age kids we know around our house are boys, so no one asked us to buy Girl Scout cookies. And I was a Girl Scout, so I'm all about supporting local organizations, but I have absolutely no patience for the groups that set up shop outside my local grocery store. That's just not working very hard, in my opinion! (Please be nice, commenters with Girl Scouts.) Whatever happened to door-to-door sales? Anyway, because no one even asked us to buy Girl Scout cookies, I was more than willing to find a recipe and give the husband his fix. Challenge accepted.

My dreams came true after I did a quick Google image search and stumbled upon two posts: Katrina's Homemade Girl Scout Cookies and the post on 101 Cookbooks for Homemade and All-Natural Thin Mints. (Did I mention how good their cookies look? Check 'em out.) The recipes sounded simple enough and I had just about all of the necessary ingredients on-hand, but I needed me some peppermint extract. So off I went to the store. And as soon as I got back, I got to work.

Homemade Whole Wheat Thin Mints

Homemade Whole Wheat Thin Mints

Inspired by the above said bloggers' recipes

2 sticks (8 ounces) salted light butter

1 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup cocoa

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour

Glaze:

12 ounces (or more) semisweet chocolate chips

3/4 teaspoon peppermint extract, to taste

Cream the butter in a stand mixer until fluffy. (Don't be afraid to turn the speed up!) Add in the powdered sugar and cream some more. 

Mix in the vanilla, sugar and cocoa until creamy. (Thanks to 101 Cookbooks, I knew this should look like thick frosting. That description was right on.) 

Add in the whole wheat flour, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.

Spoon the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough a couple of times until it comes together to form a bowl. Flatten the dough into a circle and place it in a plastic bag. (According to 101 Cookbooks, you want your dough to be about 3/4" thick. I'd say flatten it as much as you can while still being able to fit it into your plastic bag.)

Let the dough chill in the freezer for about 15 minutes. (I let mine chill for about 20 and I thought that was too long.)

Roll out the dough to be about 1/8" thick. (If you've had something weighing on your mind lately, as I have, this step is extremely therapeutic. Just keep rolling. Just keep rolling.)  

Cut your cookies and bake them for 10-14 minutes or until they're firm and cooked. (Mine took about 12 minutes. Those that I forgot about, though, and left for 14 minutes were also fine.) Let the cookies cool completely on a wire rack.

Melt your chocolate chips in a double-boiler, stirring often with a wooden spoon. When the chocolate is just about melted, add in the peppermint extract. (I added 3/4 teaspoon plus another 1/8 teaspoon because I wasn't sure 3/4 would be enough. Be careful, though, as this stuff goes a long way.)

Dip your cookies into the warm chocolate glaze mixture, drop and fish them out with a fork or frost them with a spatula - I tried all three methods - and place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Move the baking sheet to the fridge or freezer and wait patiently. (Patiently? Ha! You can try one now, but I promise you they'll be better if you wait.) 

After about 30 minutes, your cookies should be firm and ready for consumption.

Crunchy, chocolatey and pepperminty ... does it get any better?

This recipe made 72 cookies, so the husband and I will be busy for quite awhile. Lord help us. And nothing against those trusty Girl Scouts, but the husband is absolutely loving my cookies. He thinks perhaps next time I should add a little peppermint to the cookies - in addition to the peppermint in the glaze - but that the cookies as a whole are really good. And as long as he's happy, the wife's happy. Challenge accepted; challenge complete.

Serves 72: 63 calories, 4.7 g fat, 5.7 g carbs, 1.4 g fiber, 1.3 g protein
No, these may not be the healthiest cookies out there, and I think the Girl Scouts actually offer a lower-fat version, but I can pronounce and buy all of the ingredients needed to make these cookies. And that's more important than carbs and calories, in my book.