Thin Mints (Gluten Free, Vegan & Refined Sugar Free)

These cookies come with a bit of a story - my Mom has long loved Girl Guide cookies. She has never been a fan of cookies that aren't homemade (and she passed down her cookie snobbery to me! I'm a sucker for homemade cookies) but she has always loved Thin Mint Girl Guide cookies. When setting out to get her a Christmas gift this year, I wanted to find a way to make her gluten free thin mint cookies, so I began my research!

I read through many blogs and reviews until I found what seemed to be the best of the best. Cara Reed's copycat thin mint cookies (made gluten free, vegan & refined sugar free!) get ridiculously good reviews. People were writing crazy things like "These copycat thin mints are better than the original." What!? I needed to get my hands on this recipe. After doing a bit more research, I decided to go ahead and buy her whole cookbook. And, I'm so glad I did! These Thin Mint Cookies are spectacular but so is everything else we have baked from her cookbook!

I am so happy to report that we all voted these copycat thin mint cookies better than the originals too! We were expecting the cookies to turn out good and they still managed to exceed our expectations - they're that good! They have the most perfect crunch and they pack a ton of flavour and crunch! You can find the original recipe HERE.

Start by mixing up the dry ingredients - in a medium mixing bowl, combine 1 1/4 cup of Cara's All-Purpose Gluten Free Flour Blend, 1/4 cup of cocoa, 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon of salt.

Once the dry ingredients are mixed together, add in 3 Tablespoons of maple syrup, 3 Tablespoons of shortening, 1 Tablespoon of non-dairy milk, 2 teaspoons of molasses and 1/4 teaspoon of peppermint extract. Doesn't the picture above look a little wild? This is another one of those recipes where everything just gets thrown in the same bowl then mixed up. I promise it looks much prettier later on :)

Stir the batter until it holds together. I recommend ditching the wooden spoon and using your hands near the end to form the dough into a ball.

Place the dough between two pieces of parchment paper and roll it out to be about 1/8 inch thick. Then, use a 2'' round cookie cutter to cut out cookies. The dough was quite crumbly but as long as you don't mess with it too much it should be okay. I needed to use a thin spatula to transfer the cut cookies from the parchment to the baking sheet.

Holy moly, this picture is dark! I don't know what happened to my lighting! When the cookies are cut out, transfer them a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. These cookies don't spread at all, so you don't need to worry about spreading them out much. I had mine placed about a half inch apart on the cookie sheet.

 Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit and bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes. When the cookies are done their bake time, let them sit on the cookie sheet for about 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely. The cookies need to be completely cool before you can dip them in chocolate.

When the cookies are completely cool (it dones't take long for them to cool because they're so thin - it takes about 10-15 minutes), melt 1 cup of of dairy free chocolate chips, 1 Tablespoon of refined coconut milk and 1/4 teaspoon of peppermint extract in a microwave safe dish. I recommend melting the chocolate in 20 second increments and stirring well between each session in the microwave until the chocolate is completely melted.

Dip each of the cookies in the melted chocolate then set them on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. This part is a little tedious and messy but it is SO worth it! I used a fork to dip the cookies into the chocolate and scrape off the extra chocolate coating.

When all of the cookies are coated in chocolate, put them in the freezer for about 10 minutes to solidify. The chocolate sets pretty fast and these are amazing fresh out of the freezer!

I recommend storing these cookies in an air tight container in the fridge to make sure they stay fresh and the chocolate stays solid.

THIN MINT COOKIES
[Gluten Free, Vegan & Refined Sugar Free]
yield: 30-35 cookies

ingredients
1 1/4 cups Cara's All-Purpose Gluten Free Flour Blend
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons maple syrup
3 Tablespoons shortening
1 Tablespoons non-dairy milk
2 teaspoons molasses
1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract

for the chocolate coating...
1 cup chocolate chips
1 Tablespoon refined coconut oil
1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract

directions
1. In a medium mixing bowl, combine GF flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Stir to combine the dry ingredients.
2. Add in the maple syrup, shortening, non-dairy, molasses and peppermint extract and stir to combine. Stir until the dough begins to hold together. You might need to use your hands to form the dough into a ball.
3. Place the dough between 2 pieces of parchment paper and roll it out to be about 1/8 inch thick. Then, use a 2'' round cookie cutter to cut out cookies.
4. Use a spatula to transfer the cut out cookies to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Place the cookies about a half inch apart on the baking sheet.
5.  Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit and bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes.
6. once baked, let the cookies sit on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely. The cookies need to be completely cool before you can coat them in chocolate.
7. When the cookies are cooled, melt the chocolate, coconut oil and peppermint extract in a microwave safe dish. I recommend microwaving the chocolate in 20 second increments and stirring the chocolate between each session in the microwave until it is completely melted.
8. Coat each of the cookies in chocolate and set them down on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. Put the chocolate coated cookies in the freezer for about 10 minutes so that the chocolate solidifies.
9. After 10 minutes in the freezer, the cookies should be good to go! Store cookies in an air tight container in the fridge.

Enjoy!