Vegan Thin Mints

This past weekend I made vegan thin mints.  Every year, Brent and I buy 2 boxes of girl scout cookies from coworkers and it's always the same: one box of thin mints (which go directly into the freezer) and one box of caramel delights.  

Since it's not girl scout season and we love mint and chocolate, I made these vegan versions.  I stumbled upon the recipe on Chef Chloe's site found here.

I also used this recipe as an excuse to go to the Vanilla Bean finally- a baker's best friend store in Madison, Wisconsin.  I actually restrained my impulses and only bought the cookie cutters I was hunting for.  The recipe was actually for sliced cookies, but I couldn't resist putting my rolling pin to use and giving my thin mints delicate scalloped edges. 

The process was tricky but the results were tasty.  See my notes that follow.

Vegan Thin Mint Cookies
Adapted from Thin Mints Girl Scout Cookies by Chef Chloe


Ingredients:
1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar
3/4 cup cup cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¾ cup vegan margarine
3 tablespoons nondairy milk (I use almond, rice, or soy)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
½ teaspoon pure peppermint extract

1/4 teaspoon chocolate extract

For coating:

4 cups dairy-free semi-sweet chocolate
2 tablespoon vegan margarine
1 teaspoon peppermint extract

Directions for cookies:

1. In a food processor, pulse flour, sugar, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda until combined. 

2. Add margarine, milk, vanilla, and mint extract. Pulse a few times until mixture comes together. 

3.Transfer mixture to a large bowl and knead with your hands in the bowl for one minute.  Divide the dough into 3 balls and wrap in plastic wrap or wax paper. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silpats. 

5. Remove dough 1 ball at a time from the refrigerator.  Roll the dough on a floured work surface to desired thickness, I'd suggest a little less than 1/4 inch thick, turning dough and using flour to keep it from sticking.  Use your cookie cutter of choice to cut out cookies.  

6. Place cookies on prepared trays, about 1 inch apart and bake for 12-14 minutes. Let cool completely.

Directions for coating:

1. Melt 3/4 of chocolate chips and margarine over a double boiler.  Remove from heat and stir in remaining 1/4 chips, stirring until melted.

2. Stir in the mint extract and mix until smooth. 

3. Dip completely cooled cookies into the chocolate and remove with a fork, gently scrapping off excess chocolate using the side of the bowl. Or, spread a thin layer of the chocolate on top of the cookies. Place cookies on a parchment-lined plate or tray and refrigerate until chocolate coating sets. Store in the refrigerator.

Notes:

- I am accustomed to rolling out Christmas cookies super thin, so I made my cookies a bit to thin for my own taste.  

- Don't be afraid to use a lot of flour when rolling the dough out as it is very sticky.

- Next time I would add more mint flavor as it was a bit subtle for me.

-The vegan margarine I used (Smart Balance Light) must have too much water in it because it caused the chocolate coating to seize up when I mixed it in.  Luckily, I had more chocolate chips to mix in and this fixed the problem... sort of.  It was still a little thick.

-Coating the cookies is messy and mine didn't turn out as pretty as I envisioned them, but they were delicious despite all of that.