Ok. I'll admit it. I am a sucker for Girl Scout cookies. I can take down a sleeve of Thin Mints like nobody's business!! (Yes, I am TOTALLY human.) However, after removing corn and gluten from my diet I can no longer engage in such activities. So... I decided to create a recipe that honors my body while giving my taste buds a treat.

The key to this recipe is the peppermint oil. You can usually find it where "fine baking" items are sold. Also, there is an option to make this vegan as well.

Happy almost Spring!!

Thin Mint Cookies, Gluten-Free (vegan option)

adapted from The Art of Gluten Free Baking

Ingredients For the cookies: 1 1/2 cps. Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour Mix (try to use one specifically for baking...it will be mostly rice flour with no bean flour added) 3/4 cp. Hershey's Special Dark unsweetened cocoa powder 1/2 cp. granulated sugar 1 tsp salt 1/4 tsp baking soda 14 TBSP (1 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter (or butter substitute), slightly softened, cut into pieces 3 TBSP milk (or milk substitute...Cashew Milk is awesome) 1 tsp vanilla extract

8 drops pure food-grade peppermint oil

For the coating: 2 cps semisweet chocolate chips (or Enjoy Life! chips) 10 drops peppermint oil

Preparation 1) In a food processor add flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Pulse a few times to mix. Add butter pieces, pulse until the mixture is sandy with pebble-like chunks. Add the milk, vanilla, and peppermint oil. Pulse until everything is combined and the mixture looks like clumpy, wet sand.

2) Divide the dough into 2 halves. Take one half and shape into a log. Make sure the ends are flat. Wrap the log in plastic wrap. Roll the log (like you would Play Doh) until it is a uniformly shaped and about 2″ in diameter. Chill in the refrigerator overnight. (If you can't wait that long you can pull the chilled dough out after an hour. But seriously, wait till the next day...jeez.) Repeat with the second half of dough.

3) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone mat. Remove one of the cylinders from the refrigerator and unwrap the plastic. Score the log into 1/4″ sections using a ruler (or just "eye" it). Using a sharp knife, cut the dough along these lines and place the disks on the cookie sheets. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. The cookies should be crisp. Remove from oven and cool on cookie sheets for a few minutes before removing a wire rack to cool completely.

4) In a microwave safe bowl, melt the chocolate chips on high for 45 seconds. Stir with a spoon and return to the microwave cooking and stirring in 20 second increments till the chips are all melted. Remove from heat and add about 10 drops of peppermint oil to taste. Stir. Cover two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Place each cookie in the melted chocolate and turn over to coat completely. This gets messy! Use your fingers (or a fork) to remove excess chocolate and return it to the bowl. Place the coated cookie on a cookie sheet to harden. Chill the cookies in the refrigerator (or the freezer) till the chocolate hardens. Store in an airtight container at room temperature or freeze.

#glutenfree #thinmints #foodiegodmother #allergyfree