These crisp, melt-in-your-mouth vegan thin mint cookies are also gluten-free! Just like the classic cookies you know and love, but homemade with a few simple ingredients that you can make any time of year.
Coated in cool, creamy, minty chocolate, these cookies are dairy-free, egg-free, and irresistibly delicious. They’re sure to become a go-to treat you’ll make again and again!
What are Thin Mint Cookies?
They’re a thin, crisp, chocolate wafer-like cookie coated in cool minty chocolate made popular by the Girl Scouts / Girl Guides.
This recipe is a copycat version of those popular Girl Scout cookies, the current American version. Here in Canada, they’re called Girl Guides, but it seems that they’ve changed their thin mints from how I remember them (I haven’t had them in well over a decade!).
The images I see online show that along with the crisp cookie and chocolate coating, there is now also a creamy mint filling inside and they’re called “Chocolatey Mint Cookies.” So these aren’t a copycat of the current Canadian version, it’s a throwback to what they used to be, how I remember them.
Ingredients You’ll Need
Cookie Ingredient and Substitution Notes
Crisp, melt-in-your-mouth vegan thin mint cookies that also happen to be gluten-free! They’re the classic crispy cookies you know and love except these are homemade with just a few simple ingredients and you can make them any time of year.
They’re coated with cool, creamy, minty chocolate and they’re also dairy-free and egg-free. These special treats are sure to become a favourite you’ll be making over and over again!
What are Thin Mint Cookies?
They’re a thin, crisp, chocolate wafer-like cookie coated in cool minty chocolate made popular by the Girl Scouts / Girl Guides.
This recipe is a copycat version of those popular Girl Scout cookies, the current American version. Here in Canada, they’re called Girl Guides, but it seems that they’ve changed their thin mints from how I remember them (I haven’t had them in well over a decade!).
Ingredients You’ll Need
There are no hard-to-find or strange ingredients in this recipe, so hopefully, you have all of them in your kitchen right now so you can make your own thin mints today!
There are two groups of ingredients for this recipe, the cookies and the chocolate coating. These are the ingredients you’ll need for the cookies, the coating is discussed in detail lower down in the post.
Cookie Ingredient and Substitution Notes
As always, I recommend making this recipe exactly as it’s written for the best and intended results, but you’ll find some ingredient notes below so you know what can and can’t be changed.
Gluten-Free Flour Blend – This recipe calls for Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free 1 to 1 Baking Flour, the one in the BLUE bag with xanthan gum.
I have not tested with any other gluten-free flour other than this one, so I’m not sure how others would work. With gluten-free baking, it’s always important to use the same flour the recipe calls for to get the expected results.
This recipe will not work with any single gluten-free flour, such as coconut, rice, etc. It must be the blend mentioned above, so for the best and intended results, use the flour the recipe calls for.
Cocoa Powder – I use high-quality Dutch-process cocoa powder for these cookies. Make sure you sift it before adding it to your recipe to get all the lumps out.
Sugar – I use organic cane sugar but white granulated sugar will work, too. I have not tried this recipe with any sugar alternatives or liquid sweeteners.
Not all sugar is vegan, some are processed using animal bone char, so to be sure that yours is, buy an organic brand (organic sugar is not processed using bone char) or one that is labelled as vegan.
Flax Egg – Since this is an egg-free recipe, a flax egg is used as a replacement. If you cannot have flax, you can use a chia egg in its place, use the same measurements listed in the recipe to make a chia egg.
Vegan Butter – I have not made this recipe with coconut oil or vegetable oil, so I cannot comment on what the results would be like, so I would stick with vegan butter for this recipe. I have not tried making this recipe oil-free.
Peppermint Extract – Make sure you are using peppermint extract and NOT mint or spearmint extract, they do not have the same flavour. Food-grade peppermint oil can be used as a substitute but it is much stronger than extract, see the recipe notes for info on how much to use.
Instructions :
While reading the simplified steps, follow along with the numbered images below!
Start by making your flax egg and setting it aside so it can thicken.
1. Mix all of the dry ingredients together and set them aside.
2. Next, using an electric hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until it’s light and fluffy, this will take about 2-3 minutes. Add the flax egg and peppermint extract, blend again until everything has combined.
3. Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix. I switch over to mixing with a wooden spoon at this point.
4. Continue mixing until everything has combined and you’re able to form a ball with the dough.
The dough will be very soft and sticky, and you may think that something is wrong with it, this is how it’s supposed to be, so no need to worry!
Place the dough on a piece of plastic wrap, flatten the dough into a thick disk, wrap tightly, and place in the refrigerator for at least three hours and up to two days.
After the dough has chilled, remove it from the refrigerator, unwrap and place the dough on a large piece of parchment paper. Place another piece of parchment paper on top and using a rolling pin, roll until the dough is ¼ of an inch thick.
Using a 2-inch cookie cutter, cut the cookies out. Once done, use a spatula to transfer them to a parchment-lined cookie sheet, then gather up the dough scraps, form them into a ball and repeat the rolling and cutting process.
If the dough gets too warm at any point and it’s starting to stick to the parchment paper, refrigerate it for about 15-20 minutes so it chills and firms up again.
The cut-outs need to be ¼ of an inch thick, if they are rolled too thin, they will not remain flat and will warp as they bake. ¼ of an inch may seem a little too thick and thicker than the originals, but it’s the perfect thickness for the homemade version, you’ll see!
Once all the cookies have been cut out, bake them. They will seem a little soft when they come out of the oven, but they will firm up and become crisp as they cool and have a snap when you bite into them.
Make the Chocolate Coating
You’ll need three ingredients for this step: chopped chocolate, coconut oil, and peppermint extract.
Chocolate Coating Ingredient and Substitution Notes
Chocolate – I use plain semi-sweet chocolate (NOT unsweetened) and I use a large bar. Make sure the type you buy is vegan.
Chocolate chips can be used, but since they contain stabilizers to help them keep their shape, they’re not ideal for melting and dipping because the melted chips will be thicker. It WILL work, but it will just be a little more difficult to work with, so keep that in mind.
I chop the chocolate bar up into small pieces, as shown below, and then I melt it. More info on melting the chocolate is below.
Coconut Oil – A little coconut oil is added to the chocolate the help thin it out and make the dipping process easier and since your peppermint extract is likely alcohol-based, the oil is also needed to prevent the chocolate from seizing when the extract is added. If you don’t have coconut oil, any neutral flavoured oil can be used in its place.
Peppermint Extract – Make sure you’re using peppermint extract and NOT mint or spearmint extract, they do not have the same flavour. Use one that does not have water in the ingredient list, if water is added to melted chocolate, it will seize. Food grade peppermint oil can be used as a substitute but it is much stronger than extract, see the recipe notes for info on how much to use.
