Chocolate Mint Day - Thin Mint Knock Offs

I was a brownie.  I was.  Brown sash, weekend meetings, knot tying, all that stuff.  

Every year when our troop sold cookies I would always sell the most.  Go me!  I think it had in large part to do with my dad buying 10 boxes of peanut butter cookies and my mom taking my sign up sheet to the hospital where she worked.  PICU nurses on a 12-hour shift are great for business.  Dad would stock up on his PB cookies, but he would always buy me one box of Thin Mints.  Yum!!  They were my favorite for years.  I've branched out to Tag-A-Longs and Trefoils (shortbread cookies), but I always go back to Thin Mints.

Since it's Chocolate Mint Day, I can't think of anything better to make all you than Thin Mint Knock Offs.  They aren't exactly the same as the original, but what is.  These cookies are full of minty chocolate goodness and totally hit the spot...so close you may just skip the real thing.  But, don't.  Support your local Girl Scouts!

I even busted out my old Brownie sash for you.

Thin Mint Knock Offs
from Food.com

Ingredients:
Chocolate Wafer Cookies:
1 package fudge cake mix
3 tablespoons shortening, melted
1/2 cup cake flour, measured then sifted **
1 egg
3 tablespoons water

Chocolate Mint Coating:
2 - 12oz bags chocolate chips
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
4 tablespoons shortening

Directions:

1. Combine cake mix, melted shortening, cake flour, and egg in a large bowl.  Add water 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing after each addition, until a dough forms.
2. Flatten dough into a disc and wrap with plastic wrap.  Chill for 2 hours.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
4. On a lightly floured surface, roll out 1/4 of the dough to 1/16 of an inch thick.
5. Cut out cookies using a spice container lid with a 1 1/2 inch diameter.
6. Arrange the cut dough rounds on a cookie sheet that is sprayed with a light coating of non-stick spray or is lined with a Sil-Pat.
7. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes.  Remove wafers from the oven and cool on pan for 1 minute.  Transfer cookies to a wire rack and cool completely.  
8. Combine chocolate chips with peppermint extract and shortening in a large microwave-safe glass or ceramic bowl.
9. Heat on 50% power for 1 1/2 minutes, stir gently, then heat for an additional minute.  Stir once again.  If chocolate is not a smooth consistency, continue to microwave chocolate in 30 second intervals, then stirring, until smooth.
10. Use a fork to dip each wafer in the chocolate.  Tap the fork on the edge of the bowl so that the excess chocolate runs off.  Place the cookies on a waxed paper lined baking sheet.  Refrigerate until firm.

**If you don't have cake flour you can make your own.  Mix together 7/8 cup (3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons) all-purpose flour and 1/8 cup (2 tablespoons) cornstarch. 

I used the lid to my giant 4.12oz bottle of cinnamon to cut out the cookies.  

They are just about the same size as the real cookies.

Thanks so much to Kristin at The Pastry Affair for the Cake Flour tutorial.  

You may remember The Pastry Affair from my Garlic-Parmesan Pull Apart Bread post.

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Now that you made these cookies, here are a couple yummy things to make with them.

from Six Sisters Stuff

from Shaken Together


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