COPYCAT THIN MINTS COOKIES

Copycat Thin Mints Cookies made with homemade chocolate cookies, dipped in a mint fudge glaze. This simple chocolate mint cookies recipe tastes just as amazing, (dare I say?) better than the original!

We love Thin Mints in our house, so when I discovered this tasty cookie recipe for copycats, I was delighted! They have a fantastic chocolate flavor and a buttery crisp texture with the perfect mint flavor.

Copycat Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies

These homemade mint chocolate cookies taste so much like the one’s you buy from the Girl Scouts, you will be pleasantly surprised! You no longer have to wait all year to enjoy these tasty cookies, you can enjoy them year round. The crunchy cookie center with the mint chocolate glaze, they are so delicious. My kids don’t normally like peppermint very much, but they were devouring these cookies with the rest of us. Give these copycat cookies a try and see for yourself how amazing they are!

Kitchen Tools for making Thin Mint Cookies

Here are 2 of my favorite kitchen items I use to make these shortbread cookies. I actually use these items in nearly every cookie recipe I make, as well as several other types of recipes, so they’re quite versatile.

• First, I line my cookie sheets with a piece of parchment paper. They’re sold in sizes that fit a 12×16 cookie sheet perfectly and enable to cookies to bake well without sticking- and no mess from spraying oil on the cookie sheets!
• The second item is a KitchenAid mixer. I love mine! I have a Bosch as well but I find I use my KitchenAid for cookies. There is a cookie paddle that comes with every mixer that you attach to the mixer. They’re easy to use and help you mix the ingredients uniformly. I also use the metal whisk attachment in this recipe to make the frosting. It whips it up super fast! Add this to your wish list because it’s one of my all-time used small appliances ever!

Copycat Girl Scout Thin Mints ingredients

Butter: To create nice rich cookies, use 1 cup of butter, softened (2 sticks).

Sugar: Adding in ½ cup of sugar will make the cookies perfectly sweet and chewy.

Peppermint extract: You will need ½ tsp of peppermint extract to give these cookies their signature flavor.

Cocoa powder: Use ¼ cup of cocoa powder to make these cookies wonderfully chocolatey and delicious.

Flour: For the base and structure of this cookie recipe, add in 2 cups of flour.

Baking powder: To help the cookies rise as they bake, use 1 tsp of baking powder.

Salt: Adding in ¼ tsp of salt will help balance the sweetness of these cookies.

Dark Chocolate Glaze

Melting chocolate: You will need 3 cups of dark melting chocolate disks for the base of the chocolate coating.

Peppermint extract: Adding in ½ tsp of peppermint extract will give the cookies the perfect minty flavor.

Coconut oil: To help thin the glaze, use 1 tsp of coconut oil, or shortening.

Step-by-Step for how to make Copycat Thin Mint Cookies

Cookie dough

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar, until the mixture is light and fluffy. Then, add in the mint extract and cocoa powder.

After that, add the flour, baking powder and salt. Mix until a soft dough forms.

Chill

Continue to divide the dough into two even sections. Then, line a baking sheet with wax paper and form each half into an 8-inch-long log. Chill the logs in the refrigerator, wrapped in the wax paper, for at least 2 hours or overnight. If you’re pressed for time, 30 minutes in the freezer works well too!

Bake

When you are ready to make the cookies, get the oven preheating to 300°F. Next, line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Proceed to cut the logs into ¼-inch-thick slices with a sharp knife and arrange the slices 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.

Bake the cookies on the top rack of the oven for 22-26 minutes. After the cookies are done, let them cool on the sheet for about 5 minutes, then transfer them to wire racks to cool completely.

Chocolate dip

For the chocolate coating, heat the melting chocolate chips in the microwave for 2 minutes. Let the mixture sit for 3-4 minutes. Stir gently and continue heating in 15 second increments (if needed) until smooth.

After that, dip each cookie fully into the chocolate, tapping off excess. Transfer to a parchment lined tray, let cool to set for 20-30 minutes.

Serve and enjoy!

Tip for dipping chocolate!

When making dessert like cookie recipe, I find that dipping chocolate just works best. You can purchase Ghirardelli Melting Wafers at most grocery stores. I buy my melting chocolate in bulk on Amazon. If you really want to use chocolate chips instead, I suggest melting 1/2 a tablespoon of shortening or 2 tsp coconut oil in with the chocolate chips, to thin it out and make it easier to dip the cookies.

I also use a 3-pronged fork a very helpful tool for dipping chocolate too. The 3 pronged fork I use to dip each Thin Mint cookie is a handy Winton Dipping tool. It’s part of a 3 piece set that make it so incredibly easy to dip cookies and candy in chocolate.

How do you melt chocolate in the microwave?

Melting chocolate in the microwave is easy if you go slowly. Always use a glass or ceramic bowl and chocolate that’s not old. To melt 1 cup of chocolate chips I’d begin with 1 minute in the microwave. After the 1 minute, let chocolate sit for 2-3 minutes. Then, gently stir and see if chocolate begins to melt smooth. If it’s still really solid, add 20 seconds in the microwave, then let it sit again.

Often chocolate looks like it’s not melted when it really is, and you don’t know for sure until you gently stir it. If your chocolate melts but it’s too thick to work with, try adding 1/2 teaspoon of coconut oil or shortening, then letting it melt and stirring it in.

Can you freeze homemade Thin Mint cookies?

Yes, you can freeze these homemade Thin Mint cookies!  Ensure the chocolate has fully set so that they don’t stick. Then store the cookies in an airtight container. My favorite airtight containers are Snapware. I’ve found that when I use Snapware, the foods generally stay fresh for at least 3-4 days longer than when you use regular tupperware. You can freeze Thin Mints for 4-5 months in air tight containers! If you simply want to freeze them in a ziplocked bag, just plan on freezing them for 4-6 weeks, so that they don’t develop frost burn.

My cookies are cooked unevenly, what am I doing wrong?

If your cookies are darker on the bottom than you’d like, it’s probably an issue with your cookie sheet. I do not like thin cookie sheets or dark cookie sheets as these both tend to burn the bottoms of cookies.  If you use a lot of cooking spray, the same result can happen. I prefer to use lighter colored cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicon baking mats. My favorite cookie sheets are Nordicware– I have 3 half sheets and 2 quarter sheets and love them all!

So, a little tidbit of info about me: I am not one of those moms who knows how to do the elaborate hair-do’s for my girls. Or my boys. Really, I can barely do my own hair, so anything beyond the very basic is beyond me. Which leads to an interesting conundrum for “Crazy Hair” day. Each year my kids come to me with this freakishly elaborate ideas and each year they fail to notice the blank, confused expression on my face. Without fail, I steer them in the direction of something much simpler. And you know what? It works! This year the boys had spikes and my girls had Cindy-Lou-Who type hair with about 28 bows each. It was crazy. Ha! See what I did there?!

Copycat Thin Mints Cookies are homemade chocolate cookies, covered in a delicious mint fudge glaze. This easy chocolate mint cookies recipe tastes just as incredible, (dare I say?) better than the original!