Cookies: Homemade Thin Mints

By NicoleS

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for surface
• 1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 5 tablespoons butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 3/4 teaspoon pure peppermint extract
• Peppermint candies, crushed (optional)
• 2 pounds white chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate, dark chocolate, or Andes mints, coarsely chopped (for dipping)

Details

Servings 3
Adapted from melskitchencafe.com

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

In a medium bowl (or the bowl of an electric stand mixer), beat the butter and sugar with a mixer on medium-high speed for 1 minute. Reduce the speed to medium-low and add the egg and egg yolk. Mix well. Beat in the peppermint extract.

Slowly add the flour mixture, and beat until just incorporated. Shape the dough into 2 disks, wrap each in plastic, and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour (or up to 2 days).

Roll out 1 disk of dough between two pieces of wax paper, lightly dusted with flour, to 1/8-inch thickness, the thinner the better. Using a 2-inch round cutter, cut out circles and place 1-inch apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Roll and cut the scraps once or twice (the cookies will be a bit more dry with each rerolling). (Try pricking cut-out cookies with a fork to prevent puffing). Freeze the tray of cookies until firm, about 15 minutes. Repeat with the remaining disk of dough and freeze also.

Bake the frozen cookie rounds until they are dry to the touch, about 12-14 minutes. It's really important to bake them all the way through so they are crisp and not soft.

Transfer the baked cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. The undipped cookies will keep well, covered, for up to 3 days.

Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl in the microwave or in a double boiler on the stove. I like to melt it in the microwave at 1-minute intervals at 50% power, stirring in between.

Dunk the cooled cookies into the melted chocolate, one at a time. Using a fork, press lightly on the cookie until completely submerged in the chocolate. Pick up the cookie with the fork, tap the fork on the side of the bowl to let the excess chocolate drip off, and gently scrape bottom against edge of bowl. Using the flat edge of a knife or another fork, gently push the cookies onto parchment or wax paper. Sprinkle with crushed candy if using. Let the cookies sit until the chocolate has hardened, an hour or so (you can refrigerate to speed up this process).

The dipped cookies will keep covered in the refrigerator for up to a week or in the freezer for up to a month.