Thin Mints...& Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!!! 

I hope you are all enjoying your day with family and loved ones.  We started out the morning with my mom's traditional Christmas breakfast of sweet rolls and weiners (as we call them)....stockings from Santa...and now relaxing in our PJs :)  I'm so excited for tonight because my sister is having a gender reveal party to find out what she is having!  She had a baker bake a cake with the color (blue or pink) or what the baby is and they will be cutting it tonight!  I can't wait! :) 

Now on to the cookies.  These are delicious.  If you like the thin mints made famous by the girl scouts - you should definitely try these!  Watch out girl scouts - you have met your match!  

Homemade Thin Mints

Makes 40-50 small cookies (or 30-40 medium)

Chocolate Wafers:

· 8 ounces butter, room temperature

· 1 cup powdered sugar

· 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

· 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

· 3/4 teaspoon salt

· 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Chocolate Peppermint Coating:

· 1 pound good quality semi-sweet chocolate, chopped

· Peppermint extract to taste (about 1 teaspoon)

Cookie dough: In medium bowl, cream the butter with mixer until it is light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar and continue to cream, scraping the sides of the bowl a couple times if necessary. Stir in the vanilla extract, salt, and cocoa powder. Mix until the cocoa powder is integrated and the batter is smooth and creamy, resembling a thick frosting. Add the flour and mix just until the batter is no longer dusty looking but still a bit crumbly.  Gather dough into a ball and place in the middle of a piece of plastic wrap.  Knead it together into a nice, smooth mass.  Divide the dough in 2, flatten into disks, and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350. Roll dough out really thin, about 1/8-inch. Roll it out between two sheets of plastic. If the dough is too firm to roll you can microwave it for 5 seconds. Cut out cookies and bake for 10 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool completely on a wire rack.

 

Peppermint coating:  Meanwhile, prepare your chocolate coating. Place chocolate in microwave safe bowl and microwave in short 15-20 second bursts to melt the chocolate. You can add 1 tablespoon of shortening if the chocolate is too thick.  Stir in the peppermint extract. 

Using a fork, gently drop the cookies into the chocolate coating one at a time. Flip to coat all sides. Lift the cookie out of the chocolate with the fork and bang the fork on the side of the bowl to drain any extra chocolate off the cookie. The chocolate should just be a thin coating. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet, and repeat for the rest of the cookies. Place the cookies in the refrigerator or freezer to set.  Enjoy!  MERRY CHRISTMAS!! 

Source: adapted from Katrina's Kitchen