Chocolate Mint Cookies (Girl Scouts Copycat)

Twelve cookies in 12 days. That’s what we’re doing around here, these days!

Even though I’m showing these on Day 4 of our 12-day trek through Holiday Cookieland, this recipe was actually the first one I baked out of the Bon Appétit 2008 Holiday Cookie-a-Day collection. After all, how can you resist a recipe that bills itself as “Girl Scout Thin Mints from your kitchen”? Come on! Probably the most popular Girl Scout cookie, ever? Irresistible!

Here’s the recipe, and my notes follow:

Chocolate Mint Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 6 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped

Preparation:

Whisk flour, cocoa powder, and salt in medium bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until smooth. Beat in peppermint extract and vanilla extract. Beat in sugar in 3 additions. Add egg and beat until blended. Add dry ingredients and beat just until blended (dough will be sticky).

Divide dough between 2 sheets of plastic wrap. Using plastic wrap as aid, form dough on each into 2-inch-diameter log. Wrap with plastic and refrigerate dough until well chilled, at least 2 hours. (Dough can be prepared 1 day ahead. Keep refrigerated.)

Position 1 rack in center and 1 rack in top third of oven; preheat to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Unwrap cookie dough logs; roll briefly on work surface to form smooth round logs. Cut logs crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick rounds. Place rounds on prepared baking sheets, spacing 1 inch apart. Bake cookies until tops and edges are dry to touch, about 15 minutes. Transfer baking sheets with cookies to racks; cool completely.

Stir chocolate in top of double boiler set over simmering water until melted and smooth. Remove from over water. Cool melted chocolate until slightly thickened but still pourable, about 10 minutes.

Dip fork into melted chocolate, then wave fork back and forth over cookies, drizzling melted chocolate thickly over cookies in zigzag pattern. Refrigerate cookies on baking sheets until chocolate is set, about 10 minutes. (Cookies can be made 1 week ahead. Refrigerate in airtight container between sheets of parchment paper or waxed paper.)

Notes:

Did you notice the part where the recipe warns you that “dough will be sticky”? They weren’t kidding. At least they didn’t try to make you roll it out and use cookie cutters!

I actually laid out a measuring tape to try and hit 1/4″ cuts. What can I tell you? I’m a spatial spaz, among other things. That lasted about halfway through the first roll, when the refrigerated dough softened up on me (where have we heard that before?), and my nice, sharp, clean knife began squashing the slices out-of-round. My solution was to continue cutting, and when laying the rounds out on the baking sheet, I gently sculpted them back into (mostly) round shape.

The fork-and-chocolate-drizzle thing? This little exercise proved to me that I’m not a drizzler. I managed to fling chocolate pretty far and wide, hitting very little cookie in the process. I’m pretty sure it’s not that I’m a neat-freak. You haven’t seen the rest of my house, these days. Next time, I will probably load the melted chocolate into a plastic bag, snip the corner, and actually aim for the cookie. We’ll both be happier that way.

Was I being a little OCD about these cookies? Yeah, maybe I was. A little. But have you seen the company I’m keeping these days? I’m baking with a bunch of awesome ladies and their links are right down there. Go look!

Please visit my partners in holiday baking, below, and see what they’ve got in store for you. And don’t forget to come back tomorrow for the fifth installment!

Andrea of Andrea’s Recipes (honorary member and our founder but not participating this year)
Claire of The Barefoot Kitchen
Courtney of Coco Cooks
Di of Di’s Kitchen Notebook
Judy of No Fear Entertaining
Kelly of Sass & Veracity
Michelle of Big Black Dog
RJ of Flamingo Musings (hey! that’s me!)
Sandy of At the Baker’s Bench
Tiffany of The Nesting Project