White Chocolate Thin Mints

I had to make these white chocolate thin mints for Saint Patrick's Day. Once I saw them at In Katrina's Kitchen's blog I was obsessed with the idea of making homemade thin mints. Then, the idea came to me...green white chocolate thin mints for Saint Patrick's day! Best. Idea. Ever. The minty white chocolate covering tastes just as delicious as the normal semi-sweet mint coating and is perfect for those of you who dark chocolate is not your favorite. Of course, I had to make some traditional ones for the purists in my life, but I'm happy to say that I turned a few peeps into white secret white chocolate lovers!

I thought about teaching myself to temper chocolate for this recipe, but the fact remains that frozen or chilled thin mints are about 10x better than room temperature thin mints. I didn't see the advantage to doing it with this recipe, but I do plan on sharing a chocolate tempering tutorial in the near future.

Sadly, I'm still detoxing this week so I didn't get a chance to eat many any of these. Sacrilege I tell you. I wrapped some in foil and stuffed them at the bottom of the freezer. Haha! Try finding them there mom. Ok. Ok. I lose myself.

White Chocolate Thin Mints

1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, at room temp

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups cake flour

1 pound green white chocolate candy melts

1/4 tsp peppermint extract or creme de menthe candy flavoring

In a mixer cream the butter on medium-high speed until it is light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Add the powdered sugar and continue to cream, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Mix in the vanilla extract 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. Turn the dough out onto a clean counter, gather it into a ball, and knead it together into a nice, smooth mass. Divide the dough in two pieces, flatten into disks, and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill for 15 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Roll dough out really thin, about 1/8-inch. These are called thin mints after all. You can either roll it out between two sheets of plastic, or dust your counter and rolling pin with a bit of flour and do it that way. 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.

Meanwhile, prepare your chocolate coating. Using a double boiler (or a metal bowl set over a pot of simmering water), slowly melt the chocolate, stirring occasionally until it is glossy and smooth. You can add 1 tablespoon of shortening if your chocolate is too thick. Alternatively, use a microwave in short 15-20 second bursts to melt the chocolate. Stir in the peppermint extract.

Using a fork gently drop the cookies one at a time into the chocolate coating. Flip to coat all sides. Lift the cookie out of the chocolate with the fork and bang the fork on the side of the pan to drain any extra chocolate off the cookie. You are after a thin, even coating of chocolate. 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. 

***Variation: For traditional thin mints simply replace the pound of white chocolate with your favorite dark or semi-sweet chocolate. Easy peasy. 


~Makes about 60 1.5" cookies depending on how thin you roll your dough.
Source: Recipe adapted from In Katrina's Kitchen.