Thin Mints

The most iconic girl scout cookie of all time...I typically bought 4 or 5 boxes of these.. stored them in my freezer.. and doled them out sparingly.. until i realized.. i can make my own!

Here's where things get tricky.. if you follow my recipe for the wafers.. you will have enough to make over 100 thin mints.. this will also take 3 bags of chips.. so instead.. I will be giving the recipe for over 100 wafers.. but i am going to save over half of that dough (I think I will be making up some kind of pie to use my excess dough and mint chocolate in.. so keep watching for that in the future!) and give the coating mixture for maybe 50 wafers.. You can double or triple as needed!

Wafer Ingredients:

1 box betty crocker chocolate fudge cake mix

2 tbs shortening (melted)

1 lg egg

1/2 cup (- 2) tbs all purpose flour

2 tbs cornstarch

Water as needed (4-6 tbs)

Coating Ingredients:

1 bag semi sweet chocolate chips

2 tbs shortening

1/4-1/2 tsp peppermint extract

then add your egg and melted shortening (i give tips for measuring shortening in my other baking instructables, so at the risk of being redundant i wont repeat this here!) Slowly add water, 1 tbs at a time , until the dough comes together.

I split my dough into about 6/10 to 4/10. I plan on using the 6/10 part in a crust recipe for a pie of some sort..

chill the dough for 2 hrs or more (i chilled overnight)

you are aiming for 1/16 of an inch.. (yes i said 1/16th).. keep it uniform no matter what.. I cut mine with a small container.. look around your kitchen and find something that works.. the key here is to keep things uniform.

After cutting my dough.. i used a knife to loosen and lift it, as shown. transfer these to a lightly greased cookie sheet. They wont do much spreading..so no need to keep a lot of space between them.

for 10 minutes. watch the time carefully.. 1 minute extra makes a difference in this recipe!

and cool completely! Meanwhile..

dump the chips with the 2 tbs shortening and 1/4 tsp mint extract into a bowl and microwave in 30 second intervals. Melting chocolate in a microwave is simple.. yet unforgiving. stir it every 30 seconds.. don't be lazy..

this is the time consuming part.. use a fork to lower your wafers into the chocolate.. tap off the excess (I found , for whatever reason, it actually works better to tap your hand as opposed to the fork/spoon when dipping stuff.. but do it the way you are comfortable with!)

transfer these to a piece of wax paper and refrigerate until set..

Impress your friends and hubby!

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