Gluten-free Chocolate Peppermint Cookies (Thin Mints)

Skip the gluten-free chocolate peppermint cookies the Girl Scouts are selling this year and make these gluten-free Thin Mint cookies instead!

Jump to:

• Are Girl Scout thin mints gluten-free?
• Ingredients.
• Dairy-free thin mint cookies.
• Steps.
• Tips and tricks.
• How to temper chocolate.
• Storing thin mints.
• More gluten-free cookies.
• 📖 Recipe

Are Girl Scout thin mints gluten-free?

We love Thin Mints in our house. Before we went gluten-free, they were bought on a pretty regular basis and in multiple box quantities. No shame because I mean hello, they are good and, dare I say, slightly addicting. While the Girl Scouts do sell gluten-free cookies now, the thin mints are not gluten-free.

Don't worry, though; these gluten-free chocolate peppermint cookies (thin mint copycats) are easy to make, and they are not only gluten-free, but they can also be made grain and nut-free! All while still being 1000% delicious and, dare I say, even better than the originals. Plus, you can make these any day of the year, and you don't have to wait for the few weeks a year that the Girl Scouts are selling them to get your fix.

Ingredients.

• 1:1 Gluten-free Flour - For these gluten-free cookies, I use the King Arthur 1:1 blend.
• Arrowroot starch - You can also use cornstarch in these cookies.
• Cocoa Powder - I use a Dutch process cocoa powder.
• Butter - You want your butter softened. See notes below for dairy-free options.
• Sugar
• Baking Soda
• Salt
• Vanilla and Peppermint Extract - Be careful using extracts, as not all extracts are gluten-free. If you can't find peppermint extract, you can also use peppermint oil. Just know that you'll only want to use a few drops of oil as it is much more concentrated than an extract.
• Chocolate - The chocolate is used to dip the baked cookies into, which gives them the chocolate coating just like regular thin mints.
• Coconut Oil - A little bit of coconut oil is used to help smooth out the chocolate for dipping. If you can't hand coconut, you can also use a bit of palm shortening.

Dairy-free thin mint cookies.

Since these gluten-free Thin Mints have an egg, they are not vegan. You could try using an egg alternative to make these vegan cookies, but I have not personally tested that. However, they can easily be made into dairy-free cookies with a few simple swaps.

• Swap the butter in the cookie dough for a dairy-free alternative like Earth Balance sticks.
• Make sure your chocolate is dairy-free. I prefer the Enjoy Life brand chocolate chips, which are both gluten-free and dairy-free.

Steps.

Step 1. Make the gluten-free chocolate cookie dough.

1. Cream the butter and sugar.
2. Add the egg, vanilla, and mint extracts.
3. Combine the dry ingredients in the bowl.
4. Mix until a dough forms and let it chill.

Step 2. Cut the cookies.

Step 3. Bake the cookies.

Step 4. Coat the gluten-free chocolate cookies in chocolate.

Tips and tricks.

• Don't skip chilling the dough. - This dough is soft before it's chilled, but once chilled, it rolls out and is able to be cut nicely. I like to let the dough chill for at least an hour before rolling it out.
• Shaping the cookie dough. - Simply roll out the dough and use a small circle cutter for these gluten-free cookies. If you don't have a circle cutter, you can shape the dough into a log before you wrap and chill it. Then once it is chilled, you can slice in about ⅛ slices and bake.
• Chill the cut dough. - Just like with my gluten-free cut-out sugar cookies and my gluten-free gingerbread cookies, I like to chill the dough once it's been cut before baking. It doesn't take long, only about 10-15 minutes to do this. Baking the dough chilled helps the gluten-free cookies maintain their shape better.
• Temper the chocolate before dipping. - This helps to keep the chocolate from just melting off into your hand when you pick up the cookies to eat them.
• Let excess chocolate drip off the cookies before cooling. - Letting excess chocolate drip off the cookies will help you get a more even chocolate coating on the cookies instead of leaving you with a thick base of chocolate on the bottom of the cookies.
• Cool the cookies to set the chocolate. - While the chocolate will set at room temperature, I find that placing the dipped cookies into the fridge for about 30 minutes helps the chocolate to set faster.

How to temper chocolate.

1. Place the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl with the coconut oil and heat it on high in 30-second increments.

• Make sure you stir the chocolate well between each time and continue the pattern until the chocolate is completely melted.
• Pro tip: You do NOT want to let it go until it's melted. This will yield a much softer chocolate finish, and you do not want that.

Storing thin mints.

• Before you store the cookies, make sure that the chocolate is completely set up so that the cookies do not stick to each other.
• Store in an airtight container at room temperature for about a week. (If you have that much willpower.) You can also store them in the fridge like I do since I prefer my Thin Mints cold when I eat them.
• If you want to store them longer, you can freeze them in an airtight container for 1-2 months. If you're going to save them longer, you'll want to vacuum seal them so they have less of a chance of developing frost burn.

More gluten-free cookies.

If you love these gluten-free Thin Mint cookies, then you'll want to try out some of these other gluten-free cookies next.

📖 Recipe