Homemade Thin Mints (Low Carb, Gluten Free)

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and survived Black Friday (if you braved it - I didn't).  I'm more of a Cyber Monday gal myself.  My Thanksgiving was great.  It was spent with my family, eating lots of good food and drinking mulled wine and coffee.  All of my favorite things!  We also celebrated my mom's 60th birthday.

I know I already shared the stuff I was cooking, and believe it or not, I actually got it all done!  And it pretty much all turned out.  My rolls and cupcakes didn't rise like I would have liked, but both still tasted good.  The homemade thin mint cookies were something new, and I was really pleased with how they turned out.  My diabetic husband loved them!  It was nice for him to have a low carb alternative when everyone else was digging into the sugar-laden desserts.  Everyone enjoyed them so much that the only pics I have are the ones I took while making them!

This recipe came from All Day I Dream About Food!

Homemade Thin Mint Cookies (low carb and gluten free)

Cookies:
1 3/4 cups almond flour
1/3 cup cocao powder
3 tbsp granulated erythritol *I couldn't find this by itself, so I used Truvia which is a blend of stevia and erythritol
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 large egg, slightly beaten
2 tbsp butter, melted
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
10 drops stevia *I use NuNaturals

Coating:
1 tbsp butter
2 3.5oz Lindt chocolate bars (85% cacao) (or 7-8oz of any sugar-free chocolate chips)*
1 tsp peppermint extract
* I used Hershey's Sugar Free Chocolate Chips

For the cookies, preheat the oven to 225F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. *I used silicone mats.

In a large bowl, combine almond flour, cocao powder, erythritol, baking powder and salt. Add in egg, butter, vanilla and stevia and stir well until dough comes together.

Roll out dough between two pieces of parchment paper to desired thickness (I rolled mine about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick). Lift off top piece of parchment and set aside. Using a 2-inch diameter cookie cutter, cut out circles of dough and lift gently. Place cookies on prepared baking sheet. Gather up scraps of dough and reroll until too little is left to roll out.

Bake cookies until firm, 40 minutes to an hour. Turn off oven and let cookies continue to crisp up. *40 mins to an hour is a pretty  broad range, so I had no idea when these were actually done.  I let them cook about 50 mins, then left them in the oven with it turned off and the door ajar until they had cooled enough to dip in chocolate.

For the coating, place a metal bowl over a pot of gently simmering water, not allowing the bowl to touch the water. *I stuck mine in the microwave.  It was still pretty thick, even with the butter, so I added some shortening too.  It was still thick, but I didn't want to keep adding lard to the chocolate!  The cookies just had a nice thick coating of chocolate.  And that's not a bad thing!  Melt butter and chocolate together in the bowl, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and stir in peppermint extract.

Dip cookies into chocolate, using two forks to turn over and fully coat cookie. Gently pass chocolate-coated cookie back and forth between forks to remove excess chocolate, then place on waxed paper to cool and set.


Verdict? These cookies did not taste exactly like a Thin Mint, but they were close, and very good.  Especially for my husband, who hasn't had a Girl Scout cookie in almost 4 years!  I will definitely be making these for him again.  My girls also enjoyed them - I had to keep them out so the hubs would have some to snack on!
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Linking this recipe up with A Little Nosh for Tastetastic Thursday , (2/13/13) Finding Joy in My Kitchen for Ingredient Spotlight: Chocolate