A simple DIY thin mint girl scout cookie made using only three ingredients – oreos, peppermint oil and dark chocolate!
I had seen those DIY thin mint recipes in the past which used ritz crackers as the base. I’m sure that works quite well but (A) why would you pass up the chance for more chocolate and (B) it’s much easier to get oreos than ritz here in the UK.
Separating the oreos for the thin mints
The one long part of this recipe is twisting apart the oreos and removing the filling – it works better when the oreos are slightly warm as the filling is softer then. Having them at room temp will be fine, just make sure they’re not cold. You can either twist the cookies apart or use a butterknife to slice them apart then scrape off the filling. You can either use that filling to make some double stuf oreos (just spread onto a plain oreo and hey presto), eat the filling plain like some kind of buttercream monster OR get chuck it. It’s up to you!
Using whole oreos for thin mints
Of course, the alternative is that you leave the oreos whole and don’t remove the filling before coating them in chocolate. You’d end up with an overall thicker and sweeter cookie but it would be faster and simpler to do.
Peppermint extract vs peppermint oil
For the chocolate coating, a simple mixture of dark chocolate and peppermint oil is all you need. Make sure that the peppermint flavouring is NOT alcohol based or water based – it must be an oil based version – otherwise it will cause the chocolate to seize.
Tempering the chocolate for the coating
To get the super shiny, firm-set chocolate you see on the cookies here, you have to do a process called tempering. This is where you heat and cool the chocolate to a series of specific temperatures in order to encourage a certain formation of cocoa butter crystal to form in the chocolate which is very stable. It isn’t essential to the recipe, you can just melt and dip as you please, but you may notice some cocoa butter bloom on your cookies. This is mostly a visual thing although you may notice that the chocolate coating sets a bit soft.
Notes:
-For optimum twist-abilitiy of the oreos, make sure they’re at room temperature (it’s really difficult to separate them without breaking them when they’re cold!)
-If you want to temper the chocolate in a food processor, I have a tutorial here
-You don’t have to scrape the filling out of the oreo if you can’t be bothered; if you leave it on one half, it’ll just taste sweeter and less chocolatey, but it saves time.
-You can decorate the chocolate dipped oreos before the chocolate sets with sprinkles, Maldon salt, chopped nuts or a drizzle of white chocolate for some contrast!
-If you’re making these vegan, make sure your chocolate is vegan friendly 🙂
– you can use Newman O’s instead of Oreos or whichever chocolate cookie you desire! In some countries, Oreos contain whey powder meaning they’re not vegan so check the label properly.
DIY Thin Mints (3 ingredients, no bake, vegan)
A simple DIY thin mint (which is vegan friendly) made using only 3 ingredients oreos, dark chocolate and peppermint oil!
4.75 from 4 votes
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Course: Cookies
Cuisine: American
Keywords: chocolate, peppermint, vegan
Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes minutes
Servings: 0
Ingredients
- 16 to 20 oreo cookies (or your favourite vegan chocolate cookie)
- 7 to 10 oz semisweet or bittersweet chocolate finely chopped
- 1 tsp peppermint oil (you can’t use alcohol-based extracts)
Instructions
Twist the oreos to separate them (see notes), and scrape off the cream filling (either discard the filling…or eat it, if you’re into that.)
Place 2/3 of the chocolate into a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir occasionally until almost fully melted then remove the bowl from the pan. Stir in the remaining 1/3 of finely chopped chocolate, mixing until full melted, then stir in the peppermint oil well.
Dip an oreo half in the melted chocolate, turn to coat using a fork. Use the fork to remove the oreo from the chocolate, tap it on the edge of the bowl a few times (to let excess chocolate drip off).
Transfer to a baking tray lined with baking paper. Repeat with all the oreo halves.
Leave at room temperature until set.
Store in an airtight container somewhere cool and out of direct sunlight for up to 2 weeks.
Tried this recipe?Let me know how it went! Mention @izyhossack or tag #topwithcinnamon!
