We dedicate this post to the Girl Scouts, Vani Hari, WellnessBakeries.com and our commitment to healthy hedonism as the inspiration behind these cookies.

I have always been attracted to purity and simplicity when it comes to food ingredients. One reason I love to follow the Food Babe, Vani Hari, on Instagram is that she calls my attention to the unnecessary ingredients that are added to our food these days. One day I checked out her site and saw this post on Thin Mints®:

I reposted the photo on social media and added my own take. One of my friends responded to me that he didn’t want to eat processed Thin Mint cookies and beseeched me to come up with an alternative. The idea had already been formulating in my noggin,’ and now, someone had directly challenged me! Oh snap!

Now, I was compelled to re-create this cookie that I had always loved. I knew there had to be a way to make them without all of the refined ingredients and additives and still be really yummy. I told Skya about it and the next day he sent me this eBook from WellnessBakeries.com that he and his fiancée Michael had in their pdf arsenal (if you go here, please come back, cuz I’m not done yet). I loved what they had already done and saw how almond flour and the chilling process could create a really crispy cookie with that perfect Thin Mint® element of the snap. Oh snap, this cookie is crisp… and rich.

I made just a few tweaks, opting for ingredient changes that I found even more health promoting as well as to upgrade flavor and texture. Among those changes, I switched the sweeteners to whole foods based instead of sugar alcohols (but left a lower glycemic option using part chicory inulin). We are not big fans of sugar alcohols, but that’s a topic for another post. For more flavor, I also added a little extra sea salt and used a high-quality peppermint essential oil instead of extract. Finally, I changed the coating to cocoa butter-based chocolate instead of coconut oil. This allows for a thicker chocolate coating that stays solid at room temperature. The result is cookie magic!

This cookie is slightly addictive, but it only takes a couple of them to satiate me with the perfect combination of dark chocolate, filling good fats, sea salt, peppermint and gluten free almond flour. And, did I mention the snap? Almond flour is a great gluten free option but can give you nut gut (a heavy feeling belly) if you overdo it. Luckily, I don’t need to overdo them to feel full (although I did at first and my body just told me to knock it off, so I did).

The wondrous thing about real food is that even if you do go overboard, your body can bounce back really fast. Eating a whole plate of any kind of cookie, even a healthy one, can imbalance your metabolism if you do it too often. We love to post dessert recipes that have nutrient rich ingredients, including nourishing fats and unrefined sweeteners to slow blood sugar spikes and crashes as well as avoid causing inflammation. On the other hand, here at Spoonful of Paradise, we love to say, “Everything in moderation, including moderation,” so next time you need to indulge in a little excess to stay balanced, drop the guilt and have this cookie ready in your freezer!

It is our passion to create food that tastes delicious, made from organic and local sources. This Thin Mints® re-make is a product of that passion and now we pass it along to all of you to enjoy and make in your kitchens as well.

This recipe is free from:

Hydrogenated & partially hydrogenated oils
Gluten
GMO ingredients
Artificial ingredients
Refined sugars
Heavily processed flour stripped of nutritional value & enriched with synthetic vitamins
Dairy

These cookies taste every bit as good as the Girl Scout cookies† I remember eating. I’m so excited to share this recipe and to make these for my friends and clients (as well as myself)! Eating healthy doesn’t mean giving up treats, but every day you have a choice with the food you eat and make for yourself. This supports you, your family and the planet in a movement towards sustainability, transparency and overall well-being.

†Legal Disclaimer: Thin Mints® is a registered trademark of Girl Scouts of the United States of America. Spoonful of Paradise (Ola Loa Wellness, LLC) makes no claim to these products, trademarks or registered trademarks.

Rollin out the dough — Roll out your dough, evenly working all sides until about 1/8 of an inch thick. Cut your shapes from the thickest part and roll out again!

Thin Mint Hearts — Cut your dough into creative shapes.

bake those thin mints — The cookies crisping up in the oven. They take a while to bake, but it’s worth the wait.

Dip away — Use tongs to dip your cookie in your melted chocolate. Have fun playing with it!

FullSizeRender.jpg-6 — Then, in the fridge they go.

Please enjoy and respond with feedback and any question. If you make these cookies, we would love you to take a picture and share them on Instagram or Facebook, tagging @spoonfulofparadise so we can see!

Would you like me to make some for you?

If you’d love to try these cookies, live on Oahu and want them made for you, contact me, Nicole Holley. Traditional, vegan and lower glycemic options are available.

Oh snap! Thin mints get a wholesome makeover

SpoonfulOfParadise.com

Inspired by https://www.wellnessbakeries.com/healthy-girl-scout-cookie-recipes/

Print Recipe

Ingredients

Cookie Base:

2 cups blanched almond flour
1/3 cup organic cocoa powder
6-8 tablespoons coconut sugar Taste for desired sweetness
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 large pastured egg*
3 tablespoons organic coconut oil*
1 teaspoon organic vanilla extract
10 drops stevia
6-10 drops high quality peppermint essential oil or 2 tsp peppermint extract this really comes down to preference

Coating:

8 ounces organic sugar free dark chocolate
6-10 drops high quality peppermint essential oil or 2 tsp peppermint extract this really comes down to preference
4 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons coconut sugar
Dash of sea salt
5 tablespoons coconut oil/cocoa butter I have tried both and like the cocoa butter version better lately as the chocolate adheres to the cookie better with cocoa butter. But if you're in a pinch, coconut oil works too.

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 225 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking sheet.
2. In a large bowl combine almond flour, cocoa powder, coconut sugar, baking soda and sea salt.
3. Add in egg, coconut oil, vanilla, and stevia and mix up to form your dough.
4. Lay out two sheets of parchment paper. Place your dough in the middle and roll out until the dough is about 1/8 inch thick. This makes the cookies thin enough to crisp up in the oven without falling apart.
5. Get creative and use any type of cookie cutter you like! I even used the top of a small mason jar to cut my first round.
6. Bake cookies for 45-50 minutes in oven.
7. While cookies are baking, get started on the coating.
8. For coating, use a double boiler (a glass bowl over a pot with boiling water works just fine) to heat your chocolate and cocoa butter/coconut oil. Add in sweeteners, peppermint and sea salt to your liking.
9. Allow cookies to cool. *Secret* I like to pop them in the fridge or freezer for just a little bit to really cool the cookie down and allow the chocolate coating to adhere better.
10. Dip cookies in chocolate coating with tongs to coat all sides. Place in the fridge on waxed paper to cool and set.
11. Store in airtight container and refrigerate or freeze.
12. Try not to eat the whole batch.

Notes

*For vegan simply substitute 4 tbsp flax mixed with 8 tbsp of water. Let this mixture sit and thicken a bit before adding to the dough. You may need a little more coconut oil for this version. Let the dough sit before you mix and then feel it out. We don’t want too much moisture in these cookies because we’re looking for a crunch!

*For a lower glycemic version for the cookie base, replace 3 tablespoons of the coconut sugar with 1/2 cup of just like sugar baking (chicory inulin).