Dairy-Free Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookies (optionally Vegan)

Last year, my husband emailed me a Girl Scout Cookie article with a simple message, “make these.” So I did. And though I was tempted to healthify these dairy-free thin mint cookies, I stayed (mostly) true to the Girl Scout way. Just for him.

Dairy-Free Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookies (optionally Vegan)

You see, the whole Girl Scout Cookie empire is an interesting thing. There are actually two Girl Scout Cookie manufacturers – a divided monopoly, if you will. One of the manufacturers produces some dairy-free and egg-free options (Peanut Butter Patties, Thanks-a-Lot, Lemonades, Reduced Fat Daisy Go Rounds), while the other produces not a single dairy-free cookie. This is why you may hear the argument (if you are perusing dairy-free or vegan boards – no? just me?), “There are NO dairy-free girl scout cookies.” combatted with “Yes there are, we just bought some.” It all comes down to the supplier. You can read the whole sorted Dairy-Free / Girl Scout Cookie story here.

Fortunately, the girl scout troups in my local area, and the one that my nieces belong to, go with the manufacturer that is NOT dairy-free. Otherwise, I might be tempted to buy and consume every dairy-free variety … except for the Lemonades (sorry, not a big lemon dessert fan) … all in the name of product reviews for Go Dairy Free. Reviews that might not even make it online because it was too darn easy to just open the box and inhale all of the cookies before I had the chance to photograph them or take notes. I digress.

But, I still felt the need to help out the troops, so I donated. And my husband still felt the need to have some girl scout thin mint cookies, so I baked them.

I think what I loved most about these thin mint cookies is how dunkable they are. They go with vanilla almond milk even better than Oreos!

Reader Raves: Dairy-Free Thin Mint Cookies

Joe K. shared this with us on my other post of this recipe:

Just made these today and they came out great, and really easy to make!

Special Diet Notes: Thin Mint Cookies

By ingredients, this recipe is dairy-free / non-dairy, egg-free, soy-free, nut-free, peanut-free, vegan, plant-based, and vegetarian.

Dairy-Free Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookies (Vegan Option)

Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

12 mins

Total time

32 mins

I tested this recipe egg-free, too, and it was a great success. In fact, the photos shown here are of the vegan cookies!

Author: Alisa Fleming

Recipe type: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Serves: 3 dozen cookies

Ingredients

1 egg or flax egg (2 teaspoons flaxseeds + 2 tablespoons water)
½ cup dairy-free buttery sticks, softened or room temperature (I used earth balance soy-free)
1 cup sugar
½ to ¾ teaspoon peppermint extract, to taste
1¼ cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon salt
⅛ teaspoon baking powder (if using “flax egg,” can omit if using an egg)
2 cups dairy-free chocolate chips
2 tablespoons coconut oil or non-hydrogenated shortening

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350ºF and line a cookie sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
If using a flax egg, grind the flaxseeds in your spice grinder until you get a powder (this will be about 1 tablespoon of lightly packed flax meal). Combine the flax meal and water in a dish, and let sit for 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, place the buttery sticks and sugar in a mixing bowl, and beat until creamy.
Beat in the egg or “flax egg” (the one you just made) and the peppermint extract.
Mix in the flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking powder (if using). The mixture will become very, very thick. Bring it together into a ball. If it is too dry, add a little water, 1 teaspoon at a time, until it comes together. It shouldn’t be sticky though. If it is, wrap the dough and place it in the refrigerator for about an hour to firm up.
Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to about ¼-inch thickness. Cut with a cookie cutter (I used a 1¼-inch round mini biscuit cutter). Place the cut cookie dough on your prepared cookie sheet. Roll out the scraps and cut again. Continue doing this until no dough remains.
Bake the cookies for 12 minutes, no more.
Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 to 10 minutes, then carefully move them to a wire rack to cool completely.
For the chocolate coating, melt the chocolate chips and coconut oil or shortening together.
Drop the cookies in the chocolate to coat. I remove them with two forks, letting the excess drip off. Place them on that wire rack with a mat underneath to catch dripping chocolate, or simply place them on parchment. (You will get a ring of excess chocolate around the cookies if you do the latter, but is that such a bad thing?).
Place in a cool spot to let the chocolate firm up. You can refrigerate the cookies for 20 minutes to hasten the process if you just can't wait.

Notes

Variations: If you feel like experimenting, I think there is a lot of room to make this recipe healthier. Some steps I might take, would be to replace the margarine with olive or coconut oil, reducing the amount in half. I would use milk alternative to make up the moisture difference. I think whole wheat pastry flour would work in place of the all-purpose flour, and if you’re feeling adventurous, coconut / palm sugar or evaporated cane juice could sub for the ordinary sugar.

This recipe is Vegan, Vegetarian, Dairy free, Egg free, Nut free, Peanut free, and Soy free.