Crisp, melt-in-your-mouth vegan thin mint cookies that also happen to be gluten-free! They’re the classic crispy cookies you know and love except these are homemade with just a few simple ingredients and you can make them any time of year. They’re coated with cool, creamy, minty chocolate and they’re also dairy-free and egg-free.
Prepare your flax egg by whisking together ground flax seeds and water. Set aside to thicken.
In a large bowl, add the gluten-free flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Whisk well to combine and set aside.
In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter and granulated sugar together until blended and creamy, about 3 minutes. Stop to scrape down the sides of your bowl when needed. Add flax egg and peppermint extract, blend again for 1 minute.
Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix on low speed with your electric mixer or with a wooden spoon until a soft, sticky dough has formed. Form the dough into a ball.
Place the dough ball onto a piece of plastic wrap and pat down into a thick disk. Wrap the dough disk and place it in the refrigerator to chill for at least 3 hours.
After the chill time has passed, remove the dough from the fridge and let it sit at room temperature for a few minutes.
Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C).
Line cookie sheet(s) with parchment paper (if needed), set aside.
Dust a piece of parchment paper with a little gluten-free flour and place the chilled dough on top of the flour. Place another piece of parchment paper on top of the dough and using a rolling pin, roll the dough out until it is ¼-inch thick.
Using a 2-inch cookie cutter, cut out the cookies and place them on the prepared baking sheets, leaving at least 1-inch of space between the cookies.
Gather dough scraps and repeat rolling and cutting until all of the dough has been used.
Bake cookies for 11 minutes.
Remove from the oven and let cookies cool on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack. They will still be very soft right after they come out of the oven, but that's okay, they will harden as they cool. Cool completely before dipping in chocolate.
Make the Chocolate Coating:
Line another cookie sheet with parchment paper, set aside.
Place chopped chocolate and coconut oil in a glass bowl and melt in the microwave in 20-second intervals. Stir after each interval. Once the chocolate has melted, stir well to make sure oil and chocolate have combined and the mixture is smooth.
Add peppermint extract and stir.
Add each cookie, one at a time, to the bowl of melted chocolate. Using a fork, turn each cookie to coat both sides, then lift the cookie out of the chocolate with the fork and gently tap the fork on the side of the bowl to get rid of any excess chocolate.
Place each cookie on your prepared cookie sheet. Repeat until all cookies have been coated.
Allow the cookies to sit at room temperature for about 30-minutes or until the chocolate sets. To speed up this process, you can place the cookie sheet in the fridge (or freezer) until they set (about 10 minutes). (These cookies are excellent served cold!)
Notes
Please read all of the information and FAQ info above, as well as the notes below before making this recipe.
This recipe makes 20 cookies, which is the amount you’ll get if you use a 2-inch round cookie cutter.
It’s important to know that different gluten-free flour blends use different ingredients and ratios, so results may vary if you substitute. I have never used any other brand of gf flour to make this recipe other than Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1 to 1 Baking Flour (Amazon link) in the blue package, NOT the red package, so please know that your results may not be the same as mine if you substitute with another gluten-free flour blend. The weight listed above is for this specific brand and type of flour.
This recipe will NOT work with coconut flour or any other single gluten-free flour, it must be a blend, preferably the one I mentioned above for the best results.
If you cannot have flax, you can use a chia egg in its place, use the same measurements listed in the recipe to make a chia egg.
Be sure you are using peppermint extract and NOT mint or spearmint extract. They have different flavours, peppermint is best for this recipe to achieve the proper flavour. Make sure that the extract does not contain water in the ingredient list.
Food-grade peppermint oil may be used instead of peppermint extract. Since peppermint oil is stronger than extract, the rule is to divide the amount of extract called for by four. So for this recipe, you'll need to use just ⅛ teaspoon of peppermint oil for the cookies and 1/16th of a teaspoon for the chocolate coating. This is just a general rule, though, so after adding the peppermint oil, taste the dough and the coating, and if you feel it needs a bit more peppermint flavour, add another drop (or two).
Use semi-sweet chocolate, NOT unsweetened chocolate for the coating.
Chocolate chips can be used for the chocolate coating, but since they contain stabilizers to help them keep their shape, they're not ideal for melting and dipping because the melted chips will be thicker. It WILL work, but it will just be a little more difficult to work with, so keep that in mind.
A microwave is used to melt the chocolate in the recipe, but you can also use the double boiler method, read how to do that in the post above.
Storing at Room Temperature: Store cookies in an airtight container, where they will keep for up to 5 days. If there are still leftovers after 5 days, place the container in the refrigerator for another 7 days.
Storing in the Refrigerator: Cold thin mints are amazing, so I recommend storing them this way. Store cookies in an airtight container, they will keep in the refrigerator for roughly 2 weeks.
Storing in the Freezer: Freeze the cookies in single layers in a freezer bag or in an airtight container where they will keep for up to 2 months. Thaw in the refrigerator or on the counter when you’re ready to serve.
Nutrition info is based on 1 of 20 cookies with the recipe made as written and is only to be used as a rough guide. Click to learn how nutrition info is calculated on this website.