These Paleo Thin Mints are a scrumptiously healthy cookie that make a great holiday gift. We love this treat so much though, that we make it all year round.
Homemade Girl Scout Cookies
Making your own Girl Scout cookies is as simple as 1-2-3 with my quick and easy recipe. These Paleo Thin Mints are a chocolate wafer cookie that is baked, cooled, and then dipped in rich dark chocolate that’s melted. We store our Paleo Thin Mints in the freezer for the best texture and crispy crunch.
Egg-Free Girl Scout Cookies
These copycat Thin Mints are not only gluten and grain-free, they’re an egg-free cookie recipe too! Did you know that 99% of my cookie recipes are egg-free? If you have egg allergies, you’ll want to take a look at both my Cookie Recipes Page and my Egg-Free Diet Recipes page. They’ll broaden your dietary horizons in a big way!
Gluten-Free Girl Scout Cookies
Don’t be sad when Girl Scout Cookie season rolls around. Because I’ve created a gluten-free Girl Scout Cookie season just for you! Finally, you can partake in gluten-free Thin Mints, Tagalongs, and Samoas. I would not have thought of making Paleo Girl Scout Cookies, let alone Paleo Thin Mints if I had not seen Tammy Credicott’s incredible book Paleo Indulgences which is full of fantastic recipes.
Paleo Thin Mints
Ingredients
- 1 cup blanched almond flour (not almond meal)
- 1 teaspoon coconut flour
- 2 tablespoons cacao powder
- ⅛ teaspoon celtic sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 tablespoons palm shortening
- ¼ cup honey
- 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
- 6 ounces chocolate chips
- ½ teaspoon peppermint extract
Instructions
- In a food processor, combine almond flour, coconut flour, cacao, baking soda, and salt
- Pulse in shortening, honey, and peppermint extract until dough forms
- Roll out dough between 2 pieces of parchment paper to ⅛-inch thick
- Freeze dough for 15 minutes
- Using a 2 inch cookie cutter, cut out dough
- Transfer circles to parchment paper lined baking sheet
- Bake at 350°F for 4-5 minutes
- Cool completely on baking sheets, then freeze 1 hour
- Melt chocolate and peppermint in a small saucepan over very low heat
- Use a dipping tool to lower cookies into chocolate, then place on parchment lined plate
- Freeze 1 hour
- Serve
Homemade Holiday Gifts
These healthy, gluten-free cookies are a wonderful DIY holiday gift. They’re perfect for Christmas, Hanukkah, and other celebrations. I love to give these Paleo Thin Mints alongside my homemade Hamantaschen when Purim rolls around.
Reduce Waste and Save Money During the Holidays
I’m very passionate when it comes to conservation and I love to reduce, reuse, and recycle as much as possible. That’s because I used to run this company which I founded in 1993 when I was 26 years old.
Free exclusive eBook, plus recipes and health tips, delivered to your inbox.
Now, decades later, when I give holiday gifts I follow this ethos by keeping it simple, yet special. I place my homemade cookies and candy in reusable tins which I purchase at the thrift store. I carefully scrub and de-glutenize the tins, then run them through the dishwasher. This reduces waste during Christmas, Hanukkah, and other special occasions.
Healthy Holiday Gift Recipes
Here are more healthy cookie and bar recipes that make great holiday gifts!
This post is an oldie but goodie from the archives, I first published this recipe in 2013.
Lori says
Elana, these thin mints are sooooo good I can’t keep my hands off them! They taste fantastic frozen. Thank you for coming up with things so tasty that people wouldn’t know they’re actually good for them!
Elana says
Thanks Lori! Great to hear these are such a hit!
JoCarole says
Hi Elana,
I am wondering if I could substitute the almond flour for another type of flour, do you have any experience with other flours? Thanks
JoCarole
Elana says
Hi JoCarole, here’s a link to my Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies for you, they do not use any almond flour:
https://elanaspantry.com/pumpkin-chocolate-chip-cookies/
Enjoy!
Elana
Steve says
So I went ahead and made a batch of these tonight. I limited my experimentation to baking half the cookies for 4 mins and the other half for 10-12mins. They are all delicious, but I prefer the crisp bite of the cookies baked slightly longer. I was concerned they would be hard hockey pucks, but there was a lot more wiggle room in the baking than I expected with such a short time listed.
I should note these were baked on a silpat lined baking sheet, which probably played a part in the difference in cook times.
With the leftover minty chocolate coating, I went ahead and made some peppermint patties, using some coconut butter, shredded coconut, honey and coconut oil.
This recipe is so much like the “real” thing, it seems almost too good to be true!
Elana says
Steve, so glad to hear that these are like the “real” thing :-)
Theresa says
Oh my word! These were soooo delicious! My daughters and I started eating the dough, then decided after baking them for the 5 minutes they didn’t need the chocolate coating! Perfect cookie! I give them 5+ stars!
Elana says
Theresa, thanks for letting me know these were soooo delicious!
Krista says
Love this recipe Elana!
Elana says
Thanks Krista!
Nancy says
Not sure what I did wrong, but the chocolate sauce, in spite of it being 6 full ounces of chocolate, only covered front and back of half of the cookies. For the other half, I had to spoon and spread the sauce on top.
That all being said, the batter for the dough was out of this world. And I still can’t wait to try the fully finished product. My 9.5 year old and I have been on GAPS and now a blend of GAPS and Paleo for over 2.5 years. Even prior to that, we only ate organic sugar (such as evaporated cane) and only organic flour. So she has never had a thin mint cookie before. I started this project just before dinner and with all of the wait time in between cooling and freezing, didn’t get done until after she went to bed. So she is greatly looking forward to trying a cookie tomorrow. Which is the last thing she said to me as I was shutting off her bedroom light and closing the door.
I didn’t have a cookie cutter, so I used the rim of a drinking glass placed upside down (the skinny, 6 ounce “juice glass” size), which happens to be 2″ in diameter. Works great! Although actual thin mints are only 1.5 inches in diameter. I have seen other home versions of girl scout cookies (non Paleo) that call for putting the dough into parchment paper and shaping it into a log that is 1.5″ diameter, freezing, and then cutting (approximately” 1/4″ slices. I am guessing that with the very soft almond flour dough, in order to even shape the log, the dough would have to be chilled first, shaped, then frozen before cutting, if it would even work. I may give that a try some time in order to go for the smaller size.
Good luck everybody!!! And happy eating!
Elana says
Nancy, thanks for your comment! If you use a very small pan and tilt it when you dip the cookies in it will cover them in entirety. Thanks for letting me know the batter for the dough was out of this world. I hope your daughter loves these as much as my boys do, it’s one of our favorites :-)
Cindy markley says
Need sugar free for these cookies. What can I use as coating instead of chunks. Would like to make all your candies but need sugar free chocolate. Thank you
Elana says
Cindy, you can try experimenting with sugar-free chocolate, or you may want to take a look at my Keto Brownies recipe:
https://elanaspantry.com/keto-brownies/
Enjoy!
Elana
Mia says
Thank you Elana! These are a wonderful treat!
I didn’t have coconut flour, so I left it out and it turned out fine.
Elana says
Mia, thanks for letting me know these were a wonderful treat!
Amber says
Amazing. Made these tonight and they are perfect. Just SO good. When left in the freezer, they are better than the original thin mints. I did have to bake the cookies for 8 minutes (not 4) but mine were probably a little thicker than 1/8″.
Elana says
Amber, I’m so happy to hear these were perfect AND better than the original thin mints!
Christina says
Hi Elana, I love your recipes and have followed you for years…and I’m a Boulder County resident as well!! So quick question: Could I use coconut oil instead of palm shortening in the Paleo Thin Mint recipe (and others)? I hesitate to support the palm oil industry because of the effect it has had on climate (see Years of Living Dangerously series), but who knows maybe the coconut industry similarly impacts the environment… Thanks!
Fiona Taylor says
My first thought was that I would like to try these but can’t use palm oil for the same reasons, specifically because of the environmental devastation which is caused by harvesting palm oil. Can you please come up with a replacement?
Elana says
Hi Fiona, thanks for your comment and for sharing your concerns. I haven’t experimented with other oils in this recipe, so not sure what a good replacement would be. If you do experiment I hope you’ll stop back by and let us know what works!
christine says
Grass-fed butter worked wonderfully for us!
Elana says
Christine, thanks for sharing your substitution, so glad to know it worked!