New book promises Thin Mints ‘just like the Girl Scouts bake’

Timing is everything, right?

On the day when a colleague showered my cubicle with a few boxes of my personal dietary Kryptonite – Girl Scouts Thin Mints cookies – a cookbook landed in my mailbox.

Wouldn’t you know it? “The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook,” by bakers Cheryl Day and Griffith Day of Savannah, Ga., contains a recipe for a soft, buttery and deeply chocolatey homage to my beloved Thin Mints. “Just like the Girl Scouts bake,” promised the recipe. (The book will be available next week.)

I needed to find out. The recipe was a little putzy (in the annals of cookie-baking jargon, that’s one of my favorite words) but worth the effort. The critical reception among my cookie-loving co-workers fell almost uniformly along the lines of “better than Thin Mints.” I don’t know that I’d go that far – sacrilege! – but the recipe is a keeper.

As is the book. It’s beautifully photographed and charmingly conversational, and full of recipes I’m dying to try: ham and cheese pastry puffs, buttermilk-cornmeal pancakes, plum tartlets, bacon-jam empanadas and rosemary-pecorino crackers, for starters.

But first, chocolate. The Days’ recipe calls for Dutch process cocoa, a darker, more fragrant variant of its unsweetened counterpart. Dutch process cocoa has been altered with alkali, which assists in neutralizing cocoa’s natural acidity. It’s not widely available, but most major supermarkets stock at least one brand; I found the Van Cortlandt label at my neighborhood Lunds.

I tweaked the recipe in a few places. After sampling both pre- and post-chocolate-coating versions, I preferred the former. The latter, while closer in spirit to the Thin Mints ideal, becomes the very definition of overkill, although the coating’s semisweet chocolate is a nice foil to the cookie’s sharper cocoa bite. The coating was also taking forever to set, so I transferred the coated cookies to the refrigerator, and that did the trick. It also reminded me: Aren’t Thin Mints better when swiped from the freezer?

Also, when preparing the filling, the recipe requires four cups of powdered sugar. But as I was making it, the mixture became almost too thick to spread after the addition of just three cups, so this recipe reflects that; even after that third cup, I added a teaspoon of cream to coax the filling into a more spreadable consistency. I skipped the suggested green food coloring; too Keebler.

Another discovery: It’s important to roll the dough as thinly as possible. Once refrigerated, the dough holds its shape and cuts easily and cleanly. The recipe calls for a 2- to 3-inch cookie cutter, but I went smaller, 1 1/2 inches.

Because this is an extremely rich cookie – it requires, yes, four sticks of butter – less is definitely more. Even at that reduced size, I could barely finish one without hitting the butter-sugar wall.

Well, emphasis on the word barely.

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CHOCOLATE MINT COOKIES

Makes about 2 dozen sandwich cookies.

Note: Adapted from “The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook,” by Cheryl Day and Griffith Day. “I was always the queen of sales during Girl Scout cookie season,” writes Cheryl Day. “My dad would take me to the back lot of Desilu Studios, where he worked, and I would go to town writing up orders. As it is for so many other people, my favorite Girl Scout cookie is the Thin Mint. Here’s a grown-up version.”

For cookies:

2 3/4 cup flour

1 1/4 cup Dutch-process unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp. fine sea salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 tbsp. vanilla extract

2 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar

2 eggs

For cream filling:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 tsp. peppermint extract

3 cup powdered sugar

For chocolate coating:

1 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

Directions:

To prepare cookies: Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder and salt and reserve.

In bowl of an electric mixer on medium speed, cream together butter, vanilla extract, powdered sugar and dark brown sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low and add eggs, one at a time, beating until combined. Add flour mixture in thirds, beating until just combined and scraping down sides and bottom of bowl as necessary.

Divide dough in half and place half on each prepared cookie sheet. Place a piece of plastic wrap or another sheet of parchment paper on top of each one. Use a rolling pin to roll out dough to 1/4 -inch thickness. Wrap baking sheets in plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator at least 30 minutes.

When ready to bake, position a rack in lower third of oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Remove one sheet of dough at a time from refrigerator and transfer cookie dough and parchment paper to kitchen counter. Cut out cookies with a 2- to 3-inch round cookie cutter (even smaller is recommended, given the cookie’s richness).

Line baking sheet with fresh parchment paper and place cutout cookies, about 1 inch apart, on prepared baking sheet. Refrigerate cutout cookies for at least 15 minutes, while you cut out second sheet of cookies. Re-roll scraps of dough, re-refrigerate for at least 15 minutes and cut dough.

Bake cookies, one sheet at a time, until firm to the touch and the smell of chocolate has begun to fill the kitchen, about 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool for 2 minutes before transferring cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

To prepare cream filling: In bowl of an electric mixer on medium speed, cream together butter and peppermint extract until smooth. Gradually add powdered sugar, mixing until light and fluffy. Place a dollop of filling (about 1 tablespoon) on bottom of one cookie and place another cookie, right side up, on top. Repeat with remaining cookies.

To coat cookies: Using a double boiler over gently simmering water, combine chocolate chips and butter and stir frequently until they have completely melted. Remove bowl from heat. Set a wire rack on a baking sheet lined with wax or parchment paper.

Using 2 forks, quickly dip each cookie into warm chocolate-butter mixture, turning to coat, then gently place the cookie on the wire rack (if chocolate begins to harden, return it to double boiler over simmering water and stir until it melts again). Let cookies stand until set, and store in an airtight container for up to 3 days at room temperature.

THIN MINTS: A PERFECT BUILDING BLOCK

Any recipe is only a starting point. Just as any self-respecting Thin Mints fan would not be ashamed to crush a few of their favorite Girl Scouts cookies over ice cream and call it “dessert, ” this chocolate bomb of a recipe has possibilities that extend beyond the cookie jar.

As cookies go, this one is certainly substantial enough to do double duty as a dessert building block. So treat it like a brownie: Serve it in a small bowl, topped with ice cream. Dial up the sweetness factor with a drizzle of fudge or caramel sauce. Or go the lighter, more colorful berry sorbet route. My favorite? Calling upon fresh berries, whipped cream and a sprig of mint.

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