Saturday, March 17, 2012

Peppermint Pattie Cookies

I dunno about you, but I am going to celebrate with some mouth-melting peppermint patty cookies. It's no green beer, or corn-beef and cabbage, but really, does anyone really love that stuff anyways? Patty full of fresh and minty peppermint will just add to the fresh spring air coming through your newly opened windows. And for some reason I just feel like the peppermint patty is the perfect treat for a day like today.
This cookie was inspired by some homemade peppermint pattie recipes that I have been wanting to try, but I wanted to make my patty with a cookie and a little crunch. So I guess they could be considered a close cousin to the scout's thin mints, but because I never was a scout or ever really ate any scout cookies, I decided to call this cookie what it is to me, a peppermint....patty....cookie. 

Plus these babies are made with some pretty simple ingredients with lots of health benefits. If you are looking for a way to add more love to your life with raw honey and coconut oil, you may just need to make this recipe today! Raw honey is a great food to eat in the spring to help clear your sinuses and mucus glands. But you must buy local raw honey to really reap the benefits for your own regions seasonal allergens. Here is a great resource about raw honey as well! And here is a great reason to try and add more pure organic coconut oil to your life as well. (See, I told you I could justify any healthy treat!) And you are gunna need it after you try one of these....you just can't stop after one!
Peppermint Pattie Cookie Recipe
{Gluten and Dairy-Free}

[there are 3 parts to this cookie and each part is listed below in order with instructions]

Chocolate cookie base:
1 cup of freshly ground buckwheat flour (or 1 cup GF flour blend of choice)
1/4 cup of cocoa powder
1/2 ts. of sea salt
4 TB of coconut palm sugar
4 TB of soft coconut oil
4 TB of non-dairy milk of choice

Grind almost 1 cup of buckwheat groats in a magic bullet or high powered blender to make fresh ground buckwheat flour. Mix one cup of flour with the rest of the above ingredients. Use a rubber spatula to mix well and it will start out crumbly like a pie crust and will turn into a cookie dough. Take Tb sized balls and roll them in the palm of your hand and then press down the little quarter-sized balls on a parchment papered baking sheet. This recipe will make between 2 1/2 to 3 dozen cookies depending on how large you roll your cookies. Bake cookies in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes and then let cool for at last one hour. Then make the following mint cream topping...
Honey mint cream:
1/2 cup of soft organic extra virgin coconut oil
1/3 cup of raw honey 

In a small bowl, whip up the raw honey and soft organic coconut oil until it turns into a creamy whipped substance. Add the peppermint flavoring or oil and continue to whip. Then put mix in the freezer for just a few minutes to stiffen up a little bit to a frosting like consistency. Then with the mix you can either pour into a zip lock bag to "frost" the cookies (you do this by pouring cream in bag and then cutting a 1 inch slit at the bottom corner to squeeze out cream over cookie), or use a flat knife to frost the cookies, whatever is easier for you. Top each cookie with a teaspoon sized portion of the cream and spread all over the top flat and thin. Then return the frosted cookies to the baking sheet and place in the freezer for the cream to harden on top of the cookie. Freeze at least one hour, but can up to 6-8 hours as well. Then get ready to coated them in melted chocolate. 
Chocolate coating:
1 1/2 cup of dairy-free chocolate chips (I used Enjoy Life)
1 ts. of organic extra virgin coconut oil

In a small glass bowl, melt 1 heaping cup of dairy-free chocolate chips with a ts. of coconut oil in the microwave for 30 seconds, then stir and melt again for another 30 seconds. Then after a minute of heat it should be easily stirred into a liquid form. Then add the peppermint oil and stir well. You can also melt your chocolate over boiling water if you prefer. When chocolate is liquid, you can drop each frozen mint topped cookie into the glass bowl and use a spoon or fork to fully cover the cookie with chocolate. Return the coated cookie to the parchment papered baking sheet. After you are done coating all of the cookies, you can use the remaining melted chocolate in the bowl to sprinkle over the cookies to add an extra touch of drizzled chocolate to the cookies. Then return the cookies to the freezer and let the chocolate coating harden for at least one hour before eating. Then after the coating is fully hardened you can keep the cookies in a container in the fridge or even leave in the freezer if you desire. This recipe will make about 2 1/2-3 dozen cookies depending on how large you make them and how many you sneak before you share with others :)
These cookies are really truly simple too. Just 3 steps, but not many ingredients and they could last a long time being chilled in the fridge. A definite new found love in our house. I will be making them again for an Easter treat and probably again for Christmas with a festive touch. You could easily impress your friends and family with a treat like this! The only problem may be that you will not want to share, and will want to hoard them all to yourself as long as you can. I am pretty sure that when it comes down to the last one my husband and I will be fighting to see who gets it. So perfect and yummy in every way!
Just look at that cookie! Melt-in-your-mouth perfection.

Well, whatever you do to celebrate this fun day of Irish and green cheer and I hope it involves getting outside in this seasonably warm weather. In my neck of the woods, we are five days into a week long warm-up of 70 and 80 degree tempts. It's just heavenly. Perfect for spring cleaning, outdoor naps, and babies to be born!

I hope you have a beautiful weekend with lots of fresh air and sunshine.

Much love to you!

6 comments:

  1. These look so yummy! And they don't sound as complicated as I was expecting.

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  2. Oh my goodness, Stephanie, you have outdone yourself! These look amazing. I love that they include some great health-promoting ingredients, like the coconut oil and local honey. I think peppermint has some good benefits as well, such as soothing digestion troubles? These seriously look incredible; you have a gift! Enjoy the fruits of your labor, and happy St. Patty's day! :)

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  3. Hey! I made these = ) Something went horribly wrong with my first batch of cookie base. I think I may have gotten some oregano oil in my coconut oil. Either that or it was the buckwheat flour I used was old; doubtful though. SOooo I opened up the new coconut oil, and ground up my own buckwheat, and voila. Although, I was concerned that the cookie part wasn't sweet enough, and I'm sure I probably added some honey, but after I put everything together, the cookie part reminded me of a Girl Scout Thin Mint. Yummy! Thanks! I only did half of a batch, guess I will have to make more = )

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  4. Stephanie, these look amazing! As I have told my family, now that I read your blog I have to actually have a degree of willpower. I used to be able to get away with the GI distress thing to keep me from indulging in yummy treats

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  5. mmmm...just made more! = ) AND I am thinking about making more to bring to a ladies Bible group. You have no idea what niche you have filled! My favorite GS Cookie is a Thin Mint and my favorite candy was a York Peppermint Patty, but when I went dairy free, I chose Jr. Mints to eat, and then I gave up refined sugar - there went the mints, NOW I can have both! = )

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  6. Joelle- So glad you made more and they were a good way to fulfill a loved craving for minty chocolate cookies! I am going to make another batch today myself....:)

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