Girl Scout Cookies Thin Mints

If those cute little cookie peddlers aren't posted outside the market, it may be tough to get your hands on these - the most popular cookies sold by the Girl Scouts each year. One out of every four boxes of cookies sold by the girls is Thin Mints.

This recipe uses an improved version of the chocolate wafers created for the Oreo cookie clone in the second TSR book "More Top Secret Recipes." That recipe creates 108 cookie wafers, so when you're done dipping, you'll have the equivalent of three boxes of the Girl Scout Cookies favorite. (See? That's why you bought those extra cookie sheets.)

You could, of course, reduce the recipe by baking only 1/3 of the cookie dough for the wafers and then reducing the coating ingredients by 1/3, giving you a total of 36 cookies. But that may not be enough to last you until next spring.

Chocolate Cookie Wafers

1 18.25-ounce package Betty Crocker chocolate fudge cake mix

3 tablespoons shortening, melted

1/2 cup cake flour, measured then sifted

1 egg

3 tablespoons water

Non-stick cooking spray

Coating

3 12-ounce bags semi-sweet chocolate chips

3/4 teaspoon peppermint extract

6 tablespoons shortening

1. Combine the cookie ingredients in a large bowl, adding the water a little bit at a time until the dough forms. Cover and chill for 2 hours.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

3. On a lightly floured surface, roll out a portion of the dough to just under 1/16 of an inch thick. To cut, use a lid from a spice container with a 1 1/2-inch diameter (Schilling brand is good.) Arrange the cut dough rounds on a cookie sheet that is sprayed with a light coating on non-stick spray. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove the wafers from the oven and cool completely.

4. Combine chocolate chips with peppermint extract and shortening in a large microwave - safe glass or ceramic bow. Heat on 50 percent power for 2 minutes, stir gently, then heat for an addition minute. Stir once again, and if chocolate is not a smooth consistency, continue to zap in microwave in 30-second intervals until smooth.

5. Use a fork to dip each wafer in the chocolate, tap the fork on the edge of the bowl so that the excell chocolate runs off, and then place the cookies side-by-side on a wax paper - lined baking sheet. Refrigerate until firm.

Makes 108 cookies.