Thin Mint Chocolate Muffins

Made with the iconic Girl Scout cookies, these Thin Mint chocolate muffins are sweet and chocolatey with a little crunch for fun. 

The idea for these muffins popped into my head in the middle of the night unbidden. I wasn’t even thinking about muffins! What if, my brain said, you put a thin mint at the bottom of the silicone muffin cups and spooned chocolate batter in on top? Intriguing idea, I replied. 

So the first thing I did the next morning was to open the box of Thin Mints I had just bought from the cutest little scout outside my local grocery store the day before, to check if one would fit nicely in the bottom of my silicone muffin cups. It did! 

A little backstory. My very first job out of university was at the San Jacinto Girl Scout Council, in development (read: fundraising) which included the annual cookie sale. In my first year, we joined together with Houston area chefs who created recipes using the cookies which were then served at a party for donors. It was a lot of fun and raised substantial funds. Ever since, when I see Girl Scout cookies, I can’t help but think of creative ways to use/eat them. 

Thin Mint Chocolate Muffins

I highly recommend using silicone baking cups for this recipe so that the Thin Mints don’t stick to your pan. If you can’t find Thin Mints, Keebler makes one called Grasshopper Cookies (or Fudge Mint Delights in some countries) which would work. Walmart brand Fudge Mint Cookies are also very similar.

Ingredients for 12 muffins

3/4 cup or 180ml milk

2 teaspoons vinegar

1 3/4 cups or 220g flour

3/4 cup, packed, or 150g dark brown sugar

1/2 cup or 40g natural unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

1/3 cup or 80ml canola or other light oil

2 teaspoons vanilla

8 Thin Mint cookies for the batter and topping

12 Thin Mint cookies for lining the silicone baking cups

Method

Preheat the oven to 350°F or 180°C. 

Roughly chop the 8 Thin Mints, setting aside about 1/3 for topping. 

Add the two teaspoons of vinegar to the milk in a measuring cup. Stir and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a smaller mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil and vanilla, along with the slightly curdled looking milk/vinegar mixture.

Add the larger pile of chopped cookies to the dry ingredients.

Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, until just combined. There may still be some flour showing and that’s fine.

Put one Thin Mint at the bottom of each silicone muffin cup, rounded side up. 

Use a scoop or large spoon to fill the prepared muffin cups. They are going to be pretty full. Sprinkle the tops with the remaining chopped cookies.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Mine took only 20 minutes. You do not want to over bake these and dry them out.

Put the muffin pan on a wire rack to cool for about five minutes.

Remove the muffins from the pan and continue to cool on the wire rack. 

Carefully remove the silicone muffin cups. Here's one upside down! 

Enjoy the chocolate muffins with crunchy bottoms! 

It’s the last Monday of the month, which means it time for Muffin Monday! Check out the lovely recipe links below.

• Apple Corn Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Cranberry Oat Bran Muffins from A Messy Kitchen
• Maple Corn Muffins from Jolene's Recipe Journal
• Thin Mint Chocolate Muffins from Food Lust People Love

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.

Pin these Thin Mint Chocolate Muffins!

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Dark Chocolate Miso Rocky Road

This no-bake Dark Chocolate Miso Rocky Road is made of dried fruit, crunchy cookies and pecans covered in rich dark chocolate with butter and miso. It works wonderfully with any dried fruit, nut or cookie. Feel free to make substitutions! 

A couple of months ago, I was visiting a dear friend and she gave me a brand-new cookbook, Dominique’s Kitchen. The author had won the honor of being published after competing on Jamie Oliver’s 2022 show, The Great Cookbook Challenge. As the show’s blurb says, “Jamie Oliver and Penguin Books team up to find the next big cookbook author, as cooks compete to impress the judges for a one-of-a-kind publishing deal.”

Imagine being offered the potential opportunity to have your cookbook published by such a large and prestigious publishing company! So much more pressure than The Great British Bake-off where all they get for sure is a cake stand. (Many do end up publishing cookbooks but it’s not guaranteed.)

I had watched a few episodes but somehow missed the final. The cook who won, Dominique Woolf, trained at Leith's School of Food and Wine. According to Amazon, she’s a food writer, entrepreneur and home cook to her young family.

All I can say it that we have thoroughly enjoyed cooking several recipes from Dominique’s Kitchen and this recipe is adapted from one of hers. 

Dark Chocolate Miso Rocky Road

This recipe is a great use of any stale cookies you might have in the cupboard. In fact, that’s why I made this the first time. While cleaning out the snack bin, I came across some milk chocolate Hobnobs that were past their best. They were perfect for rocky road though! I’ll never throw stale cookies away again and you shouldn’t either.

Ingredients

7 oz or 200g 70% cocoa dark chocolate

1/3 cup or 75g unsalted butter

3 tablespoons golden syrup (or honey)

1 tablespoon miso paste

10 Hobnobs (or your favorite crunchy cookie)

3 1/2 oz or 100g dried fruit, chopped if large (I used a mix of strawberries and cherries I had dehydrated myself)

3 1/2 oz or 100g pecans

Method

Line a 9x9 in or 23x23cm baking pan with baking parchment.

In a large skillet, toast the pecans over a medium heat, shaking the pan frequently so that they don’t burn. 

Roughly chop the pecans with a sharp knife. 

In a large bowl break up the Hobnobs or your chosen cookie, and stir in the chopped pecans and dried fruit. 

Put the chocolate, butter, golden syrup and miso paste in a microwavable bowl. 

Heat in the microwave on medium for one minute. Stir well and heat again for 30 seconds and stir again. Repeat until everything is melted and well combined.

Pour the melted chocolate mixture into the dry ingredients and stir to combine.

Tip the whole lot into your prepared baking pan and spread it out to the edges.  

Cover with cling film and press the mixture down. Put the pan in the refrigerator to set. 

Once set, slide the baking parchment on to a cutting board and cut the rocky road into squares. Store chilled if you live someplace warm.

Enjoy!   

It's Sunday FunDay so today my blogger friends and I are sharing candy recipes. Many thanks to our host, Karen of Karen's Kitchen Stories. Check out the links below. 

• Chocolate Brigadeiros by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Chocolate Medallions by Mayuri's Jakoni
• Dark Chocolate Miso Rocky Road by Food Lust People Love
• Honeycomb Toffee by Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Honeycomb Candy by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Milk Cream by Sneha's Recipe
• Snowberry Torrone by Culinary Cam

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Chocolate Chocolate Chip Mini Loaves #BreadBakers

These Chocolate Chocolate Chip Mini Loaves are baked with cocoa and chocolate chips. Applesauce adds moisture and nutrition - not that you’ll notice it’s there flavor-wise! It's all about the chocolate!

Like many of my friends who love cooking and baking, I have a lot of pans that I rarely use but still keep, you know, just in case. The little vintage loaf pans I used for this recipe are a good example. I inherited them, if memory serves, from my paternal grandmother who used them to make fruitcake to give away at Christmastime. 

I actually own six of these little pans but since there are just two of us at home, it seemed like a good idea just to make four mini loaves. If you don't have mini loaf pans, you can bake this batter as muffins.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Mini Loaves

This recipe is for a small batch of just four mini loaves but it’s easily doubled if you need eight. Or even trebled. This batter is very forgiving like that. My mini loaf pans have a capacity of one cup or 240ml by volume.

Ingredients

1 cup or 125g flour

1/4 cup or 20g cocoa

1/4 cup or 50g white sugar

1/4 cup, packed, or 50g brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup or 75g applesauce (I used homemade but store-bought works fine.)

1 egg

3 tablespoons milk

3 tablespoons canola oil, plus extra for the pans

1/4 cup or 50g semi-sweet chocolate chips plus a little extra for topping, if desired.

Method

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your four mini loaf pans by brushing or spraying the insides with oil.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together your flour, sugars and baking powder. 

Mix in the chocolate chips and use your clean hands to separate any that are stuck together. 

In another smaller bowl, whisk together your applesauce, egg, milk and oil.

Pour your wet mixture into the dry ingredients and fold until they are just combined. 

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared mini loaf pans. Add a few more chocolate chips to the top, if desired.  

Bake in your preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes or until the mini loaves are puffed up and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes.

Run a offset spatula or butter knife around the edges of the pans and gently turn the  loaves out of the pans and cool further on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

It's the second Tuesday of the month so that means it's time for my Bread Baker friends to share their recipes. Our theme is chocolate breads! Many thanks to our host Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm. 

• Chocolate Chip Breadsticks from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Chocolate Chocolate Chip Mini Loaves from Food Lust People Love 
• Chocolate Crepes from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Chocolate Fudge Sauce Star Bread from Sneha's Recipe
• Chocolate Protein Oat Banana Waffles from Cook with Renu
• Chocolate Swirl Buns from Passion Kneaded
• Double Chocolate Chip Bread from Palatable Pastime
• Lemon and Ginger Scented White Chocolate Sourdough from A Messy Kitchen
• Milk and Chocolate Rolls from Magical Ingredients

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin these Chocolate Chocolate Chip Mini Loaves!

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Chocolate Zucchini Muffins #MuffinMonday

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins are baked with cocoa and chocolate chips. Grated zucchini adds moisture and nutrition, not that you’ll notice it’s there flavorwise! 

It’s the last Monday of the month so that means we are celebrating Muffin Monday all day long. I had a zucchini in the fridge that was getting a little past its best and needed to be used, hence these chocolate zucchini muffins. 

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

This recipe is for a small batch of just six muffins but it’s easily doubled if you need 12. Or even trebled. Muffins batter is very forgiving like that. 

Ingredients

1/2 medium zucchini or courgette (approx. weight 2 2/3 oz or 75g)

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup or 95g flour

1/4 cup or 20g cocoa

1/4 cup or 50g white sugar

1/4 cup, packed, or 50g brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 egg

3 tablespoons milk

3 tablespoons canola oil

1/4 cup or 50g semi-sweet chocolate chips plus a little extra for topping, if desired.

Method

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your 6-cup muffin tin by greasing it or lining it with muffin papers.

Grate the zucchini with the small holes of your grater and spread it around in a colander to drain.  Sprinkle with the 1/4 teaspoon of salt.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together your flour, sugars and baking powder. Mix in the chocolate chips and use your clean hands to separate any that are stuck together. 

In another smaller bowl, whisk together your eggs, milk and oil. Use the back of a spoon or rubber spatula to squeeze moisture out of the grated zucchini. Add it to the wet ingredient bowl and whisk.

Pour your wet mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until they are just combined. There should be some dry flour still showing.

Divide the batter evenly between the muffin cups. Add a few more chocolate chips to the top, if desired.  

Bake in your preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes or until the muffins are puffed up and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes.

Remove the muffins from the pan and cool further on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

As I mentioned above, it’s Muffin Monday! Make sure to check out all the links below to see the muffins my blogger friends are sharing. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for her behind the scenes help this month!

• Buttermilk Muffins with Whiskey-Soaked Raisins by Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Cherry Vanilla Muffins by Jolene's Recipe Journal
• Chocolate Zucchini Muffins by Food Lust People Love
• Churro Muffins by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Pineapple Rice Krispie Muffins by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Sourdough Raspberry Coconut Muffins by Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Strawberry Sweetheart Streusel Muffins by Palatable Pastime
• Whole Wheat Thandai Muffins by Magical Ingredients

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.

Pin these Chocolate Zucchini Muffins!

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