Keto Thin Mints are crispy keto cookies with a sugar-free mint chocolate coating. They’re the perfect way to indulge in Girl Scout cookies without all the sugar and carbs.
Fact: Nothing derails a keto diet faster than a box of Girl Scout Cookies. But never fear, Keto Thin Mints are here!
These are the low carb cookie recipe of your dreams. Or maybe my dreams. Perhaps we’ve been dreaming about this together. This thin mint cookie recipe was first posted in 2011.
Those Girl Scouts will be knocking on your door soon, and I so thought it was time I gave these beloved sugar free cookies a little update. Because you need all the help you can get to ward off the sugary temptation.
Sugar-free Girl Scout cookies
If you have trouble resisting the sweet and tasty treats sold by Girl Scouts, you are not alone.
The only possible solution? Making your own healthier versions at home. Whatever your favorite flavor is, I have a keto-friendly version. Such as keto tagalong bars, keto Samoa bars, and even keto Do-si-do cookies.
And of course, these delicious Keto Thin Mints.
All of these recipes really satisfy that craving for cookies. And best of all, they’re easy enough to make any time you need them.
Ingredients
This Keto Thin Mints recipe uses standard low carb ingredients that are readily available at most grocery stores. You will need:
- Almond flour
- Cocoa powder
- Erythritol sweetener (such as Swerve)
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Egg
- Butter
- Vanilla extract
- Peppermint extract
- Cocoa butter (or coconut oil)
- Sugar-free dark chocolate
How to make keto thin mints
It’s easy to make these crispy keto chocolate cookies. Be sure to check out the video in the recipe card for step-by-step instructions.
The cookies
Thin mints start with a good crisp chocolate wafer. I use these same wafers in my keto oreos too!
- Use finely ground almond flour: As always, a good fine almond flour produces the best results in keto baking. Your cookies will be more cohesive and crisp up better. Read more about baking with almond flour.
- The sweetener matters: I know everyone has their preferences but only erythritol-based sweeteners, such as Swerve, produce crisp cookies.
- Roll the dough evenly: I like to roll mine less than ¼ inch thick, so that I get a lot of cookies. But what matters most is that they are all of an even thickness, so that they bake evenly.
- Cut out circles: Grab a 2-inch round cookie cutter and get cutting!
- Bake at a low temperature: I keep my oven at 300 degrees Fahrenheit for these keto thin mints, so that they crisp up without burning. How long they take depends on how thinly you rolled out the dough.
The coating
Now for the fun part… dipping the wafers in a minty chocolate coating.
- Don’t use unsweetened chocolate! Several readers have made the mistake of using unsweetened chocolate, which has absolutely no sweetener whatsoever. And of course the keto thin mints turned out quite bitter! Make sure you are using a good no-sugar-added chocolate like Lily’s, which is sweetened with erythritol and stevia.
- Set up a double boiler: A double boiler allows you to melt the chocolate more gently, without overheating it.
- Add a little oil to thin the chocolate coating, making it easier to dip the wafers.
- Mint extract to taste: I recommend using an oil-based extract, to make the chocolate less likely to seize. I use a teaspoon of Frontier peppermint flavor but you can always use more if you prefer a stronger flavor.
- Dip the wafers: Drop them into the melted chocolate, toss them to coat, and lift out with a fork. Then tap the fork on the side of the bowl to remove excess chocolate. Place the keto thin mints on a waxed paper lined baking sheet until set.
Pro tip: Freeze the wafers before you start dipping them, so that the chocolate sets faster. It’s much less messy that way!
Frequently Asked Questions
Sure thing! Try using sunflower seed flour in place of the almond flour. You may need a little bit more to firm up the dough properly.
That works too! Try using coconut oil in place of the butter for the cookies and make sure to use dark chocolate for the coating.
If you want crisp cookies, you must use an erythritol based sweetener such as Swerve or Lakanto. Any amount of allulose will make these cookies very soft and spongey.
You could do that, but if you want nice even circles, I recommend rolling the dough out and cutting with a cookie cutter. The slice-and-bake method would be just as much work, in my opinion.
There are a couple of possibilities. You may have let the heat get too high when melting it. And you may have gotten some liquid in there, as any amount of water will cause seizing.
Yes! They are a great make-ahead cookie. You can either just make the wafers, and dip them when ready, or you can make the finished cookies and freeze those.
Storage Instructions
Store the cookies at room temperature in a covered container for up to a week, or in the fridge for 10 days. They can also be frozen for several months.
Keto Thin Mint Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
Cookies:
- 1 ¾ cups almond flour
- ⅓ cup cocao powder
- ⅓ cup Swerve Sweetener
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg slightly beaten
- 2 tablespoon butter melted
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Coating:
- ½ ounce cocoa butter or 1 tablespoon coconut oil**
- 7 oz Lily’s dark chocolate chopped
- 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
Instructions
Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 300F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, combine almond flour, cocao powder, sweetener, baking powder and salt. Add in egg, butter and vanilla extract and stir well until dough comes together.
- Roll out dough between two pieces of parchment paper to desired thickness, but no more than ¼ inch thick. Lift off top piece of parchment and set aside.
- Using a 2-inch diameter cookie cutter, cut out circles of dough and lift gently. Place cookies on prepared baking sheet. Gather up scraps of dough and reroll until too little is left to roll out.
- Bake cookies until firm to the touch,20 to 30 minutes (this will vary depending on how thinly you rolled your dough). Remove and let cool. They will continue to crisp up as they cool.
- Pro tip: Once cool, place the wafers in the freezer so the chocolate sets faster.
Chocolate Coating
- Set a heatproof bowl over a pot of gently simmering water. Add the chocolate and cocoa butter, stirring frequently until smooth and melted. Remove from heat and stir in the peppermint extract.
- Dip the cookies into the chocolate, using two forks to turn over and fully coat cookie.
- Lift out the cookie and gently tap the fork on the side of the bowl to remove excess chocolate, then place on a waxed paper lined baking sheet.
- Refrigerate until fully set.
Patricia says
I have an egg allergy. Do you think these would work with an egg substitute such as a flax egg?
Jessica says
I can’t wait to try this recipe! Thanks for sharing! When baking cookies what flour would you suggest other than almond flour? ( Nut Allergy)
Carolyn says
You can try sunflower seed flour.
Jasmine says
These were a little bitter for my tastes. Texture and consistency were incredible but I was expecting a sweet flavor and the dark chocolate nearly knocked my socks off.
Husband enjoyed them though,
Any suggestions to sweeten them slightly Carolyn? Perhaps semi sweet chocolate?
Carolyn says
Okay, tell me what sweetener you used? Because that’s the likely culprit here…
Jasmine says
I used swerve confectioners sugar. It had been opened for a few months, not sure if that affects the potency of the sweetness?
Heather says
5 stars LOVE these! They are a winner!!
Question – can I use semi-sweet chocolate?
Is the NO SUGAR about health… or will choc with sugar impact the finished cookie somehow?
I’ve tried it and it goes stiff when I add peppermint oil 🙁
Carolyn says
Should be fine.
Laurie L says
These are my favorite go to cookies when I need a sweet treat. I did the chocolate coating the lazy way though and just melted Lily’s semi-sweet chocolate chips and it worked perfect. Thank you for your amazing recipes.
Elita in L.A. says
I wanted to post a review of the cookies themselves, as that’s the info I want to read most when I’m looking at blog replies. I made the recipe exactly as written, using Lily’s chocolate and coconut oil (incidentally, I typically use this combo to make a delicious, keto version of magic shell topping for ice cream), I think I might have rolled my dough too thin, as I ended up with about 40 cookies. That also meant I over baked them slightly using the 20 minute timing. They came out of the oven firm, and appeared to be ok, but as they continued to cook a bit more as they cooled in the pan, they became a bit over done, some even maybe leaning to the burnt side. It took quite some time for them to completely cool and ultimately crisp up, but they did finally do so. Tasting them in their naked state, I wasn’t sure this was going to be a success. However, after coating them, I placed each on a wire rack over the baking sheet they had baked on originally, to catch the extra chocolate drippings and then chilled them in the fridge after which they proved themselves to be worthy of the time, effort and expense that went into making them…they were DELICIOUS!! Thank you Carolyn for yet another awesome recipe!
Char says
Hi Carolyn, I love your recipes. I am wondering would Creme De’ Menthe flavoring work ok for this?
Can’t wait to try this recipe!
Carolyn says
Sure, as long as it has no added sugar!
Chelsea says
My only problem with this recipe, is why it is not a 100% FIVE STAR rating! This is so good, like, really good. Thanks Carolyn, your baked sweets are truly the best. I like to make these them freeze them for late night snacks. They freeze amazing, and last a while this way. YUM.
Carolyn says
You want to know why? Because people keep making the coating with UNSWEETENED chocolate, not sugar-free chocolate. Sigh… even as much as I explain and link, they still do it sometimes and then complain that it’s super bitter. Well, yes, it would be, if you use unsweetened chocolate.
Andrea says
If I use the lilly’s chocolate chips that are sweetened with Stevia, will I need to add coconut oil/butter to the double broiler?
Carolyn says
Yes, only to thin out the coating. It’s very thick, otherwise, and hard to dip your cookies in smoothly.
Lori B. says
Gosh, these are so good. I’ve come back to them at least once a year ever since you posted them. Today, I added a little espresso powder and put a dollop of swerve buttercream on top to soothe an Oreo craving set off by my family’s holiday munching. A thousand thanks for this recipe!
Someone might find this useful: There’s a really handy cutting technique from the Low Carb Friends forum days about making almond flour crackers/cookies crispy without repeated rolling as the dough gets warmer & stickier: Take a spice tin or can the desired size of the wafer, put plastic over the bottom, find a spoon that holds roughly the same amount of dough as the recessed area on the bottom of the tin, scoop out dollops of dough and smoosh them with the plastic-covered bottom of the tin.
Mary says
I followed the recipe exactly and baked for 20 min. The cookies are dry and the chocolate coating is bitter with no taste of peppermint. Not sure what went wrong. I would definitely add extract to cookie dough and replace with 80% chocolate.
Carolyn says
Did you use unsweetened chocolate for the coating? Because that would be the issue. It calls for SUGAR FREE chocolate… not unsweetened.
Theresa Hayes says
Mine turned out ok, but not great. They look pretty and taste just alright. I wanted to make a keto friendly cookie for a cookie exchange but I am just not sure they are good enough to share. They are fine for me to help me have a treat without going off my keto diet but really just so so. I made exactly per the recipe.
Carolyn says
Sorry you didn’t love them. Tell me… what sweetener did you use? Also what chocolate for the coating?
Lea says
I followed the recipe exactly I used Lilly’s choc chips and coconut oil and it all melted nicely and then I removed from the heat and I added the peppermint extract and then the mixture ceased….I don’t know why it went the consistency of fudge so I thought I’ll just melt it again and I put it over the hot water pot again and the water was boiling but it would not melt so I wasn’t going to throw it out so I decided I would add more coconut oil I really had nothing to lose. So I the coconut oil melted and I stirred and stirred and finally the chocolate went liquid again and I used it.
Carolyn says
What brand of peppermint extract were you using? Glad you managed to save it, though!
Nicole says
Being from Canada and a girl guide in the past, I had to sell these boring sandwich cookies as well. It looks like I have all these ingredients on hand to make these. I am so making these! They look amazing!
Stacey says
Can this be made as cake
Carolyn says
No, this is a cookie recipe. I have plenty of chocolate cakes and you could make a mint ganache for it.
Tanya says
Can you use truvia cane sugar blend for these instead of swerve?? Thanx
Carolyn says
Honestly, I don’t use it and I don’t know how it measures.
Btitney says
So bummed! Made these and the cookie tasted butnt. Trying a second batch. Maybe i rolled too thin?
Used Wholesome erythritol…
Carolyn says
Could be rolled too thin, could be the erythritol? Not sure, I have never used that brand. Also, your oven may run hot so bake them less if you think you need to.
Kim says
WOW…these are so good. Pricey due to having to use 2 lily’s dark choc bars (which are $6 each in Canada) but honestly they are worth it. I just have to figure out how to get the kids to understand that a little goes a long way and they don’t need to gobble them. I think they are going to be an occasional treat though due to price and how much work goes into making them. Thanks so much Carolyn for all these great recipes you keep sharing with us.
Carolyn says
Glad you liked them. Lily’s chocolate is about $4 a bar here, so that’s close, actually. I wait for a sale and buy a bunch. They had a big sale before Christmas and I have a bit of a stockpile…
Michelle Nash says
Sorry about your prices there. Have you tried looking at the Lily’s dark chocolate baking chips? The chips were about 27% cheaper per ounce than the bars at our local grocery store and worked beautifully for this recipe! (73 cents per ounce vs $1 per ounce for the bars! Also, I didn’t use a double boiler. I used my microwave on 50% power and stirred every 20 seconds or so. It did not overheat and was done in about 40-60 seconds!
Lori B. says
If Lindt 90%, 95% or 99% (depending on your taste) is available for less in your area or online, I always just use those for making treats. I don’t like artificially sweetened chocolate and an entire bar of 90% is just ~15 carbs or so. A darker chocolate would probably slow down the munching speed of people who are used to sweeter chocolate, too!
Tammy says
Hi Carolyn,
Thank you this recipe definitely looks great to try!! Just a note Lindt chocolate is not gluten free for anyone that does not already know that. Have a great day!
Thanx
Tammy
Carlyn says
These cookies are delicious, and I truly like them much more than the Girl Scout Thin Mints! I keep mine refrigerated which makes the cooling effect of the Swerve make sense. These are better the day after you make them and beyond. Really. You should make these. You will be happy you did!
Stephanie says
I made these the other week- so perfect, thank you! My only issue was when I added the peppermint extract to the chocolate/coconut oil, it seized up. I made it work but the chocolate wasn’t smooth and hard to work with. Any idea why, or how to prevent it next time?
Carolyn says
Did you have it over a double boiler? If so, be sure the heat is very gentle and possibly even turn it off before adding the extract. Two other issues could be the quality of the chocolate, and you may want to try an oil-based peppermint extract.
Stephanie says
I did use a double boiler, I’ll definitely try those changes though. Double batch next time! : )