Ding Dong!
During a certain time of the year, a knock at the door might mean one of two things: Jehovah’s witnesses or girl scouts. If it’s the latter, chances are they haven’t come empty-handed.
Samoas, Tagalongs, Thin Mints.
A few weeks ago, I decided it’d be fun to try and re-create said girl scout cookies, only in a healthier (and raw) form. Currently, I’m brainstorming ideas for how to do the Samoas. But for today, you’re stuck with raw thin mints. In brownie form.
Hope you don’t mind!
Prettier than a picture!
If you saw my thoughts on twitter, please don’t let yesterday’s tweets deter you from trying these raw brownies.
I swear, they taste amazing, despite some opinions on how they look (or what they resemble). You might even notice it’s this the same photo three times in the post; that’s because the other photos looked even worse. The brownies look yummy in real life, but I just could not manage to get a good picture. So when I went to review the photos, my choices were: go back and take another photoshoot or say, “What’s important is the taste” and just post what I had. Lacking the time and desire for more picture-taking, I went with option two. Besides, it gives me an excuse to make these brownies again in the near future so I can provide y’all with some shots that’ll actually do justice to the stellar taste!
As for the floating brownie photo above? I love how—in some professional photographs—everything is blurred except for one part of the photo. Obviously I am not a professional, ‘cause this just looks weird. Oh well, I tried!
Raw Thin-Mint Brownies
- 1 cup walnuts (120g)
- 1 and 1/3 cups pitted dates (230 grams) (I highly recommend Sunmaid, because they’re softer.)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 5 tablespoons cocoa powder
- A few drops pure peppermint extract (depending on how minty you want them… Start with less; you can always add more.)
- Optional: for even more chocolate flavor, add chocolate chips. Or add cacao nibs.
- Optional: tiny dash of salt (I always add this and recommend it.)
Directions: Combine all ingredients, using a food processor. (No need to blend the dates first; I just blend everything all at once. But if you use a Magic Bullet, you might want to do it in batches. I’ve not tried this in a regular blender and therefore can’t vouch for it.)Form into brownies or balls or bars… or even cookie-cuttered shapes!
(I don’t have specific nutritional info for this recipe, but the nutrition stats are probably pretty similar to a Larabar.)
You know what would go well with raw thin-mint brownies?
One of my favorite healthy recipes: Mint-Chocolate-Chip Milkshake.
I’m gearing up for St. Patrick’s Day, can ya tell?
Question of the Day:
Have you ever eaten a Girl Scout Cookie?
And were you ever a girl scout? When I was in girl scouts, you could always tell my cookie order form from all the others: It was the one with an overwhelming number of orders for Samoas (the only ones I liked) and Thin Mints (the only ones my mom liked).
Are you kidding me??? They look beautiful! I don’t want to know what you think they resemble though. LOL I think I’ll refrain from clicking on that twitter link! 😉
+1 to this. katie, they look yummy to me!
Samoas and Thin Mints are amazing! I’m surprised my dad hasn’t bought any yet, he usually brings them home from work around this time of year! Maybe he’s finally taking my cue and wants to be healthier! I made raw thin mints before, they are delish!
haha you’re such a good influence 🙂
I was cracking up at your tweets! Then karma paid me back as I tried to photograph black lentils last night. They tasted good though!
I used to LOVE frozen Thin Mints. Instead of the green smoothie on the side, how about a raw thin mint smoothie?! Perfection. Now I just need a Tagalong recipe…
I love thin mints. They are my favorite girl scout cookie — although I haven’t had any in a few years. I used to order them through a neighbor’s daughter but then I moved and forgot about them! They sure are good though.
Other than that I like the regular old shortbread cookies – not sure what those are called. Do you have a shortbread recipe? I hope you do!
I don’t :(. But I think plain old coconut butter tastes like shortbread! I’ve been meaning to make a coconut butter cookie. Maybe try using any sugar cookie recipe, decreasing the sugar, and using melted coconut butter in place of the oil?
I made your raspberry marzipan muffins for 2, but doubled it to 4, so I’d have snacks to take to work 🙂
I used graham flour and maple syrup. YUM, YUM, YUM.
My biggest problem was not eating them all right from the oven!
Oooo graham flour sounds fun.
LOL I always want to eat all the muffins (or cookies!) when they come out of the oven. That’s when they taste best, right? 😉
I just had the best discovery last night – chocolate-dipped coconut luna bars taste EXACTLY LIKE SAMOAS. samoas were the only girl scout cookies i liked, and i’m so glad i found a replacement!
Oh my gosh, Charlotte, I ate one last night too! They’re my new favorite Luna Bar… and I don’t even like Luna Bars. I’m crazy about these!
😀
Oh, I’m so glad I’m not the only one who thinks that!
I adore those Lunas because they remind me so much of Samoas.
Just missing the caramel (attn Luna: add caramel, plz)
<3
yummy! Sounds so easy and delicious. Is caramel extract raw, though? I wanted to try using butter extract in my cake batter shake… but now I have no idea if extracts are raw or not. Well, in the case of the butter one, I scrapped that idea because I’m almost POSITIVE it’s not healthy. lol all sorts of strange ingredients in that stuff.
I’m guessing not. I wasn’t thinking like a raw foodist! I’d just add the extract and call it “almost raw”… hah. But I’m sorta lazy.
Lucuma powder IS raw, though, and tastes caramelish… or mapley. So I’ve read.
I still need to find some to try!
This looks awesome, I can’t wait for your Samoas creation!
I recently made thin-mint inspired cake balls and they were pretty delicious, I must say so. I definitely need to try your recipe now!
woah, mint cakeballs sound insanely good!
Oh my goodness, delicious!! I have to try these for sure. My mom was always obsessed with thin mint cookies, too. Do you have a measurement for the mint extract? I always end up adding too much by accident. :/
lol that’s definitely why I cautioned to start out with less! 😉 When I made these, I didn’t actually measure (*embarrassed*). Just taste test. And I guess I’ll have to be making these again so I can give you a more exact amount, huh? Or if you make ’em first, you can tell me! 🙂
I was never a girl scout, but I WAS jealous of all my friends who were girl scouts.
I looove Girl Scout Cookie Season. AND Thin Mints are my favorite type of GSC. Excellent recipe choice–they look delicious and festive!