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).
I was a girl scout and my favorite time of the year was when we sold girl scout cookies! I love the thank you cookies the best!! Also cold thin mints are great 🙂
Do you mind me asking what color eyeshadow you use. It looks great on you in your picture in the sidebar.
Thanks!
Awwwwww ann, you are so sweet :). I am so not-picky when it comes to eye shadow lol. I usually just use the free ones my mom gets in the Estee Lauder gift bags. But I do have a few Urban Decay shadows (navy blue is my favorite). They stay on very well :). I think that’s probably what I’m wearing in the photo.
You’re chocolate covered in the pic. Ha ha. Love it!
Anyway, I was a girl scout and ate more than my fair share of the cookies. I think my family bought more of the cookies from me than anyone else. Samoas are my fave, too. Here are two links to some of my raw recipes I posted a few years ago (Samoas included): http://www.welikeitraw.com/rawfood/2008/01/raw-girl-scout.html and http://rawdorable.blogspot.com/2008/01/chocotastrophy-do-try-this-at-home.html
I like how simple your recipe is to make. Gotta be a fan of instant gratification 🙂
Wow. Sometimes there are no words! You are incredible. They even LOOK like real gs cookies. I bet they taste even better. Please please come make me some so I can see for sure? 😉
I was going to mention these! I’ve made most of hers. So good!
I wish I could bring you some, but I don’t get to travel much (or unbake as much) with the kids these days. If you get a chance, feel free to use the recipes in the posts.
These look amazing! I love thin mint cookies!
These look amazing. Do you know of anything I can sub for the walnuts. I am not at a point in my recovery right now where I can eat nuts because they are so calories dense, but I hate missing out on so many of your amazing recipes!
((BTW This is “Getting Through It” back to the original name. I am not blogging at the moment, but as soon as I can think of how to work my blog in a positive manner and make it nice and vegan I will get back to it. I might have to just steal your mind :P))
I’d say another type of nut, but that wouldn’t help you any, I guess. So I can’t think of anything… maybe almond flour or oats? But the taste would be totally different. If you find something that works, let me know!
I might have to try the oats-could be interesting.
Hi sweetie.
I’ve used oats before in Katie’s recipes to cut down on the calories (for similar reasons).
I tend to do 1/4 nuts and 3/4 oats. It works well for me!
Hope you’re doing okay.
Okay, thank you 🙂
Mmmmm girl scout cookies 🙂 Samoas are my favorite! The girl I used to nanny for is always at the top of the troop with orders! This past year she had over 800. I think when I was young, I only had about 35? Hehe 😀
Love this recipe! Just need to get my hand on some dates (the food, not the action)
I probably sold a lot of boxes… but only because I ate a lot, myself lol!
Never had a Girl Scout Cookie. Love the sound of those Thin Mint Brownies though. I’ve added mint extract to Hot Cocoa Fudge Babies before and they taste amazing! 🙂
Haaa I was more of a girl-scout *drop-out*… was a brownie and then transitioned over that bridge thing to be a girl-scout, and then our troop kind of just…died off! So sad! I did, however, always rock at selling (and consuming) girlscout cookies! nom nom nommm The pb ones were my favorite. And thin mints are pretty good frozen!
O, and I meant to ask you.
Have you ever tried soy nuts? My friend has been wanting me to try them, but I haven’t taken the time to go get any, and I was just wondering if you have ever tried them and if so what you thought of them.
I don’t think so.
They’re kind of bland, but I like them 🙂 They’re salty and crunchy. I’d rather have the real soybeans though, but if you want a quick snack that is high in protein, it’s a great choice 🙂
omg, LOVE. and this is one shamrock shake i’ll happily enjoy 🙂