The rest of us

In a culture where few seasonal items remain, February has a seasonal food of sorts: Girl Scout cookies. I have long been a fan of thin mints, much to the detriment of my hips, but lately it has been the rest of my system that complains when I feed it wheat or gluten. There was only one thing left to do: develop my own GF thin mint. Don't worry, I still buy the green boxes to support the fledglings in our neighborhood, but this recipe supports me and a legion of similarly deprived girlfriends.

GF Mint Cookies

1 3/4 cups GF flour mix (I like Namaste, but any mix will do)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg or egg replacer
1/2 teaspoon mint extract

6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate

Whisk flour, cocoa, and salt in medium bowl to blend. Cream sugar and butter in large bowl until well blended. Add mint extract, beat in egg. Add dry ingredients; beat until blended. Divide dough in half: Shape half of dough into a log 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Repeat for second half of dough. Wrap in wax paper and refrigerate 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Unwrap cookie dough, and cut into 1/4-inch slices. Place on prepared cookie sheets. Bake until cookies no longer look wet and small indentation appears when tops of cookies are lightly touched with fingers, about 11 minutes (do not overbake or cookies will become too crisp). Cool on sheet 5 minutes. Transfer chocolate cookies to racks and cool completely.

Drizzle or dip with tempered melted chocolate. Try to wait until set before you start dunking them in hot cocoa or devouring them.