Last Updated on February 17, 2026 by Deliciously Organic Editor
Thin Mints are one of my favorite cookies, and this grain-free version tastes just as good as the original!
Thin Mints are delicious, but they contain lots of unhealthy ingredients.
Here’s a short list of some of the ingredients:
GMO Sugar
High Fructose Corn Syrup
Partially Hydrogenated Oils
White Flour
Artificial Flavors
Class 4 Caramel Color
To avoid these harmful ingredients (but still get our Thin Mint fix!) I decided to clean them up a bit and give you a recipe for Grain-Free Thin Mints.
I baked the cookies just a tad longer than normal to help get them a bit crispier. We also put a batch in the fridge and freezer and yep, they taste like the real thing!
Here are some more homemade girl scout cookie recipes you might enjoy!
Homemade Grain-Free Samoas
Grain-Free Tagalongs
Grain-Free Do-si-dos
Homemade Thin Mints Recipe (Gluten-Free)
- Prep Time: 35 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
- Yield: Makes about 2 dozen cookies
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Gluten Free
Ingredients
- 1 cup almond flour
- 2 tablespoons coconut flour
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder, plus additional for sprinkling
- 1/2 teaspoon Celtic sea salt
- 1/2 cup coconut sugar
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter (or 5 tablespoons palm shortening), room temperature
- 1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
- 10 drops peppermint essential oil
- 16 ounces semi-sweet chocolate (I used Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips)
Instructions
- Place almond flour, coconut flour, cocoa powder and salt in a medium bowl and whisk until combined.
- Place the coconut sugar and butter in the bowl of a standing mixer with beater attached. Beat on medium-high for 4-5 minutes until lighter in color and fluffy. Beat in the egg and the yolk and then the peppermint oil. With mixer on low, slowly add the flour mixture and mix until incorporated.
- Place a piece of parchment paper on the counter and sprinkle with cocoa powder. Place the dough on top of the parchment, top with another piece of parchment and roll the dough using a rolling pin until it’s ¼-inch thick. Place the rolled out dough and parchment on a baking sheet and place in the fridge for 15 minutes (this will make the cookies easier to cut).
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF and adjust the rack to the middle position.
- Remove the dough from the fridge and remove the top piece of parchment. Using a 2-inch round cookie cutter, cut the dough into circles and carefully remove the dough (the dough will be a bit sticky) from the parchment and place on a clean baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Repeat with the remaining dough. Bake for 11 minutes and cool completely.
- Melt the chocolate over a double-boiler. Carefully place a cookie in the chocolate and using a fork, turn the cookie over so both sides are coated. Use the fork to lift the cookie out of the chocolate and place on a cooling rack or piece of parchment (I prefer the parchment because when the cookies are completely cooled they will lift off very easily). Repeat with remaining cookies. Cool and store at either room temperature or in the freezer.
- Note: I only test the recipes on my site with the listed ingredients and measurements. If you would like to try a substitution, you are welcome to share what you used and how it turned out in the comments below. Thanks!
Oh, yum. I am currently on Whole30 and doing another one back to back. I fear that if I made these, all would be lost. Look AMAZING. Thanks for sharing your creativity in grain-free cooking and baking with the world! So glad I met you… 5 years ago! Pinned.
These look yummy! My son has a nut allergy. Do you have a recommendation for another flour I can use besides almond? All coconut flour?
I only test the recipes on my site with the listed ingredients and measurements. If you would like to try a substitution, you are welcome to share what you used and how it turned out in the comments below. Thanks!
Oat flour
I can’t wait to try these! I only have peppermint extract though – do you have a suggestion for how much I should use instead of the peppermint essential oils? Thank you!
I only test the recipes on my site with the listed ingredients and measurements. If you would like to try a substitution, you are welcome to share what you used and how it turned out in the comments below. Thanks!
I made the recipe using peppermint extract. I added 1/2 tsp to the cookie dough and another 1/4 tsp to the melted chocolate for dipping. I was very happy with the mintiness.
Thank you! I used your subs and also enjoyed them!!
Hi! Do the cookies come out firm/crunchy like real thin mints?
We’re currently on the GAPS intro diet at our house, so I’m literally drooling and about to cry thinking of the day when I can make these – Pinning for (much) later! 😉
Sorry if this is a stupid question, but does grain-free also mean they are gluten free? I’m ok with gluten, but would like to make these for a friend who is not. Thanks! They sound wonderful!
Yes, it’s also gluten-free. 🙂
I’d love to know if there is a way to make these without egg, as my kiddo is allergic.
I haven’t tested it, but you could try 1 1/4 teaspoons gelatin blended with 3 tablespoons hot water (blend until frothy).
Yup. It’s decided. I need to make these ASAP. Great post, these look amazing!
My understanding is it’s not safe to ingest any essential oil unless under guidance of a trained aromatherapist
The British School says not to ingest because their studies are based on food and perfume grade essential oils. I prescribe to the French School of thought which was put together by medical doctors who’s studies are based on therapeutic grade oils. The French school says it’s ok to ingest therapeutic grade essential oils (using common sense, of course).
Also, peppermint extract (which most use for baking/cooking) contains peppermint essential oil and alcohol. I prefer to skip the alcohol and simply use the essential oil. As an added bonus, the flavor is so much better! 🙂
I should also mention that peppermint oil along with about 30 other essential oils have been designated GRAS by the FDA.
“Therapeutic Grade” is just a marketing ploy used by MLMs and NOT a real thing. There is NO SUCH THING as a ‘therapeutic grade’ essential oil except for specific essential oil companies, who use it as a marketing aid.
Essential oils are VERY strong, and can cause damage to internal organs and the mouth…..you should ALWAYS check with a doctor or perhaps a certified aromatherapist before ingesting ANY essential oils. Nutritionists are NOT doctors.
I don’t expect this to be posted as it disagrees with Carrie, but her advice for the buttermint recipe with honey for diabetics was horrible. My Blood sugar jumped from low 200 to 400 in one day because I ate them according to advice (1 an hour for 2 weeks) on the blog post.
I made these tonight, delicious. I had to swap the essential oil for extract and used the suggest amount in the comment above (thanks!). The dough was quite sticky and I only had foil (no parchment) so they stuck to the foil and were not easy to cut out and transfer. I ended up using a extra small spring loaded scoop (probably around 1 Tbsp or just under) and rolled each into a ball. Then I used the bottom of a ramekin dampened with water to flatten to a 2-inch disc (about 1/4 inch). I baked for 11 min, cooled and coated as directed. They came out great! They are really nice from the freezer. Thanks!
Were they crispy? I took mine out of the oven and they are more like cake …not crispy??
Hi Carrie, I’m a huge fan and have really been loving my weekly meal plans! I found this recipe and decided I HAD to try it. I followed directions exactly including using parchment paper AND chilling dough, however, the dough was so sticky the first time that it got all over the parchment paper and I had to start over. The second time, it still was incredibly sticky and I could not work with it at all. There was no way that I could do anything with it, let alone cut it into a thin cookie shape. I had to scrape all of the dough off of the parchment paper and basically try to roll it in balls (which sort of defeats the whole purpose of a “thin” mint). Not trying to be super negative or look down on your recipe, but PLEASE tell me how you got them into the shape they’re in in the picture because I was so discouraged I didn’t even finish the cookies, I just gave up 🙁 I really want to give these another try but don’t want to waste all the ingredients again so if you could give me a few tips or pointers to make these work better so the dough doesn’t stick so badly, that’d be so appreciated. Thanks, Carrie!
Hmm…I’m not sure what went wrong. Maybe try adding 1 additional tablespoon of coconut flour next time, chill and then cut. Or, try sparkling extra cocoa powder on the parchment when you roll out the dough and then more on top of the dough be for cutting into circles.
I also tested these cookies using a small cookie scoop and then pressing them down to make them flat. That worked well, but they were just a tad too thick for my liking…but the kids ate them up!
Thank you, Carrie, I will definitely try that 🙂
I added the extra flour as Carrie suggested. Then I did this: in addition to adding cocoa to the parchment paper in the bottom of the pan, I sprinted some on top of the dough before adding the second piece of parchment. Then added it and rolled thin. I refrigerated mine for exactly 30 min, took it out and began cutting. Some of the dough was getting soft so I put that back in the refrigerator for awhile. No problems here and I live in a very humid climate. Hope this helps. I would have left the dough in the refrigerator longer if I needed to but 30 min was sufficient.
Hi everyone: Thin mints are my absolute fav cookies. After reading some of your challenges I am going to leave my in the fridge @ least 30 minutes, maybe1 hour, like I would do if I were making Christmas Cookies. Also, I will dip my round cutter in almond flr first and divide the dough (which has been
Refrigerating)in half before cutting out the cookies. Then I will refrigerate half while I am cutting out the rest(Here in Fl the dough softens up very quickly). Also, I made these w/xylitol. I will sprinkle more cocoa on top of the ones I will cut too. Hope this works. Y’all will surely know if it does.
Back with you later……………..
I am back…I made these cookies but added xylitol instead of sugar. They were stupendous!!! I had no problem cutting them w/my round cutter as some had.
Why not roll the dough into a log the size you want (2 inches, or smaller in order to flatten later) and freeze, and cut them in slices…if you can’t get them thin enough, just flatten them.
Just finishing up my second go round with these…My son and I wanted to experiment with what wasn’t just right the first go round. So we left them to chill for 20+min which definitely helped with cutting, etc. Added closer to 13 drops of peppermint oil to the dough and loved the suggestion to add some to the chocolate coating as well. I did as Carrie suggested in the blog post too… cooked them for longer (and rolled them thinner) baking on 325 instead. They’re nice and crisp and texture wise more like the originals. This has been a great rainy day activity for us with a rewarding finish. Thanks Carrie!
Glad you all enjoyed them!