It’s March, which means we’re in the throes of Girl Scout cookie season. As everyone knows, Samoas are the best Girl Scout cookie, hands down. (I know they’re not called “Samoas” anymore, but they’ll always be Samoas to me…) However, Thin Mints are a close second. March also means St. Patrick’s Day, and so this minty green recipe seems perfectly suited for this time of year.
(Quick pause to show you this Los Angeles Times video about Girl Scout cookies and the fact that they’re made by more than one baker, meaning the cookies produced are slightly different. If you grew up in Maine, you likely consumed a different version of Thin Mints than someone who grew up in Georgia. Crazy — I know.)
This puppy chow recipe came my way courtesy of my mother, whose co-worker had made a batch for a staff meeting. “Hers was really good — might be blog worthy!” my mom wrote in an email with the link to the recipe. And, after making a batch last weekend with my friend Bethany while visiting her in Richmond, she and I determined that indeed it was. So here we are.
Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookie Puppy Chow
Ingredients (for chocolate mint pieces)
- 6 cups (1/2 box) Rice Chex cereal
- 1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 12 Thin Mint cookies, finely crushed
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
Ingredients (for green pieces)
- 6 cups (1/2 box) Rice Chex cereal
- 1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips
- Green food coloring
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
Ingredients (for remaining pieces)
- Remaining Thin Mint cookies, roughly chopped
- 1 8-ounce bag of Mint M&Ms
- 2 1-gallon Ziploc bags
- Place cereal in a large bowl and set aside.
- In a small microwave-proof bowl, melt chocolate and stir gently until smooth. (I recommend microwaving for 30-second increments, stirring between each, until completely melted.)
- Pour the melted chocolate over the cereal and gently stir (so you don’t crush the cereal!) until the cereal is coated by the chocolate.
- Add crushed cookies and stir again.
- Pour powdered sugar into the gallon Ziploc bag.
- Pour cereal into the bag on top of the powdered sugar.
- Shake, shake, shake until the cereal is completely coated with sugar. (The pieces should still be brown!)
- Dump out onto a cookie sheet and cool completely.
- Place cereal in a large bowl and set aside.
- In a small microwave-proof bowl, melt chocolate and stir gently until smooth. (Since the white chocolate burns much more easily than the semi-sweet chocolate, I recommend microwaving these chips for 15-second increments, stirring between each, until completely melted.)
- Stir several drops of green food coloring into the melted white chocolate. (I think I used about 10 drops total.)
- Pour green chocolate over cereal and stir gently until the cereal is well coated.
- Pour powdered sugar into the second Ziploc bag.
- Pour cereal into the bag on top of the powdered sugar.
- Shake, shake, shake until the cereal is completely coated with sugar. (This time, the pieces should be green.)
- Dump out onto a cookie sheet and cool completely.
- Once your chocolate mint and green cereal pieces have set, mix them together in a large mixing bowl, combining to evenly distribute the two flavors. Mix in the bag of Mint M&Ms along with the remaining Thin Mint pieces.
- Enjoy!
