Giant Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookie and BaCon's Blogoversary!

I love the beginning of January. When else can you tell perfect strangers that you hope their next 365 days are happy ones? And I'm very excited about 2010, ya'll. I'm hoping that this year I: finally screw Chase Bank over by paying off all of my credit card debt and never looking back, successfully hike Glacier National Park's backcountry for 10 days without whining myself to death, and eat at Chef DeBarr's Green Goddess restaurant in NOLA at least 10 times.

The beginning of January marks a new year but it also marks the end of a year of BaCon. That's right...it's my Blogoversary! (Note: Though I hate "foodie" and "gastrosexual," I'm not above a little neologistic fun every now and then. Say it...blog-o-versary. Fun, right?)

I started BaCon one year ago this week, and it's been distracting me from my day job and my sex life ever since...wait. Forget I said that. Honestly, this past year I've learned that to love cooking is to love pleasure and companionship, and BaCon has brought me both by the buckets.

My Inaugural Post detailed "How To Make a Croquembouche," the item I brought to my work's annual holiday baking contest.  So it's only fitting that my Blogoversary post be my 2009 entry for the baking contest (or entries, as it were).  The baking contest is one part tasting competition, one part ThisIsWhyYoureFat.com spectacle, which is why I chose to make giant dinner-plate sized versions of my favorite Girl Scout Cookies.

I figured that you can't go wrong with making a 100x to scale version of everyone's favorite unique yet familiar treats. (And I am obsessed with teeny tiny versions of everyday things, or giant versions of things that are typically diminutive. If I ever see an airdale terrier wearing something like a teeny tiny doll's wide-brimmed feathered hat, my head might explode.)

And so without further ado, the first of 3 Giant Girl Scout Cookie recipe with tips and tricks at the bottom:

Giant Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookie Recipe

For cookie:
1 cup crunchy chocolate cookies, ground into rice-crispy sized pieces
2 1/4 cups flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
6 Tbs. unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 large egg
1/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp. peppermint extract

For chocolate glaze:
10 oz. semisweet chocolate (I used fancy chocolate chips with good results)
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 Tbs. peppermint extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Whisk together the dry ingredients except for the cookie crumbs. In a separate large bowl, cream together butter and sugar with a mixer on medium-high speed. Beat in the liquid ingredients and the egg on low speed. Gradually add in the dry ingredients (flour mix and cookie crumbs) on medium/medium-low speed.

Prepare a large (10 inch) tart pan for scalloped edges or 10 inch round pie pan with non-stick cooking spray. Pour the batter into the pan, making sure to spread the batter evenly. 

Bake for 17-20 minutes, until the edge of the cookie is firm and the center is moist and soft but not raw. Remove from oven, run a sharp knife around the edge of the cookie, and let cool completely before gently removing it from the pan (I put a plate on top of the pan, flipped it upside down until it released, and then carefully flipped it back over onto a cooling rack for glazing.)

For the chocolate glaze:
Melt the butter.  Bring 2  inches of water in deep, small pan.  Add the chocolate to another pan that you can place on top of the water-pan to create a double boiler. When the water boils, place the pan with the chocolate over and inside the water pan but don't let the boiling water touch the bottom of the chocolate pan. (Why? I don't know.  It's just one of those things you hear that sounds important). 

Once a bit of the chocolate has melted, stir until everything has melted.  Remove from the heat and stir in the melted butter and peppermint extract. Working quickly, paint a thin layer of the chocolate glaze on the top and the sides of the cookie. Let sit at room temperature until it has hardened.

Tips and Tricks:

• The cookie crumbles add that signature Thin Mint crunchy cookie texture to a cookie/cake-like recipe. I found some plain crunchy organic cookies at my local grocery store and they worked perfectly.
• It sounds like alot of peppermint extract, which can sometimes taste medicinal when added to baked goods, but the richness of the chocolate really counteracts that, and blends well with the mint flavors in this recipe. 
• Err on the side of undercooking vs. overcooking. A more cakey cookie is much preferred to a chocolate glazed hockey puck. Trust me on this.
• Resist the urge to freeze this to have the chocolate harden.  It's too big to really freeze and bring back to room temp. before serving, and freezing will harden the cookie so that it's hard to cut. Be patient, it'll set.