Homemade Gluten Free Vegan Thin Mints or Mint Chocolate Wafer Cookies Recipe -- Frugal and Easy

The other day I was looking to make a dessert for the family but I didn't have any special ingredients to use. This often happens because things like chocolate chips and other dessert add ons are more expensive so I don't generally keep them in stock. I turned to friends for suggestions and got the idea to make snickerdoodles as well as mint chocolate cookies. As you can see from the title of this post, I wasn't exactly sure what to name it: I based my idea on a lot of different recipes for thin mints that I found. I used this recipe as my starting point. But I learned that even if its a thin minty cookie, it can't be called "thin mints" unless it's coated in chocolate. I personally enjoyed it more not coated in chocolate, in which case they'd simply be chocolate mint wafer cookies, but coat them in chocolate and you've got thin mints.
They're quite easy to make, and the only "strange" ingredient in it is mint extract, which I always have in my house. They're vegan, gluten free, and frugal, not to mention free of the top 8 allergens. Highly recommended. They were a hit with my entire family. You can easily make them with gluten flour as well if your family doesn't need to be gluten free.

Homemade Gluten Free Vegan Thin Mints or Mint Chocolate Wafer Cookies Recipe -- Frugal and Easy

Wafer Cookie Ingredients
1/2 cup melted coconut oil (other oils should be fine as well)
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon peppermint mint extract
2 cups all purpose gluten free flour mix and 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum, or 2 cups all purpose gluten flour
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup non dairy milk of choice or water

Optional Chocolate Coating Ingredients
1 1/2 bars dark chocolate
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1/2 teaspoon mint extract

Instructions:
1. Mix your oil, sugar and mint extracts together.

2. Mix your dry ingredients together until uniform.

3. Add your dry ingredients to the oil and sugar mixture.

4. Add up to 1/2 cup non dairy milk or water until the dough is no longer crumbly, but is a thick and  workable dough.

5. Make small balls (roughly walnut sized) and press between two pieces of parchment paper (I used the bottom of a glass to press it). Move them to a lined cookie sheet.

6. Bake for 10 minutes exactly at 350 degrees, then remove to cool off.

7. Either eat once cooled, or dip in mint chocolate. See next step.

8. On a double boiler melt the chocolate bar and coconut oil and add in the peppermint extract. Dip each cookie into the chocolate mixture, and then lay on parchment paper to cool off and solidify.

Enjoy!

Are you a fan of mint chocolate? Do you like thin mint cookies? Does this look like a recipe you'd try? If you do, do you think you'd use the chocolate coating or skip it?