I’ve been looking forward to making this dessert for a long time. Thin Mints cookies are by far my favorite Girl Scout cookies, and the favorite of my family too. We like to store the box in the freezer so they’re nice and cold. I think for some reason it enhances the mint flavor with the dark chocolate.

Thin Mint Cookie Cheesecakes have a bottom crust made from Girl Scout Thin Mints Cookies,
which is beneath the layer of cheesecake, that includes Thin Mint
cookies along with some vanilla extract and a little mint extract. It’s just enough to add a bit more mint flavor, but not push it over the edge of course. On top of each cheesecakes there’s just a little more crushed Thin Mints along with half of a cookie as a garnish.

You may be thinking, “Hey Jim this is a great idea, but we scarfed down all of our Thin Mints. Can you please send me some Thin Mint cookies from your personal stash?” The answer is No, my Girl Scout cookie reserve is at a dangerously low level. If you don’t have any Thin Mint Girl Scout Cookies, those little Keebler Elves have a cookie that is very similar, the Keebler Grasshopper Cookies. They aren’t an exact match, but they’ll be just fine for this dessert. Actually they’re so close to Girl Scout cookies that if you accidentally ate someone’s Thin Mints you could probably replace them with Keebler Grasshopper Cookies, and they wouldn’t notice.

The Thin Mint Cookie Cheesecakes require one and a half boxes of cookies. One box for the cheesecakes themselves, and an additional sleeve of cookies for the garnish. So if you only had one box you could make the cheesecakes, but you wouldn’t have any to garnish on top.

I started this dessert by grinding one sleeve of cookies in my mini food processor. Then I divided up the cookie crumbs in the cupcake liners that I already placed in my muffin pan. I pressed the crumbs down lightly with my fingers, but not too hard. The next thing I did was make the cheesecake filling. For this I used my Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer, my pride and joy. If you don’t have a stand mixer a hand held mixer would probably work as well. I used three bricks of Neufchatel cheese that was sitting on the counter warmed up to room temperature. I added another sleeve of Thin Mints that I ground up in my mini food processor, along with some vanilla extract and some mint extract.

I added three eggs (that were also at room temperature), to the cheesecake filling one at a time, beating with the mixer in between. The next thing I did was use a big spoon to transfer the cheesecake filling to the cupcake liners, filling them right up to the top. I baked the cheesecakes for about fifteen minutes until the edges were set. I let the cheesecakes cool off in my kitchen for half an hour, then put them in the refrigerator to fully set (about four hours).

Right after dinner I had my two daughters asking if it’s time to try the Thin Mint Cookie Cheesecakes, and my wife asking if I need to take pictures before we eat. I’ll take picture in the morning, babe! I garnished the cheesecakes with even more Thin Mints that I ground up in the mini food processor and half a cookie that I stuck on top.

This is the Kitchen Aid mixer that I have and I really love it. The mixer comes with three attachments. A dough hook that I have not used yet for mixing and kneading yeast dough, a wire attachment when you need to incorporate air into a mixture like whip cream, meringue cookies, or angel food cake. And finally a paddle attachment for cake, brownies, frosting, and even mashed potatoes.

The Kitchen Aid mixer has a total of ten speed settings from a very slow stir to a very fast whip. This thing is a solid machine and I’ve heard they last a very long time. I was fortunate enough to have a friend that got a free Kitchen Aid mixer and she gave me her old one. If you’re not that fortunate to have one of these just handed to you then click here.
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Adapted from Frosting and a Smile