(Thin) Mint Cookies & Cream Slab Cake

Eating Andes mints on repeat, a house fully dedicated to Thin Mints, too I have been chasing this one for months. Part giant Oreo of your dreams, part ice box cake, this Thin Mint Cookies & Cream Cookie Cake is a stunner on the eyes and the taste buds and is my bulls-eye mint dessert moment in texture, vis and nostalgia. And best yet, it gets better with age and loves to be made in advance.

Mint + chocolate + clear vanilla extract hits on a bright freshness (mint), acidity (chocolate) and creaminess (clear vanilla) making our pallet feel like it’s hit a home run. 

When gathering ingredients note:

-Clear vanilla extract is the creamy, dreamy lighter cousin of dark vanilla extract. It’s THE essence of the center of an Oreo among many other nostalgic flavors (creamsicle! birthday frosting!)

-Peppermint extract is the mint chip moment you want. MINT extract will give more toothpaste- which I personally keep solely for toothbrushing sessions and out of my baking pantry.

-Corn syrup- love it, hate it. It cues our taste buds that something nostalgic is HERE, and usually that’s a creamy, dreamy, vanilla moment

-Shortening- not only vegan friendly (did you know Oreos are coincidentally vegan?!) using shortening for part of this recipe ensures that butter doesn’t try to steal the flavor mic from the clear vanilla and peppermint moments and importance in balancing flavor here. You can go full shortening in both the frosting and cookie if you like!

A note on technique: We’ve kind of served you wrong as a baking community, telling you to refrigerate a brick of dough you’re then meant to temper, roll out, flour the surface to avoid sticking, but not too much, and not too little. Are you frustrated/exhausted/disenchanted yet? Yeah, me too. Until I realized, you can just take your cut out cookie dough out of the bowl, roll between two sheets of parchment while still malleable, removing the need for extra flour, zero instance of sticking. Chilling after produces the same “resting” of the dough (ensuring a tender, snappy product out of the oven), cutting and moving the dough is then a breeze and you, of course remain king/queen/royalty of the kitchen.

Why does it get better with age?

Some baked goods are meant to be eaten a la minute- chocolate souffle, chocolate chip cookie dough, a pavlova, freshly topped with curd and fruit. But don’t turn your nose up at an aged baked good- it can also equally be the best thing, provided you understand the why. In this case, over a day or two, both the moisture and flavors migrate from frosting to cookie round creating an unbelievable melding effect- the cookie softens just enough to slice softly, the frosting firms up a bit more and the mint cookies & cream flavor is even more a knockout.

Size it as you like!

I love a 6” slab, but you can make 3 x 9” rounds or several mini handheld versions. You’re in charge.

Thin) Mint Cookies & Cream Slab Cake

Makes one 6” cookie (5 layers)

Chocolate Cookie Cake Rounds  

Makes one 5-layered, 6” cake

12 Tablespoons (1 ½ sticks) butter, softened

1 cup sugar

3 Tablespoons honey

¾ teaspoon vanilla extract 

1 ½ cups flour 

1 cup cocoa powder

¾ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon baking soda

Cokies & Cream AND Mint Frosting

Makes enough frosting for 1 cookie cake

1 stick butter, softened

½ cup shortening

2 tablespoons corn syrup

1 tablespoon milk

1 tablespoon clear vanilla extract

2 ½ cups confectioner’s sugar

½ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons peppermint extract 

1-2 drops green food coloring

Heat the oven to 325F.

Make the Cookie Cake Rounds: in a large bowl, mix together butter and sugar, honey and vanilla until smooth. Measure dry ingredients on top and slowly mix into wet ingredients, stirring just until combined.

With a rolling pin, flatten the dough between two pieces of parchment paper, the length and width of a baking sheet, ¼- inch thick. Peel back the top sheet of paper and using a cake ring or stencil, cut the dough into five 6- inch rounds. Roll out dough scraps anew  if you’re having a hard time getting the 5th round on the first go.  Refrigerate or freeze the entire sheet of dough until firm, about 5 minutes.

Pull the sheet of dough from the freezer and peel away the cookie scraps, leaving the 5 rounds intact. Scatter the cookie scraps on a lined sheet pan and bake both pans at 325F for 8-10 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and cool the rounds completely on the hot baking sheet. 

While the rounds cool, make the Frosting: in a large bowl (I like to use the stand mixer for this one!), mix together butter and shortening until smooth. Mix in corn syrup, milk and clear vanilla extract and stir until smooth. Mix in confectioner’s sugar, cornstarch and salt and stir until combined, light and fluffy. Increase the mixer speed in order to do this or roll up your sleeves and flex some muscles. Reserve a heaping 1/3 cup or green scoop (if you have colored cookie scoops, a sound investment!) in a small bowl, stir in some of the baked and cooled cookie scraps into the frosting creating a cookies & cream vibe. Set to leave to the side.

To the remaining frosting in the bowl, add peppermint extract and green color and stir until fragrant and one homogenous color, add more green color until you reach your target color.

Spread a heaping ⅓ cup or green scoop of mint frosting across 4 chocolate cookie rounds.

Spread the bowl of cookies & cream frosting across the remaining cookie round.

Stack free form or in an acetate-lined 6” ring on a serving plate in this order. Mint round, mint round, cookies & cream round, mint round, mint round. Ta da! 

BUT WAIT! If you let this tasty stack sit for a day or two or three (there’s a reason we never eat Oreo’s fresh off the line!), even more delicious magic happens. Slice and serve and smile.