Chocolate Peppermint Crackers, or a Thin Mint Copycat Recipe

I feel as though I should be ashamed of this post.  Four ingredients, and one is Ritz crackers.

It works.  Oh it works.  In starting out as a short cut version of the adored thin mint cookie, that wonderful chocolate mint cookie sold by adorable girl scouts, it manages to surpass it.  The buttery flakiness of the cracker is so utterly satisfying to crunch and coats your mouth with that delicious fatty taste, and then your tongue hits those flakes of salt and becomes smitten by the unexpected encounter with a new flavor.  The chocolate peppermint combination is always so refreshing, and the candy cane topping on these gives your teeth something to savor, to linger over. We are unable to resist making these each  and every year.

I suppose one could make their own butter Ritz-like crackers.  But that is for a more ambitious person than me.  I'm not convinced it would be worthwhile to do so.  The Ritz crackers are perfect.  So I embrace its ease, though I do make a panicked phone call to my mom right as I'm going to make them and demand to know if I need to use peppermint or mint oil in these.  So finally, finally, I wrote it down.  I'm quite sure my mom appreciates my foresight this year.

These are just so incredibly easy, with only a bit of assembly necessary.  The kind of assembly where you put on a ridiculously awesome cheesy holiday movie like Love, Actually, plug in all the holiday lights, sit down with your chocolaty project, and revel in the cheesy glory of it all.  No shame necessary.

Need more Christmas treats?  Click here for a cookie slideshow from Cooking Light - so much festive deliciousness!

Ingredients
2 cups dark chocolate melting wafers
1/2 teaspoon - 3/4 teaspoon peppermint oil
25 Ritz crackers
peppermint chips or crushed candy cane, for sprinkling

Instructions
Line a baking sheet or two with wax paper.  Melt the chocolate wafers (I used the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds), and stir in the peppermint oil.  Coat each cracker entirely with chocolate, and place on the wax paper.  Sprinkle peppermint chips or crushed candy cane on top.  Repeat for each cracker. Once the chocolate has hardened, consume copiously!