This month’s Pie Club feature is based on the Grasshopper after-dinner drink, which is made by shaking together cream, white crème de cacao, and crème de menthe with ice, then straining into a glass. It’s minty, frothy, boozy, and delicious! There’s a mention of Grasshopper Pie in the New York Times, dating back to 1904; that one is made from real grasshoppers and possibly originated in the Philippines. Food historians date the crème de menthe version to the late 1950s and early ’60s here in the US, though a bar in New Orleans’ French Quarter – Tujague’s – claims the beverage was invented in 1918, by its owner, Philip Guichet.
Grasshopper Pie has come to be known as one of the most iconic foods of its era alongside tuna noodle casserole, Swedish meatballs, or fondue, and like many other things, American food fads are making a comeback. Can’t-lose flavors of chocolate and mint have been used for decades now as the basis for this fluffy pie. Although vintage is in the name of our pie, it wouldn’t be ours without putting a new-fashioned spin on it with pastel green Grasshopper Cream Liqueur, swoops of scratch-made marshmallow fluff, swirls of minty cream cheese (likened to those melt-in-your-mouth butter mints), pops of Andes chocolate mints, and ribbons of thick vanilla whipped cream.
Typically a no-bake style pie, we blind-baked an all-butter chocolate crust for this pie’s foundation and garnished with mini semi-sweet chips and Thin Mints® cookie pieces (because you can’t swing a cat without hitting a Girl Scouts cookie stand in our area the past few weeks.) It’s just as awesome frozen as it is served cool, plus, in perfect time for St. Patrick’s Day, and paired with Pleasant Street Coffee roasted in-house and brewed now at Eclairs de la Lune.
Originally, the popularity of the Grasshopper pie was due to its ease of preparation and that it could be made ahead of time. Who doesn’t love that in a recipe? A 1960 article in the Hartford Courant agreed when they wrote that the pie was “easy to make, is quickly prepared and needs no baking.” While ours did call for some oven time and pie weights, we’ve included a recipe today with the more traditional chocolate sandwich cookie crust, which you may buy already prepared or make yourself.
GRASSHOPPER PIE
INGREDIENTS
- 16 Oreos crushed into fine crumbs or a premade cookie crust
- 3 Tablespoon melted butter (do not need if you are using a premade crust)
- 1/2 cup half and half
- 22 large marshmallows
- 3 tablespoon crème de menthe
- 3 tablespoon crème de cacao
- 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
- More whipped cream and cookie crumbs for garnish
DIRECTIONS
- Mix cookie crumbs with the melted butter and press into the bottom and the sides of a 9-inch pie plate (not a deep dish pie plate.) Chill in the refrigerator until ready to use. Skip this step if using a premade crust.
- Heat the half-and-half with the marshmallows in a saucepan over low heat. Stir until the marshmallows have melted. Take off the heat and let it cool to room temperature.
- Pour the cooled marshmallow mixture into a large mixing bowl and stir in the Crème de Menthe and Crème de Cacao.
- Whip the heavy whipping cream into stiff peaks in a separate bowl and fold it into the marshmallow mixture.
- Pour into the pie crust and chill for at least 4 hours.
- Garnish with extra whipped cream and cookie crumbs if desired.