Grasshopper Pie

Guest post #1!  We welcome Jonathan for a friendly battle of the grasshopper pie.  I'll let him take it from here (with a few interjections every now and then).

Grasshopper pies... either a remnant celebration of the creepy crawly goodness of Halloween, or a delicious dessert, depending on whether you’re familiar with the term.  But what really is a grasshopper pie?  That’s the question we set out to answer in this non-competitive bake-off (And it was only non-competitive because Jonathan knew EWeage would win and his pride couldn't take it).

Briefly, who am I? I’m Jonathan.  A resident fortunate enough to have been the recipient of several of the delicious recipes posted earlier in this blog which found their way to the hospital. Father of the superstar of his own blog, Noah.  And a friend of EWeage, who happened to mention in passing that she knew a recipe for grasshopper pie… one that was different from mine!

My recipe comes steeped in a healthy dose of family tradition.  Every Thanksgiving, my aunt makes grasshopper pie.  For 364 days every year, my family and I look forward to this dessert.  I have a hefty slice (or two or three) on Thanksgiving, but you can pretty much guarantee there won’t be left-overs to enjoy the next day with all of the turkey and stuffing that didn’t get eaten.

Grasshopper Pie JEgle Style

Filling

2/3 cup milk

28 marshmallows

Pinch of salt

8-oz. package thawed Cool Whip

2 oz. crème de menthe

1 oz. crème de cocoa

Green food coloring (if you’re using clear crème de menthe)

(For any teetotalers out there, I tried making this in high-school with extracts, rather than the alcohol - acceptable results, but definitely not preferable.)

Crust

21 Oreos

1/3 cup melted butter

In a generously sized sauce pan (remember, marshmallows expand), heat the milk until just prior to the boiling point.  Meanwhile, puree the Oreos for the crust in a food processor.  Mix with the butter in a bowl and then press into a pie pan to form the crust.  Refrigerate until the filling is ready.

Add the marshmallows to your sauce pan, and stir occasionally over low heat until melted.  Remove from heat and add a pinch of salt.  Once cooled, add the remainder of the ingredients and stir.  Pour into your crust and refrigerate for at least 6 hours (the more set it is, the easier to serve).  You’ll probably have a little extra filling, so you can either pour generously (like I did), or set it aside for sampling later... perhaps a dip for your left-over Oreos?  Just before cutting and serving, dip the bottom of the pie pan into warm water to loosen the bottom of the pie from the pan.

There’s an art to the degree of thawing of Cool Whip and the degree of marshmallow cooling before adding the other ingredients.  My aunt has it perfected.  Sometimes I get it right.  The only potential pitfall is aesthetics.  Taste is the same regardless.  In this pie, I let the Cool Whip thaw a little too much, and the filling had a slightly more airy texture than normal.  Still tasted amazing, though.  And if the bake-off had been competitive, well... to avoid any negativism, let’s just say Noah would’ve been proud of his Dad.  Our judges agreed they'd be more than happy to enjoy either dessert again if we so desired to share.

Grasshopper Pie EWeage Style

25 Oreos

1/3 stick butter

1 1/2 quart mint chocolate chip ice cream

1 8 ounce tub Cool Whip

hand-full of mini chocolate chips

Remove ice cream and Cool Whip from freezer to thaw.

Crush Oreos with bottom of cup in pie pan (we're avoiding dishes here!) or use food processor as Jonathan suggested.

Melt butter in microwave.  Mix in to Oreo crumbs.

Press in pan to create crust.  Chill in freezer until ice cream is a scoopable consistency.

Use large spoon to scoop slices of ice cream and layer into pie crust evenly.

Top with Cool Whip and mini chocolate chips.

You pick which ingredients you'll pick up at the store tonight!