Grasshopper Pie

This light, silky mint and chocolate pie is a classic. Being a frozen pie, it's very forgiving. I've included our original family recipe for a small pie and ingredients for a more modern size. Due to the changes in marshmallow sizes if you end up with some extra filling, don't worry! You can freeze it separately for a minty treat!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 20

Total Time 8 20

Servings slices (makes one 9 1/2-10 inch deep dish pie (or a smaller traditional pie depending on ingredient amounts selected))

Calories 521kcal

Author Toni Dash

Ingredients

Ingredients for a 6-cup volume Deep Dish pie pan (9 or 10" diameter, 2" deep):

2 1/4 cups plus 1/4 cup chocolate wafer crumbs*
6 tablespoons of unsalted butter melted (plus a bit more to grease the pie pan)
36 regular-size marshmallows**
1 cup Half and Half
1/2 cup green Crème de Menthe liqueur (purchased or homemade)
1 1/8 cups heavy whipping cream

Ingredients for 4 cup volume Traditional/Standard pie pan (8 or 9 inch diameter, 1 to 1 1/2 inch depth; NOT deep dish):

1 1/2 cups plus 1/4 cup chocolate cookie crumbs
1/4 cup unsalted butter melted (plus a bit more to grease the pie pan)
25 regular-size marshmallows**
2/3 cup Half and Half (the original recipe used cream or milk)
5 tablespoons green Creme de Menthe
1 cup heavy whipping cream

Instructions

To make the Crust:

Butter the pie pan. In a large bowl combine the chocolate wafer crumbs (reserving 1/4 cup for topping) and melted butter. Hand stir until combined (the crumbs will look ‘wet’ but it won’t necessarily be sticking together unless using gluten-free crumbs).
Pour crumb mixture into the pie pan. Using the back of a large spoon or fingers, press crumbs into the pie pan evenly on the bottom and sides to form a crust. Place in the freezer.

Making the Filling:

Combine the marshmallows and Half and Half in the top of a double broiler OR in a metal, heat-proof bowl placed over a sauce pan of boiling water (not touching the water). Cook, stirring constantly once marshmallows begin to melt, until the marshmallows have melted completely. TIP: using a whisk at the end is helpful to ensure the marshmallows are completely liquified. Remove from heat.
Add the Crème de Menthe into the marshmallow mixture and stir or whisk to combine. Note: the Creme de Menthe may settle in the bottom of the bowl but will be further incorporated in the last filling step. Allow the mixture to cool slightly, about 10 minutes.
Using a standing or hand held mixer, whip heavy whipping cream until firm peaks appear. Fold/stir into the green marshmallow mixture. Whisk lightly at the end as needed to ensure the mixture is combined well.
Pour into prepared pie crust (TIP: place the prepared crust on a baking sheet if needed to allow it to stay level in the freezer). Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup of cookie crumbs on the top and place in the freezer. Freeze until firm.

Notes

*ORIGINAL CRUST NOTE: I made my pie gluten free and used Pamela’s Products ‘Extreme Chocolate Mini Cookies’ to make the crust. They are dark and rich; gluten-eating or gluten-free diners will love this crust. To make the required amount of crumbs about 2 packages of the cookies will be used. I put them in my food processor to process them into crumbs. UPDATE: Since this notation I've used a variety of gluten-free cookie brands to make into crumbs all with great success (including the sandwich cookie note in the blog post!)

**Marshmallow sizes seem to continually change. The size marshmallows used for this pie are what have been traditionally been known are 'regular' as opposed to mini marshmallows (or large or jumbo). Now that there is an increased range of sizes and brands I've added a link to the type of marshmallows I typically use in the recipe as a guide.

Nutrition