A cocktail crossed with a cream pie.
Grasshopper pie is named after the delicious after-dinner cocktail, the Grasshopper. A Grasshopper is made with equal parts of creme de menthe, creme de cacao, and cream or half-and-half. The pie attempts to recreate the flavor of that basic mixture, thickened and set into a marshmallow base in a chocolate cookie crust.
The cocktail was supposedly created at Tujague’s restaurant, the second-oldest restaurant in the French Quarter. The 157-year-old Tujague’s also claims to be the birthplace of brunch, and if you’ve got a few million in the bank, you might be able to buy it.
As the story goes, in 1928, the then-owner of Tujague’s, Philibert Guichet Jr., entered the cocktail into a cocktail contest judged by Walter Winchell, where it took second place. (Some sources say the original version was layered, but I’ve yet to encounter such a thing.) Unfortunately, 1928 wasn’t a fantastic time to promote a cocktail, given that prohibition was still in effect. By the 1950s, however, it was popular in the south, and that popularity spread.
From the box of D.W. from Cedar Falls, Iowa.
Grasshopper Pie
8 inch pie pan
Crust:
14 chocolate sandwich cookies, crushed
2 Tbsp. butter
24 large marshmallows
1/2 cup milk
melt in double boiler
Mix:
4 Tbsp. creme de menthe
2 Tbsp. creme de cacao
1 cup whipping cream
Freeze. Serves 6.
The instructions are a little skeletal, so here’s a slightly longer explanation:
- Mix crushed cookies and butter together; press into sides and bottom of pie plate. Put pie plate in refrigerator.
- Heat milk in double-boiler; melt marshmallows into milk until completely melted. Cool.
- Add the liqueurs to the cooled marshmallow mixture.
- Whip cream. Fold whipped cream into marshmallow mixture. Fill pie. (If desired, top with additional crushed cookies.) Freeze.