Guest Review - Grasshopper Pie

This week’s post is a guest review from a new blogger on the block – Grant McKinnon from The Luxury List.  Check out his fabulous new blog - www.theluxurylist.wordpress.com

Enjoy friends!

My love for food really comes from my mother.  She was the most amazing self-taught cook.  The eldest child from a dairy farming family she had learnt to cook the good old-fashioned way from a young age. 

Growing up we were always around food.  I truly believe that little oven in that little kitchen almost ran around the clock for the amount of food for various catering jobs.  That’s not to mention the birthday cakes, Christmas puddings, slices, biscuits and numerous other delicious items that seemed to be constantly produced from such an unassumingly domestic oven that was pride of place in that bright yellow laminex wonderland.

I can remember as far back as I can mum would be making food and I’d ask what she was cooking “Rhonda’s birthday cake”, “a lasagna to take to Aunty Kaye’s” or the more regular client; “a sponge for Mrs Budge”.  I would watch intently as mum skillfully decorated cakes with her piping bag and then bedazzled the little stars she had created with silver cachous. There were 21^st birthday cakes, brandy snaps, pavlovas, ginger fluffs and honey joys.  Being somewhat of a sweet tooth you can only imagine how delighted I was whenever she found a new recipe she wanted to try.  But she also was pretty amazing with her savoury dishes.  The nuts and bolts at Christmas time is still a family tradition now proudly carried on by my sister.  And then of course the famous story of how Jeff Kennett (who was Premier at the time) had commended her on her asparagus and bacon tartlets whilst she was catering for an event he attended.

I always enjoyed helping to create in the kitchen and she in turn taught me a lot about cooking.  Mum was mega organised and EVERYTHING was in Tupperware.  She was a die-hard fan of the plastic storage phenomena of the 70’s and often attended parties, which I of course being the youngest was dragged along to.  Her motto was “clean as you go and you’ll never be slow” and I still hear her saying it as I cook now.

I remember how we would go to dinner parties or BBQ’s and mum would wow people with her culinary skills by taking some kind of amazing dessert, which would sometimes be quite experimental.  From “Candied Apples” to “Apple Sauce Cake Roll” or a “Bomb Alaska”.  Often famously served with a side Toblerone chocolate mousse.  I would get this amazing sense of warmth as I watched the people enjoy what I had often help to make and always thought to myself “when I’m older I’m gonna do the same thing!” 

It was a particular one of these desserts that used to cause the biggest sensation - Grasshopper Pie.   Similar to the Tupperware this was a throwback to the 70’s when people drank cocktails called a Grasshopper.  Green from the Creme De Menthe liqueur this creamy drink had been popular with its sweet mint flavor.

The Grasshopper Pie is basically an embodiment of the cocktail in a dessert form with a chocolate ripple biscuit base making the perfect companion.

So I’d like to share with you the recipe.  Hopefully you will enjoy it, and with some luck you might just delight guests at your next dinner party with this interesting dessert.

Grasshopper Pie

What you need –

            40 chocolate ripple biscuits crushed (roughly 1 packet)

            5 tablespoons butter, melted

            3/4 cup hot milk

            1 packet of marshmallows

            1/4 cup creme de menthe liqueur

            2 tablespoons white crème de cacao

            1 cup whipping cream, whipped

            Optional - a drop or two of green food dye

What you do –


1 Preheat oven to 200°c. In a bowl, mix crushed biscuits and butter. Pat into bottom and sides of 25cm pie dish. Bake in oven for 5 to 10 minutes; remove from oven and cool completely. Once cooled, place in freezer to chill.

2 In saucepan, melt marshmallows in milk over medium heat. Remove from heat and cool. Add crème de menthe and crème de cacao, and mix well. Add a drop or two of green food dye if desired. Fold in whipped cream. Pour into chilled pie shell. Freeze for 3 or 4 hours.

Mum used to garnish this with grated peppermint crisp and serve with a dollop of whipped cream

- Grant McKinnon @the_lux_list

www.theluxurylist.wordpress.com