Today, on 3.14, I’m participating in a blog swap for Pi Day. I’ve posted my recipe for Cottage Pie with Guinness on Dizzy Busy & Hungry, and Jessie, from, The Dinner Pages, is sharing her recipe for Grasshopper Ice Cream Pie on Polish Housewife. Jessie is a working mom who has accumulated over 130 cookbooks, so she has some great inspiration; you’ll want to check out her blog regularly. Today she’s using two of my favorite flavors, chocolate and mint! Here’s Jessie:
Hi, I’m Jessie and I blog at The Dinner Pages! My blog generally features recipes I’ve found from cooking through my extensive cookbook collection with a focus on family friendly and often healthy and quick dinners, plus sweet treats. I’m very happy to be participating in this blog swap meet today. Thank you to Lois at Polish Housewife for hosting my post on her blog.
We are sharing pie recipes today, to celebrate Pi Day, you know Pi, like the number 3.141592… since today is 3/14. Get it? The nerd in me is a huge fan of Pi Day AND Pie Day, both of them. Since St. Patrick’s Day falls just after Pi Day, I wanted to keep things festive with something green, and I figured Grasshopper Ice Cream Pie would fit the bill.
I first learned that the combination of chocolate and mint was deemed “grasshopper” many years ago when my dad got me some Keebler Grasshopper cookies and had them hidden in a brown paper bag and told me he got me some grasshoppers to eat. I was grossed out until I learned what they were and then I became a huge fan!
Now, my Grasshopper Ice Cream Pie contains no grasshoppers, though apparently some earlier iterations do! That’s not really my thing. My pie gets its texture from crushed up Oreo sandwich cookies and not insects. Classically grasshopper pies are chiffon pies with whipped cream and gelatin with crème de menthe liquor for mint flavor. I opted to make my own grasshopper ice cream instead for this pie.
There are 3.14 ways to do this recipe. I’ll share two…The really easy way is to buy a chocolate cookie crust, soften up some mint cookies and cream or mint chocolate chip ice cream, and put it in the crust, top with some Oreos, and refreeze for a bit. Alternately, you can make your own crust by crushing up Oreo sandwich cookies (or your favorite chocolate wafers) and preparing your own mint ice cream, which is what I did. The results will be fantastic either way, but let’s face it, people get really impressed when you share homemade ice cream with them!
If you like what you see here, please visit me at The Dinner Pages for more family friendly dinners and tasty treats. Thanks for reading!
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Grasshopper Ice Cream Pie for Pi Day
- Prep Time: 30 mins
- Cook Time: 2 hours 30 mins
- Total Time: 3 hours
- Yield: 8
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: American
Description
A crunchy chocolate crust with creamy minty ice cream!
Ingredients
- 35 Oreo sandwich cookies, divided
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 2 cups half-and-half
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 teaspoons peppermint extract
- 6 drops green food coloring
- whipped cream for garnish
Instructions
- Finely chop 20 of the chocolate cookies in a food processor. Transfer to a bowl and mix in the melted butter until well combined. Press the crumbs into the bottom and sides of an 8-inch pie plate and set aside.
- In a medium mixing bowl, beat together the eggs and sugar until thickened. Then add the cornstarch and set aside.
- In a large saucepan set over medium heat, bring the half-and-half to a simmer. Remove from the heat and slowly beat the hot half-and-half into the eggs and sugar, stirring constantly to avoid scrambling.
- Pour the entire mixture back into the saucepan and stir constantly over medium-low heat until the custard thickens slightly. Do not let it boil.
- Pour the custard through a fine strainer into a large bowl. Stir in the heavy cream, peppermint extract, and food coloring.
- Depending on your ice cream maker, you may need to refrigerate the ice cream mixture until cold. Follow the manufacturer’s directions at this point. When the ice cream is almost finished in the ice cream maker, add in 6 coarsely chopped Oreos. Ice cream is generally still somewhat soft at this stage.
- Transfer the slightly softened ice cream to the prepared piecrust. Garnish with remaining Oreos as desired. Place in freezer until firm, about 2 hours. Garnish with whipped cream before serving.
Notes
Cooking time includes freezing time
Ice cream recipe adapted from The Ultimate Ice Cream Book
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Below the collage are links to all of the blogs that participated in our
Blog Swap Meet: Pi Day Recipes
Hosted by
Edward from If You Can Read, You Can Cook and Kristin from Dizzy Busy and Hungry
Stop by and visit them all!
Chef Mireille’s East West Realm
If You Can Read, You Can Cook
An accountant by trade and a food blogger since 2009, Lois Britton fell in love with Polish cuisine during the years she lived in Poznań, Poland. As the creator of PolishHousewife.com, she loves connecting readers with traditional Polish recipes. Lois has a graduate certificate in Food Writing and Photography from the University of South Florida. She is the author of The Polish Housewife Cookbook, available on Amazon and on her website.
jessie
Thanks for sharing my Grasshopper Ice Cream Pie recipe with your readers! Happy Pi Day!
polishhousewife
My pleasure, Jessie; I can wait to try it myself!
Edward Antrobus
Thanks for participating in the swap this month. If you like the idea of Pi Day, just wait for next month. 3-14-15. And then it gets better with 9:26:53 which are the next 5 digits!