Grasshopper Pie

Ever since I can remember, my Aunt Suey has made Grasshopper Pie for St. Patrick's Day. This is one of my all-time favorite desserts. Not only do I love mint chocolate-chip ice cream, but the crust on this 'pie' is out of this world! It's seriously soooooooo good. You'd think it was an ohh-so chocolaty compressed brownie, but even that doesn't describe it. There are no words :) If you have been looking for a dessert to make to celebrate St. P's Day - look no further!  

I will add a picture after St. Patrick's Day, but for now this will have to do:

UPDATE!!!

My aunt made these Grasshopper Pies in March for our St. Patrick's Day celebration, and she was kind enough to let me photograph her assembling the pies. Here are the pictures from our photo shoot:

Grasshopper Pie

Ingredients:

For the crust/shell:

1 package Pillsbury Plus dark chocolate cake mix*

3/4 cup water

3/4 cup Pillsbury Supreme chocolate fudge frosting

1/4 cup oil

For the filling:

1/2 gallon mint chocolate chip ice cream, softened

For the drizzle:

The remainder of the can of chocolate frosting

*I'm not sure if they still make Pillsbury Plus, but she recommends using a dark chocolate cake mix (like Pillsbury Moist Supreme dark chocolate cake mix); using dark chocolate/fudge for the mix and frosting will make the crust fudgy and chewy.

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350F. Grease bottom and sides of 2 9-inch pie or cake pans.

2. In a large bowl, beat all ingredients for 2 minutes on high. The batter will be kind of fluffy. Pour 1/2 of the batter into each pan.  DO NOT SPREAD OUT.

3. Bake 25-30 minutes. It will be very puffy and soft. The cake will fall when taken out of the oven. Use a spoon to flatten it down as much as possible while it's still warm. When flattening, the cake will be up the sides a little - this is ok because it's the "crust."  Let cool.

4. Fill cooled shell with softened ice cream.

5. Melt remaining frosting from the can in the microwave and drizzle on top.  

6. Cover pans with press-and-seal or foil and freeze for at least 2 hours.

My notes:  This is best baked in a metal pan that you don't mind being scratched with a knife when you cut the slices.  This pie is a bit of a pain to get out of the pan, and I wouldn't be comfortable making it in my coated non-stick pans. 

If you prefer, you can use light or even reduced sugar/sugar free mint chocolate chip ice cream to lighten it up.  This recipe is not limited to St. Patrick's Day obviously - you could use any flavor/color combo - like strawberry for Valentine's Day, or vanilla/chocolate-chip for any day!  Edy's French Silk ice cream (one of my fav's) would be AMAZING!

Source: My Aunt Suey!