Grasshopper Bars
Luscious mint brownies with creme de menthe cream cheese filling and dark chocolate mint ganache topping. A most elegant and crowd pleasing holiday favorite!
Equipment
- Cake comb (optional)
Ingredients
BROWNIE LAYER:
- 4 oz. unsweetened cocoa powder
- 8 oz. unsalted butter, melted
- 2 cups brown sugar
- 4 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 4 tablespoons Crème de Menthe
- 1 cup flour, all purpose or GF blend
- 1 teaspoon salt
CREAM CHEESE LAYER:
- 4 oz. unsalted butter, softened
- 4 oz. cream cheese, softened
- 2 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 4 tablespoons Crème de Menthe
GANACHE TOPPING:
- 8 oz. good quality dark chocolate, chopped
- 6 oz. heavy whipping cream
- 2 tablespoons Crème de Menthe
Instructions
For the Brownies:
- Combine cocoa, melted butter and brown sugar until smooth in a large mixing bowl. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time. Mix in vanilla and Crème de Menthe. Add flour and salt and mix until well-blended.
- Bake at 325° for 20 minutes in a greased and parchment-lined 13x9 inch pan—DO NOT OVERBAKE!
- Cool completely and refrigerate or put in freezer until well-chilled.
- At this point I carefully remove the entire brownie layer from the pan, peel off the parchment and place on a cutting board so it is ready for the next two layers and easier to slice at the end. You can also just leave everything in the pan and cut them out of there.
For the Cream Cheese Layer:
- In a mixing bowl, beat together the butter and cream cheese until very fluffy. Carefully mix in powdered sugar and crème de menthe and beat for several minutes until well combined.
- Spread over cooled brownies and refrigerate until well-chilled and firm.
For the Ganache:
- Place chocolate in a heat-proof bowl with room to add the cream.
- Bring cream just to a boil in a saucepan and immediately pour over chocolate.
- Whisk until smooth and add the crème de menthe. Cool until slightly thickened, but still pourable and pour evenly over the chilled cream cheese layer.
- Refrigerate until ganache is set and cut into bars. Enjoy!!