no-bake grasshopper pie

about a week or so ago i told the lovely heather that i would be blogging more of my massive failures for your entertainment. i went to college with heather as well as high school (sort of) with her fiance, will, so it's only right that THIS massive failure looks like something that got thrown up on st. patrick's day:


i over-beat the creamy mint pie filling. happy birthday, daddy!

in any case, i'll give you the recipe so you, too, can stupidly over-beat the filling (TWICE) and make globby mint butter (let's call it buerre de menthe-- it sounds more purposeful).

ingredients:

• 8 ounces mascarpone cheese
• 2 tbs confectioner sugar
• 1 1/4 cups heavy cream
• 1 envelope gelatin
• 1/2 cup creme de menthe syrup*
• (*1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup sugar & 1 tsp mint extract boiled for 2 minutes and then cooled)
• 1/4 cup cold water
• 1 package mint milano cookies
• 2 tbs softened butter
• 1/3 cup almond meal (or some more crushed cookies)

prep:

• (make your creme de menthe syrup)
• sprinkle gelatin powder over 1/4 cup cold water and allow to sit for 2 minutes, then nuke for 15 seconds to dissolve gelatin, allow to cool
• soften mascarpone cheese in a bowl
• cut one inch off the end of each cookie
• crush the one inch pieces and combine with butter & almond meal

• pat crumbs into the bottom of a 9" pie plate
• line sides with remaining cookies, refrigerate until needed
  

actual cooking:

• beat mascarpone cheese slightly
• add creme de methe syrup & confectioners sugar
• beat until combined (it's not pretty)
• continue beating while you add heavy cream
• beat until soft peaks form
• continue beating while you add gelatin
• beat until medium-stiff peaks form
• (try not to make chunky mint butter)
• pour into prepared pie plate and chill at least 4 hours

so, my second attempt at this recipe didn't turn out that great, either, but since it's slightly less chunky than the barfy-looking one, i dumped it in the pie plate and hoped for the best.

thing i hate about this recipe are: i used both mint & chocolate-mint cookies and ended up with 2 mint next to eat other-- i wish my pie plate's circumference was about 1/2 an inch bigger; gelatin is GROSS, in so many ways; and i completely suck at whipping cream. which is why god made WHIPPED CREAM IN A CAN.