Easter Grasshopper Cakes

Theoretically, the inspiration for our COVID-19 Easter dessert was my grandmother's grasshopper cake that pairs chocolate and mint and was a perennial special occasion favourite. But in reality, there were two main reasons I thought of it. The first was that SOMEBODY ate all the Mini eggs and the only chocolate in the house was a couple of packages of wafer cookie. The second was that we had lamb planned for our Easter dinner, and I usually serve it with mint jelly and didn't have any. While I was trying to figure out how to make mint sauce with the Crème de menthe, it jumped into my whipped cream, and... voilà! 
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These are super easy to make and look gorgeous. If you don't have Crème de menthe, use peppermint extract and a hint of food colouring. I figure if the Easter bunny didn't hop into our house with chocolate eggs, the grasshopper might as well hop into our dessert.

Grasshopper Mini-Cakes

Makes 14
Prep time 1/2 hour
Chilling time 8-10 hours

2 packages Mr. Christie's chocolate wafers
500 ml whipping cream
1 package Knox gelatine
1/4 cup water
​1/2 cup  Crème de menthe
1/3 cup  Crème de cacao
fresh mint or cacao nibs for garnish

Make sure the liqueurs are cool (but not chilled into jelly) before adding to the whipped cream. The mixture will be a bit runny, but thickens when chilled.

Squish the cookies gently to spread the filling out to the edges. I used cacao nibs from our trip to Costa Rica last year, but you could also use fresh mint leaves for garnish.

1. Soften the gelatine in water as per package directions.
2. Heat the liqueurs, but don't boil. Add to the gelatine mixture and stir to dissolve. Cool to room temperature. Don't chill - you don't want it to set.
3. While it cools, whip the cream. When the gelatine mixture is cool, fold into the whipped cream (don't use the electric mixer) until combined.  Chill for about 20 minutes so that the mixture stiffens a little and can hold shape.
4. Set cookies on a serving dish (the number depends on the size of your serving dish). Using a piping bag with a large star tip (I don't have one so used my cookie press) or even a spatula, spread or pipe a couple of teaspoons cream filling on each cookie. Add another cookie and squish carefully. Continue layering cookies and cream, using 5-6 cookies per stack, adding a design to the top cookie if desired.
5. Garnish with cacao nibs or fresh mint.
6. Chill 8-10 hours (or overnight) so that cookies soften.

I used cacao nibs from Finca La Amistad in Costa Rica as garnish, but you could also use fresh mint leaves. If you have them.