I love celebrating all of the holidays. Whichever holiday it is, I feel as though you may as well celebrate it. I mean, why not? My husband and I got married on Valentine’s Day, we like to make King Cupcakes and drink hurricanes in our souvenir Pat O’Brien’s glasses on Fat Tuesday, we make Mexican food and drink Corona on Cinco de Mayo … you get the idea.
St. Patrick’s Day
So, of course for St. Patrick’s Day, we usually make corned beef and cabbage, Irish soda bread, and my creation of Pistachio Mint Pie. We also usually enjoy some Guinness beer, Jameson whiskey, and anything green (green beer, green punch, green jello.)
As a child, my favorite flavor of ice cream was mint chocolate chip. I loved it. Every time we went shopping at the mall, I suckered my parents into buying me a waffle cone with mint chocolate chip ice cream. Looking back, it’s kind of an odd favorite to have as a kid.
Pistachio Mint Pie
When I eat this pie that I created, it reminds me of that ice cream. The pistachio pudding, the whipped cream, plus chopped pistachios and Andes mints … it is really fabulous!
With Saint Patrick’s Day coming up soon, I wanted to share my pie recipe with you.
I just so happened to have a photo of the pie I made last year. Isn’t it pretty? If you make it, please let me know in the comments how you like it!
Pistachio Mint Pie
Ingredients
Graham Cracker Crust:
- 1 1/2 cups finely ground graham cracker crumbs (about 1 pouch)
- 3-4 Tbsp white sugar
- 6 Tbsp butter, melted
Pie Filling:
- 2 - 3.4-ounce boxes instant pistachio pudding mix
- 2 3/4 cups milk
- 16 ounces Cool Whip (*or stabilized heavy whipping cream) * See below
- 20 Andes Creme de Menthe Thins
- 1 cup shelled & chopped pistachios
Instructions
Graham Cracker Crust:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix graham cracker crumbs with sugar and melted butter until blended. I do this right in a 9-inch pie plate to save a dirty bowl! Press into bottom and up sides of the pie plate. Bake for 7 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely.
Pie Filling:
- Mix the two boxes of instant pistachio pudding with the 2 3/4 cups milk with an electric mixer on low, or a metal whisk, for 2 minutes. Set aside.
- * If you are using heavy whipped cream as I do, at this point you will want to put 1 cup of heavy whipping cream in a cold bowl with 2 Tbsp sugar and beat it on medium/high speed with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. This will make approximately 2 cups of whipped cream. If you don't plan on eating the whole pie right away (or within a day), you may want to follow directions for making stabilized whipped cream. I haven't tried this before but am going to later this week when I make this year's pie.Â
- Shell and chop the pistachios. I like to chop with my Pampered Chef manual chopper.
- Unwrap and finely chop the Andes mints. I do these by hand because they are so soft, any sort of chopper you use tends to gum them up.Â
- Now, you are ready to mix all of this together. Fold your Cool Whip or stabilized whipped cream into your pistachio pudding. Also gently mix in about half of your chopped pistachios and Andes mints, saving about half of each for the top.
- Pour mixture into your prebaked, cooled graham cracker crust, and top with remaining chopped pistachios and Andes Mints. Cover and place in the refrigerator for a few hours to set (and keep refrigerated until serving time.)
- Enjoy!
If you enjoyed this post, you might also like some of my other posts about Holidays.