This is an archived post from “The Aroma of Bread,” and it was first published 22 Mar 2015.

Marie Campbell Fassbender loved her Irish  heritage. She was proud to be Irish, and she loved St. Patrick’s day. 

As the day would near, she would gather a collection of shamrock pins, and she would keep them handy. If you dared attempt to leave the house, or to walk into the house without wearing green, she would hand you a pin, and expect you to wear it. 

It would have been so much fun to sit down with a big map of Ireland, and map out the counties where her immigrant ancestors came from. I think she would have been surprised at the number!

County Cork, County Donegal, County Down, County Louth, County Monaghan, and County Tyron

I was searching for an apple recipe the day that I happened upon a page in the “Tried and True Recipes. Compiled by the Homemakers Organization of Calumet County, Wisconsin,” dated 1974. The page did not have a marker, but did contain a recipe that we have been looking for: Grasshopper Torte. This was a staple on the holiday table. A palette cleanser before or after your piece of pumpkin pie. And there was definitely room for a piece when it was time for sandwiches.

Looking over this recipe filled with Marie’s notes, the one thing I notice is that she did not make a notation that she always made this torte on a graham cracker crust. Maybe it went without saying, as chocolate wafers were not readily available to her in 1974. But her directions for smooth marshmallow are clear and direct. Is this “THE” Grasshopper Torte recipe? I am not sure, but it is definitely one that she had made more than once. 

This is one version of the torte, and she (used this for larger torte).