Young Grasshopper Bars at Baked

The Grasshopper Bar at Baked is the more portable version of the eponymous cake that the Red Hook bakery also sells, a 3x3 inch paean to the ultimate Betty Crocker housewife kitchen caveat, an old-fashioned, unholy marriage of Cool Whip, Crème De Menthe, and a little brownie mix.

While most old school Grasshopper recipes are garish, Technicolor artery cloggers, Baked’s version is unflashy (and downright sexy) and cleaned up for legitimacy, joining the company of the recent pastry extreme makeovers currently sported by Mrs. Red Velvet Cake and Mr. Whoopee Pie at cupcake joints all over New York. Baked’s Grasshopper Bar features a thin sheet of chocolate ganache, a base a bittersweet chocolate brownie, and a filling of pale green pastry cream sandwiched between the layers. It’s well balanced, with the denseness of the brownie cut by the slick of the ganache and mild sweetness of the cream. Unlike other Grasshopper confection-concoctions trotted out for holiday season potlucks or relegated to office party spreads where someone inevitably hands out photocopied pictures of their ass, Baked’s version is a retooled herald of Springtime, warmer weather, and some serious pastry skills. With a strong cup of takeout coffee and a walk to Valentino Pier, Baked’s Grasshopper bar is the stuff of dreams, or at least, the largest Andes Candy you have ever eaten. Its modest Crème De Menthe green streak, too, is a perfunctory nod to St. Patrick’s Day pride displays that beats the old standbys- ingesting nuclear-green bagels, or dyeing local waterways green (Gowanus Canal, consider yourself warned). Now through the end of the month at Baked.

Grasshopper cake and bars
$3 per bar; March only
Baked
359 Van Brunt Street
Red Hook, Brooklyn
(718) 222-0345