How do I make a template conditional based on a collection's size?

I want to do something like this:

<template name="list">
  <ul>
  {{#if items}}
      {{#each items}}
        <li>{{itemContents}}</li>
      {{/each}}
  {{else}}
    <li class="placeholder">There are no items in this list.</li>
  {{/if}}
  <ul>
</template>

where items is a Meteor.cursor:

Template.list.items = function() {
  return Items.find();
};

However, the code above doesn't work, as the conditional will evaluate positively even if there are no items (which is mildly surprising because Handlebars evaluates [] as falsey). I tried changing the condition to

{{#if items.count}}

but then I get the cryptic error

Unknown helper 'items'

So, is there a way to write such a condition within a meteor Handlebars template?