A grown-up take on a fruit parfait
This weekend, I wanted to eat something a little on the sweet
side but I didn’t want to take the effort to bake anything.
Instead, my mom suggested we try a trifle.
A grown-up take on a fruit parfait
This weekend, I wanted to eat something a little on the sweet side but I didn’t want to take the effort to bake anything. Instead, my mom suggested we try a trifle.
A trifle is a rather simple dessert that includes three main ingredients – fruit, some type of creamy filling and cake. It’s sort of the grown up version of a fruit parfait. The combinations are limitless as I discovered when I did a search for trifle recipes online. There are ones that use flavored whipped cream. Others use custard and still others use mascarpone cheese. The most-often used cake is a pound cake, which is dense enough to stand up to the juices from the fruits and the moist fillings. But there were recipes that used angel food cake or brownies or gingerbread.
As it turned out, when we got to the grocery store there was a display for pears that included some handy recipe cards – including one for pear strawberry trifle. It seemed like the perfect combination since pears are perfectly in season during the cooler months.
For me, the perfect pear is one that has a little bit of a bite to it and isn’t overly sweet. Bartlett pears tend to be a little bit too soft for me, but at this time of year it is easy to find a few other varieties that have just the combination I like. D’anjou pears tend to be a bit more firm than the Bartlett pears, and this year there is a red pear at local grocery stores that is quite tasty. So our trifle included a combination of red and D’anjou pears. And though there were fresh strawberries at the store, we opted to buy a bag of frozen ones since we figured they would taste better.
Here are a few easy trifle recipes to make to share with others or just for a quick treat at home on the weekends. Just layer it all up in the afternoon, put in the fridge for a few hours and serve.
Pear strawberry trifle
Recipe courtesy of Pear Bureau Northwest
2 pared, cored and thinly sliced pears
2 tbsp. lemon juice
2 c. coarsely chopped strawberries
2 tbsp. almond-flavored liquer (optional)
2 tbsp. orange juice
2 tbsp honey
½ – 9-inch angel food cake cut into 1-inch cubes
3 c. vanilla or lemon yogurt
1 c. diced fresh or canned pineapple drained
Garnish: pear slices and mint sprigs
Toss pears in lemon juice and strawberries in liquer. Combine orange juice and honey, mixing well. Layer in a deep 2 to 2 ½-quart glass bowl in the following order: 1/3 of cake sprinkled with 1 tbsp of the orange juice mixture, 1 c. yogurt, 1 c. pears, 1 c. strawberries and ½ c. pineapple. Repeat. Layer remaining cake and sprinkle with the remaining orange juice mixture and spread 1 c. yogurt over the top. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for one to four hours before serving. Garnish with pear slices and mint just before serving. Makes six servings.
Dulce de leche trifle
Recipe courtesy of George Duran
1 quart strawberries, sliced
2 bananas, sliced
6 biscotti, crushed
1 angel food cake , crumbled
1 (24-ounce) container whipped cream
1 can dulce de leche*
1 bottle chocolate sauce
In a large trifle bowl (or other clear glass bowl), put the strawberries, bananas, biscotti, cake, and whipped cream in random layers. Drizzle the dulce de leche and chocolate sauce between layers, saving a generous portion of each for the top. Scoop out and serve in individual bowls.
To make dulce de leche: Put a can of sweetened condensed milk in a pot and cover with water. Bring the water to a simmer and cook for 3 hours, turning the can over every half hour and topping off with more hot water if it evaporates. Turn off the heat and leave the can in the water until it is completely cool.
Lemon-scented mascarpone trifle
Recipe courtesy of Giada de Laurentiis
1/2 c. sugar
1 lemon, zested and juiced
16 ounces mascarpone cheese
1 store-bought pound cake, cut into 1/2-inch thick slices
1/2 c. creme de cassis liqueur
2 c. quartered strawberries (or whole blueberries or whole raspberries)
Fresh mint leaves, chopped, for garnish
In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the sugar with the lemon juice. Cook until the sugar has dissolved, about 5 minutes. Let cool.
In a medium bowl, combine the cooled sugar mixture with the mascarpone cheese and the lemon zest. Using an electric mixer, whip on medium speed until the mixture is light and fluffy.
To build the trifle, line the bottom of a trifle bowl with a layer pound cake. Brush the pound cake with some creme de cassis liqueur. Spoon a layer of the cheese mixture over the pound cake, and then a layer of berries. Repeat the layers until all the ingredients are used, finishing with a top layer of berries. Chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Garnish with chopped mint leaves.
