Monday, July 26, 2010

Don't 'trifle' with me


I set out on a mission to make a "simple & summery" dessert to take to a Sunday BBQ. Apparently I made a trifle. I wasn't sure what to christen my creation but my friend assured me given the creamy layers it was a trifle. She lived in France for a while and is an expert in all things pastry, so I trust her judgment.

The trifle was a big hit. I was a little surprised when I had an empty bowl to take home because it was pretty big and not the only dessert at the BBQ of 10 odd people. I'm taking it as a compliment, though I would not minded having some for lunch today.

Strawberry Summer Trifle

1 3.4 oz box chocolate instant pudding (small box)
1 3.4 oz box vanilla instant pudding (small box)
4 cups of milk, divided
1 container of whipped topping, divided
8 oz cream cheese, divided
1 quart of strawberries, hulled & sliced
12-14 graham crackers

Equipment: Large glass bowl/serving dish, rolling pin

Using 2 cups of milk, mix chocolate pudding according to package directions in a medium sized container (allow space for additional ingredients to be added). Following the same directions mix the vanilla pudding in a separate container. Allow both puddings set. Mix 4 oz of cream cheese and 1/3 of the container of whipped cream into each pudding flavor until well blended (you can use a whisk but a hand mixer works better).

Place graham crackers in a zip-lock bag. Close the bag tightly, removing all the air. Crush the graham crackers into roughly dime-sized pieces using a rolling pin.

Layer the ingredients in a glass container until it's either full or you run out. The straw berries should be pushed up against the glass so you can see them clearly from the outside. The layers should be in the following order:

graham cracker
chocolate filling
strawberries
vanilla filling
repeat until container is full or ingredients are exhasted. Top with remaining whipped topping and sprinkle with small amount of graham crackers and garnish with strawberry.

You can make this a day in advance, but it should be prepared at least 2-3 hours ahead of time to make sure it's properly chilled.

1 comment:

  1. This looks great and I love that it doesn't call for any rare ingridients like dried mongolian ox root shawings, which is only sold in ten pound denominations...
    I will try this next weekend.

    Thanks.

    ReplyDelete