Don't Trifle With Me

 

Oh, I love a good trifle. Soft, creamy, rich, and yet refreshing. It really is the perfect dessert.

Blueberry Lemon Trifle

Ingredients:

3 cups fresh blueberries, divided
2 cans (15 3/4 ounces each) lemon pie filling
2 cups (8 ounces) lemon yogurt
1 prepared angel food cake (8 to 10 ounces), cut into 1-inch cubes
1 carton (8 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed
Lemon slices and fresh mint, optional

Directions:

Set aside 1/4 cup blueberries for garnish. In a large bowl, combine pie filling and yogurt.

In a 3 1/2 qt. serving or trifle bowl, layer a third of the cake cubes, lemon mixture, and blueberries. Repeat layers twice. Top with whipped topping. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Garnish with reserved blueberries, and lemon and mint, if desired.

Yield: 12-14 servings.

Source: Taste of Home. You can find it here.

Notes: Summery and delicious. Besides, I love lemon pie filling. It is one of the best things ever!

Lemon Berrymisu

Ingredients:

1 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup powdered sugar
8 ounces mascarpone cheese
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 pkg. (8 oz) soft ladyfingers
6 tablespoons thawed frozen lemonade concentrate
6 ounces blackberries
6 ounces raspberries
6 ounces blueberries

Directions:

Whip cream, sugar, mascarpone, and lemon zest with a mixer until soft peaks barely form.

Lay half of the ladyfingers in a 2-qt. glass serving dish or an 8-in. square pan, separating them a bit if needed for fit. Brush ladyfingers with half of lemonade concentrate. Dollop and spread with half of cream mixture, then sprinkle with half of mixed berries. Repeat layers.

Source: Sunset, found on MyRecipes.com. You can find it here.

Notes: Yummy stuff! You can't go wrong with mixed berries, whipped cream, and mascarpone! Somehow, I don't have a picture for this one!

Strawberry Shortcake Trifle

Ingredients:

For the Strawberry Compote:

3/4 pound (about 3 cups) strawberries, hulled and coarsely chopped
1 1/2 tbsp. granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Lemon-Buttermilk Biscuits:

1 1/2 tbsp. granulated sugar
Freshly grated zest of 1 lemon
2 cups all-purpose flour (plus more for dusting)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
3/4 cup cold buttermilk

For the Whipped Cream:

2 cups very cold heavy cream
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

For assembling the Trifle:

1 lb (about 4 cups) strawberries, hulled and sliced, reserving one or two whole strawberries for decorating the top, if desired

Directions:

For the Strawberry Compote:

Combine the coarsely chopped strawberries and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat.

Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5-8 minutes, or until slightly thickened and syrupy.

Remove from the heat, transfer to a bowl, and stir in the vanilla extract.

Cool to room temperature. You can make the compote up to 3 days ahead and keep it covered in the refrigerator.

For the Lemon-Buttermilk Biscuits:

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

Combine the sugar and lemon zest in a large bowl and use your fingertips to rub the sugar and zest together until it is moist and fragrant.

Add the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda, and whisk together.

Add in the cubes of butter and, using your fingertips, rub and blend in the butter until you have various sizes, from small flakes to pea-sized.

Pour the cold buttermilk over the mixture, and use a fork to quickly and gently toss the ingredients together until just moistened. It may look slightly curdled.

Knead the dough gently, folding it over on itself about six to ten times.

Lightly dust your work surface with flour, turn out the dough and pat it to about 1/2-inch thick.

Using a high-sided 1-inch diameter cutter, cut out biscuits and place them on the baking sheet.

Repeat one more time, patting the scraps together to 1/2-inch thick and cutting out more biscuits.

Bake for 9 to 11 minutes, or until the biscuits have risen and tops and bottoms are golden brown.

Transfer the baking sheet to a cooling rack and cool the biscuits to room temperature.

For the Whipped Cream:

Combine the ingredients in a chilled bowl and whip with a hand mixer or whisk attachment on a hand or stand mixer until soft peaks are formed.

For assembling the Trifle:

Gently cut each of the biscuits in half. Line the bottom of a trifle bowl with about half of the biscuits, decoratively placing the golden brown tops facing out, if desired.

Top with about half of the compote and half of the fresh sliced berries.

Spread about half of the whipped cream evenly over the berries.

Repeat the layers; start with the biscuits, and top with the compote and fresh berries, finishing with the remainder of the whipped cream.

If desired, garnish with a few whole berries and/or a few biscuits.

Source: Cupcakes and Kale Chips. You can find it here.

Notes: I don't have a picture of this one either! Sorry!

 

Brownie Trifle

Ingredients:

1 (9x13-inch) pan of your favorite brownies, crumbled or cut into small squares
1 (16 oz) container of whipped topping
1 box (4 serving size) chocolate pudding (or 2 boxes if you want extra chocolate!)
Chocolate bar (such as Hershey's), shaved, for garnish, if desired

Directions:

Layer half of the brownies on the bottom of your serving bowl or trifle bowl. Layer half of your pudding on top of the brownies. Carefully layer (to prevent smearing) half of your whipped topping on top of the chocolate pudding.

Repeat layers. Top with chocolate shavings for garnish, if desired.

Source: I came up with this myself, but it is very similar to this Betty Crocker recipe.

Notes: I made this simply because I had some ugly brownies that didn't cut very nicely, but I didn't want to just throw them out. So, I froze them until I could think of a use for them (they were ugly, but they were still delicious! I couldn't bear to throw them out and I didn't want to eat them all by myself). As mentioned in the Betty Crocker recipe, you could add in toffee bits between the layers. Or you could add any favorite chopped chocolate candy (Kit-Kats, Snickers, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, etc.).

I doubled this and made two of them. I was asked to bring some brownies to a baby shower and I followed a tried and true recipe...except that I asked my husband to buy some unsweetened baking chocolate and he brought home semi-sweet baking chocolate instead. I thought, "Well, it can't make that much of a difference...," but it totally did, and while the brownies were chewy, gooey, and delicious, they stuck to the knife when I was cutting them and made an ugly mess instead of uniform, beautiful brownies. I couldn't take the brownies to the baby shower because I was too embarrassed (so I made another tried and true brownie recipe that called for cocoa powder). However, as I mentioned, these brownies were still delicious, so I came up with this use for them.

 

 

Above: Here's what the brownies look like when you don't screw them up and turn them into ugly brownies. :)

Baker's One Bowl Brownies

Ingredients:

1 pkg. (4 oz) Baker's Unsweetened Chocolate

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter or margarine

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup flour

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

Line 13x9-inch pan with foil, with ends of foil extending over sides. Spray foil with cooking spray.

Microwave chocolate and butter in large microwaveable bowl on high 2 minutes, or until butter is melted. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Stir in sugar. Blend in eggs and vanilla. Add flour. Mix well. Pour into prepared pan.

Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out with fudgy crumbs. (Do not overbake.) Cool completely. Use foil handles to lift brownies from pan before cutting to serve.

Recipe notes: Cake-Like Brownies: Prepare as directed, stirring in 1/2 cup milk, along with the eggs and vanilla, and increasing the flour to 1 1/2 cups.

Source: This recipe is on the box for Baker's Unsweetened Baking Chocolate Bar. It is a Kraft recipe. You can find it here.

Notes: The original recipe calls for 1 cup of pecans as well, but I always omit the nuts because of my son's tree nut allergy.

These brownies would be fantastic in this trifle recipe if you follow this recipe exactly...or they are also fantastic in this recipe if you screw up the recipe and use semi-sweet baking chocolate instead of unsweetened and bake a batch of "ugly brownies" that are only good for one thing: crumbling up to put into this trifle. Ha ha!