My twin brother holds the running title of ‘most uneducated food critic’ in our house. It’s not that he doesn’t try everything, because he does. But clearly his food-rating scale is a little off kilter at times… When the family rates something a 7 out of 10, Ryan is rating a 4. With him, I find myself hoping for a 5. It’s quite frustrating, too, to have someone who’s so close to me not fully appreciating all the work and effort that goes into just one step. In this case I had 8, check it out:
Right as I was finishing the last of the pictures, as always, Ryan snagged the plate to try some. He sat at the table and with the flick of his fork he said, it’s a ten. Man, let me tell you, that fork sent me flying. Hours, days, years of life, work, and sweat were devoted to getting that kid to say those three words about dessert. He said that the flavors all complimented eachother nicely. I think I felt the most proud because I didn’t use a recipe for the trifle. I made a flavor palate that I thought would suit my family and use up the fruit I knew wouldn’t be used for a week. My used-to-be-flawed critic loved it and so did the rest of my family. And that’s how a fork sent me flying.
Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Instead of going with a lemon poppy seed pound cake, I went with the muffins so that the Trifle wouldn’t become too sweet! And I’m so glad I did! I used my favorite kind of lemon poppy seed muffins! I made a few changes, though. Juiced an entire lemon instead of a mere 1 1/2 teaspoons. I also used sour cream instead of greek yogurt. The muffins came out perfect!
Also make the topping, and use it as garnish on the top of the trifle!
When the muffins come out, allow to cool. *Do not start assembling trifle until prepared to serve, with everything made and prepared to go* When ready, you’ll first rip or cut the muffins into pieces, and sprinkle along the entire bottom of the glass.
Cool White Chocolate
I threw this recipe together and honestly didn’t really think to measure anything, but here’s the ingredients about how much I think I put it. I melted 5 blocks of White Chocolate Almond Bark then added about 3/4- 1 cup powdered sugar and stirred with a hand mixer until the bowl filled with small snowball-looking balls. Next I added about 1 tablespoon- don’t skimp- of pure vanilla extract, and 2 tablespoons butter, then mix in about 1/2 cup sour cream.
When ready, glop this with a spoon over the muffins. Again, do not start until everything has been prepared.
Strawberries
Here’s where you’re making up for all that sweetness that’s already gone into the Trifle. Strawberries are naturally sweet, so you don’t need to add much to them. I threw about 13 good-sized cut-up strawberries into a saucepan on medium-high heat and tossed them with about 1 – 2 tablespoons of sugar, 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla.
Spoon the strawberries over the White Chocolate mixture, you can spoon a little of the juice on top of the strawberries, but it doesn’t look the best for presentation if all the juice is at the bottom. Plus it will taste soggy much faster. Reserve strawberry juice for topping/plating.
Tapioca
Right about now, I was super tired. I’d just baked muffins, and been cleaning up the kitchen, there were more dishes to do and I was remembering how bad I needed to jog. Which is why, I used packaged tapioca. The kind that you make on the stove. But I’m condemned. I didn’t realize that then, now I do. Whenever I make something from a package, it doesn’t seem to go right. Luckily, I saved the tapioca that was burning on my stove and it still tasted just as good. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not homemade, but it was a major star of the dish.
Strawberry Meringue
Here I wanted something that wasn’t artificial flavors like the recipes online. So I went for it. I went with: 1/2 cup egg whites, 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar, 1 cup of powdered sugar, 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract, and the juice from about 6 strawberries. I mixed the egg whites until frothy then added the cream of tartar, powdered sugar, then the juice. Don’t over mix, only mix until peaks form, then turn off straight away. Bake in a 250F oven for about 1 hr. Then, 30 minutes in, flip the sheet so the back faces the front. Since I’m impatient, I allowed mine to cool for about 10 minutes. The middle didn’t seem to work as well as the outsides, but then again, I didn’t expect them to! Honestly, throwing in so much extra liquid, I was happy it worked at all. Plus, it tasted delish! You can’t skip out on this step.
When ready, break into pieces and lay in elaborate ways on top of the strawberries. It looks cool when you slant them on the walls of the trifle dish so that you can see what’s underneath the layer! Save a few to garnish the top with later!
No more baking!
Now that you’ve spent all those hours making things, it’s time to throw it together! Just keep layering the trifle! I only did it once, then added more muffin, strawberries on top of that *along with about half their juice*, and the muffin lemon topping. I’m not going to lie, this is one of the longer recipes. But it’s one you can’t miss out on!
Livin' in the Kitchen 