Selena Robins, Author

 

 

Remember the Friends episode when Jennifer Aniston’s character (Rachael) volunteered to make trifle? But she created a combo of shepherd’s pie with trifle.

Trifle is a light, delicious dessert, easy to make and you can tinker with the recipe and add your own touches….except do not add beef and vegetables….no bueno.

 

Here is a trifle recipe I converted and made it into a parfait. 

Trifle Parfait

Ingredients:

5 oz milk

8 1/2 oz heavy cream

4 TBSP sugar

6 large egg yolks

1 vanilla pod, split and seeds removed (or 2 tsp. of artificial vanilla)

8 oz sponge or pound cake, cut into thick slices (slice and leave out for a day so they can dry) – or you can use lady finger cookies, or any type of hard cookie that you enjoy

1 can of peaches, sliced

1 can of mandarin slices

2 cups whipping cream, softly whipped

Directions:

In a large, round glass bowl, layer the bottom with slices of pound cake (or sponge cake)

Pour the juice of the canned peaches and mandarins over the cake (or cookies) and set aside while you make your custard.

Custard Directions:

Please note:  You can use store-bought box mix for the custard, instead of making the custard from scratch if you want to save time. I’ve never tried it, but there are some good pre-mixed custard brands, such as Birds Custard.

Turn stove top to medium-low.

In a saucepan add milk and heavy cream and one teaspoon of sugar.

Bring to a gentle simmer. Once it is simmering, turn the heat to its lowest.

In a large heat-proof bowl, add the rest of the sugar and the egg yolks. Whisk egg yolks and sugar until light and creamy. The color should be a pale yellow.

Keep whisking and slowly pour the warmed milk into the egg mixture.

Strain the custard sauce through a fine sieve and then pour it back into the saucepan then add the seeds from the vanilla pod.

Over a low heat, stir constantly.

The custard will gradually thicken.

Keep whisking, and make sure the heat is on low, as you don’t want to burn your custard or have it look like curdles.

Once the custard is thickened, removed from the heat and pour through a sieve again.

Stir custard, so you don’t get a layer of skin on top. Once custard has cooled, wrap the bowl with saran wrap and put it in the fridge until you are ready to assemble the parfait (or assemble the trifle in a large bowl)Once cooled, spoon the custard evenly over the peaches in a thick layer.

Assembling Parfait (or in a large bowl):

Once cooled, spoon the custard evenly over the peaches and mandarins in a thick layer.

Top with a thick layer of whipped cream.