It hasn’t changed

What’s your favorite recipe?

It will always be trifle

Ingredients

Jelly powder or cubes to make up about a pint of jelly. Choose your favourite flavour.

Fresh fruit, I use raspberries, blueberries or strawberries.

Blancmange powder or if preferred custard powder to make a pint.

Pint of milk.

Two tablespoons sweetner or sugar.

Fresh double cream, choose how much you want.

Toppings, can be glace cherries, or chocolate sprinkled on top or hundreds and thousands.

Make up a pint of jelly /sugar free jelly with about 3/4 of a pint of boiling water and a little slosh of port or sherry and add raspberries or blueberries or strawberries or a mixture of all three (I don’t use sponge fingers as they are too sugary.).

Let cool then store in the fridge overnight to set thoroughly.

Next mix blancmange powder or custard powder with a small amount of milk from a pint and sugar or sweetener to taste.

Put the rest of the milk on to boil, as it starts to boil carefully pour into the custard or blancmange powder mix, stir it in and then pour back into the pan, bring to the boil while stirring and let it thicken on the hob over about a minute.

Turn off the heat and let it cool. To stop it being too hot to pour onto the jelly (it will melt) place the pan of custard/blancmange  into a larger pan of cold water (without getting the mixture wet) this allows it to cool, stir it every few minutes to stop it going lumpy and setting. When it is cool enough pour over the jelly.

Finally whisk the cream into stiff peaks and put on top of the custard/blancmange.

The sugar free version is nice to have if you are diabetic but still want a treat.

Serve in nice glass bowls if you can. This gives 6 good sized portions.

Sherry Trifle

What’s your favorite recipe?

Trifle, my favourite treat.

A layer of jelly, a layer of blancmange or custard and a layer of whipped cream.

I make up a sachet of sugar free jelly with three quarters of a pint of boiling water and a quarter of a pint of port or sherry. I add that to large bowl and add chopped strawberries or raspberries or blueberries to make the jelly stronger when it sets (I don’t use trifle sponges as they are full of sugar) once cooled I put it in the fridge to set.

When the jelly is set I mix up a pint of blancmange with boiling milk (you can use custard) this comes in a variety of flavours. I use a sweetner instead of sugar in the mixture, one that doesn’t have an aftertaste. Once the liquid has been boiled and thickened I put the saucepan in a larger one filled with cold water. The blancmange cools enough so that it doesn’t melt the jelly when you add it to the top.

Once the middle layer is set I take a large tub of double cream and whisk it till it is stiff and makes peaks. This is spooned onto the trifle.

You can add decorations such as sprinkles (hundreds and thousands) or glacé cherries, grated chocolate or chopped strawberries etc.

I make it as sugar free as I can, but it is high in fat. You could use skimmed milk for the middle layer.

This is a Christmas or Easter treat in our house. And sometimes I make it for birthdays instead of cake.