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This was for my sisters birthday, a few days ago. Decorated with glace cherries and chocolate buttons.
It’s jelly with raspberries and port, strawberry blancmange, and whipped cream on top. This is something I usually make for birthdays ot Christmas. It is indulgent, but I use sugar free jelly and I use sweetner in the blancmange.
This can serve up to eight portions, so sometimes I make about half the amount if there are only a couple of us having it.
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.
Made a birthday trifle, raspberrysugar free jelly with blackberries and port, strawberry blancmange with a bit of sweetner, whipped cream with chopped strawberries and grated dark chocolate.
Now that’s what I call a trifle!
Dessert is in the fridge. Well half, we have already had some for tea. It’s a trifle made of sugar free blackberry jelly with gelatine (not jam) with added raspberries and port. Topped with chocolate blancmange and whipped double cream.
It’s all sugar free so although it’s got fat and carbs in it, it’s not bad for sugar content. I try not to eat cake or biscuits, but this with fresh fruit in is lovely. I sometimes use strawberry or orange flavour jelly. You can also make it with sherry instead of port or alcohol free. Sometimes you can use sponge fingers in the jelly to make it stronger. It has to support the weight of the top two layers. But I don’t use that because they are too sweet. And some people add a layer of custard instead of blancmange, which us increasingly difficult to get hold of unless you buy it online. If you make it I hope you enjoy it. X
I decided to make a trifle for the New Year. I like doing this because I can make it sugar free. I also got my sister to bring some blancmange over because I hate custard in trifle.
There are lots of different recipes but mine is quite simple. I make up sugar free jelly first. Using about half a pint of boiling water and slightly over a quarter of a pint of port or sherry mixed into the jelly. (if you don’t want alcohol just use three quarters of a pint of water). The reason I don’t use a full pint is because I usually add a punnet of raspberries, blueberries or strawberries into the jelly, and this seems to add to the fluid levels in the jelly. (I don’t use sponge fingers because of the texture and they are full of sugar). Then I let it cool before putting the bowl in the fridge to set. A few hours later when the jelly is set I make the blancmange. That is a packet of blancmange powder mixed with three tablespoons of milk out of a pint. To this I add a tablespoon of sweetner. The rest of the milk is boiled and stirred into the blancmange mix. Then this is poured back into the saucepan and the mixture boiled again until it thickens. Once it is ready you have to wait for it to cool down before you pour it over the jelly. Finally when both layers are set I whip double (heavy) cream into stiff peaks, sometimes with a little sweetner. I spoon this on top of the trifle and serve. This makes enough for four to six servings. Tasty treat for dessert.
I’ve got up because I needed the bathroom. I’m still suffering with the lurgy. Not Covid according to the tests I’ve been doing. So I still have a sore throat and a cough which is worse when I lied down. I can’t take some cold meds as I’m on tablets that contraindicate them. I can’t use lemsip because it has something that can affect your heart rate. Instead I’m drinking hot diluted blackcurrant cordial, it’s sugar free and very tasty when it’s watered down, it seems to coat and soothe my throat. That and paracetamol every few hours seems to be doing the trick. X
Goodnight x
December comes and I fall for delicious mince pies again. These are traditional Christmas treats that historically have been eaten around this time of year. Nowadays they are made with mincemeat which strangely has no meat, but instead is a gooey, sweet mix of dried fruits like sultanas and raisins, possibly some lemon juice and lemon zest. In this pie which was shop bought had bramley apple puree in it too. The filling is enclosed in a short crust pastry dusted with a little icing sugar.
Shop bought are nice enough, but home made are lovely. I tried a couple made by a friend at the weekend. She made them smaller- less calories, and sugar free mincemeat. Tasty and healthy.
I’m not sure what they were made of in the past. I suppose I should look it up. Probably they were ‘fast food’ in the past. Served hot I think? I would imagine they became popular in the Victorian era when Christmas celebrations ramped up with the use of Christmas trees and Christmas cards… I know I should check all of this…. But I’m too busy eating my mince pie!
Blackcurrant jelly with blueberries, strawberry blancmange and whipped cream. A little sherry in the jelly.
It’s my favourite dessert. I use sweetner instead of sugar to sweeten the blancmange and the jelly is sugar free.
All I can say is that it doesn’t last long!
Mallaband-Brown