Strawberry Cream Trifle

This is another easy recipe from the Pampered Chef to make when you find yourself suddenly needing a dish to pass. This recipe takes, at most, 10 minutes to make and is simply divine. You can easily substitute any flavor for the cheesecake pudding as well as mixing up the fruit involved. I made this recently with chocolate pudding and strawberries and it came out better than I thought it would. However, I did notice the importance of having the fresh fruit as well as the frozen. All I had was the frozen on hand and tried making it without the fresh, and while it was still good, the strawberry mixture was a little more soggy since the firmness of the fresh fruit was missing.

Something else I found to work really well – if you don’t have a juicer, than all you need is a whisk.  Basically, just cut a lemon in half and then grind the whisk into the center over a bowl.  The juice comes out and you’re all set.  Just be careful with the juice because it doesn’t take the seeds out, so you’ll have to drain the juice if you want it seedless.

Overall, really good recipe.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted
1 pkg (10.75oz) frozen pound cake, thawed
1 qt. fresh strawberries
1 container (16oz) frozen sliced strawberries in syrup, thawed
1 lemon
3 containers (8oz) blended strawberry yogurt
1 pkg (3.4oz) cheesecake instant pudding and pie filling
1 container (8oz) frozen whipped topping, thawed, divided
powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Coarsely chop almonds using Food Chopper. Cut pound cake into 1-in. cubes using Color Coated Bread Knife; set aside. Set aside one strawberry for garnish. Hull remaining strawberries and cut into quarters. In Classic Batter Bowl, combine fresh and frozen strawberries; mix well.
2. Juice lemon using Juicer to measure 2 tbsp juice. In Stainless (4-qt.) Mixing Bowl, whisk lemon juice, yogurt and pudding mix until smooth using Stainless Whisk; immediately fold in 1 cup of the whipped topping.
3. To assemble trifle, place one-third of the pound cake cubes into bottom of Trifle Bowl. Top pound cake with one-third of the strawberry mixture. Top with half of the yogurt mixture, spreading evenly. Sprinkle with one-third of the almonds. Repeat layers one time. Top with remaining pound cake cubes and remaining strawberry mixture.
4. To garnish, spread remaining whipped topping over top of trifle, forming a flat surface using Small Spreader. Sprinkle remaining almonds over whipped topping. Sprinkle with powdered sugar using Flour/Sugar Shaker. Create strawberry fan with reserved strawberry; place into center of trifle.

Yield: 12 servings

Nutrients per serving: Calories 290, Total Fat 10 g, Saturated Fat 6 g, Cholesterol 40 mg, Carbohydrate 44 g, Protein 5 g, Sodium 240 mg, Fiber 2 g

Cook’s Tip: To toast almonds, place almonds into a small micro-cooker; microwave on HIGH 1-2 minutes or until golden brown, stirring after each 30-second interval. Cool completely.

Vanilla or white chocolate pudding and pie filling can be substituted for the cheesecake pudding, if desired. If using vanilla pudding, add 6-8 drops of red food coloring for a pinker color, if desired.

To make a strawberry fan, open the egg slicer and place the strawberry stem end down; slice most of the way through it with wires. Remove the strawberry from the wires and gently fan out the slices.

Another good substitution is using coconut instead of the nuts.