~scottish trifle~

After the traditional Burn’s Night meal of Haggis, neeps and tatties, this Scottish trifle always goes down well!

There are many different trifle recipes but this is the easiest and one of my favourites. It uses freshly made custard and if possible, homemade raspberry jam. It doesn’t include jelly or chocolate as others do.

Ingredients – serves 6-8

8 egg yolks

110g caster sugar

35g plain flour

450ml milk

1 vanilla pod, split lengthways and seeds scraped.

about 9 sponge fingers (depending on the size of your bowl)

about 3tbsp raspberry jam

4tbsps liquid – orange juice or sherry

285ml thick cream

toasted almonds to decorate

optional – 1 or 2 bananas or some apricots

How to: For a simpler recipe use ready prepared custard and skip this first step! Otherwise first make the custard – whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until thick and pale. Stir in the flour. Boil the milk, remove from the heat and add the vanilla seeds. Leave for about 15 mins. Remove the seeds and add the milk to the egg mixture stirring as you pour. Return the egg/milk mixture to a clean pan and whisk over a gentle heat until boiling. Keep whisking to get rid of any lumps. Once smooth, keep whisking for a minute or 2 until the custard thickens. Remove from the heat, cover with cling film (to stop a skin forming) and leave to cool.

Cut the sponge fingers in half and spread one side of each half with jam – be generous! Place the sponges on the base and round the outside of your serving bowl. Pour over the liquid and tilt the bowl so all the sponges get thoroughly soaked. If using banana, slice as much banana as you like into small rounds, then place on top of the sponges. (Likewise if using apricots, place the apricot halves on the sponges). Pour the cooled custard on top. Then whip the cream (and sweeten if necessary) until thick. Spoon the cream onto the custard in a thick layer. Finally decorate with a sprinkling of almonds which have been toasted in a frying pan until golden brown. Chill until ready to eat.

Trifle is great the following day too when the sponge is deliciously soft and juicy!

~peaches with vanilla and orange cream~

This is a lovely light summer dessert.

Peaches and cream.

Fruity and made in double-quick time!

~coconut cream~

This is a beautiful thick white cream made from fromage blanc and coconut cream.

It is nice served with fruit or used to dollop on top of other desserts like chocolate brownies. It’s especially good after a spicy meal!

To serve 4 as a dessert, use a fork to mix 300g of fromage blanc (0%), 200ml coconut cream (from a carton) and 40g of icing sugar together, keep tasting to get the coconut flavour and the sweetness that you want! Serve in bowls topped with chopped fruit or alternatively dollop a large spoonful on a portion of fruit salad/ breakfast cereal/chocolate cake  ….

This is pretty creamy as it is, but is also nice when the fromage blanc is replaced with greek yoghurt.