Blueberry Peach Parfaits for the Coronation

The following recipe for Blueberry Peach Parfaits was submitted by Mary from Better Than Eden.  Thank you Mary! 

I put together a super simple dessert for the feast day of the Crowning of the Blessed Virgin and thought I'd share it in case you were wanting a jumping off point or some inspiration for your own festivities!

The great thing about parfaits and trifles is that there are no hard and fast rules and they are so versatile and yet still look fancy and are a special treat. This is what I put together from what I had but use what you have and make it work!

The blueberries represent Mary and the peach her golden crown. The whipped cream symbolizes the heavenly clouds and I suppose you could even have the cake represent that she is fully human and still intercedes for us here on earth below.

Ingredients:

• Yellow Cake (Other possibilities: Nilla wafers, brownies, cookies, graham crackers, or just omit it altogether.)
• Blueberries (about 2 cups)
• One Peach (Or how about mango or pineapple?)
• Whipped Cream (I used about 3-4 cups. Other possibilities: Vanilla ice cream or pudding)

Assemble your glasses or use a trifle dish.

Peel your peach and slice thinly. Cube up your cake into bite size pieces. Then just layer it all together: cake, whipped cream, blueberries, whipped cream, and use several slices of your peach for Mary's crown. Simple, simple.

I experimented with several crownesque shapes...

and an abstract version. No rules, remember?

Enjoy!

"And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars." Revelation 12:1

Mary, you who are mother of our King and queen of heaven, pray for us!

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A Paleo Strawberry Coconut Trifle

This post was written by past Catholic Cuisine contributor Amy.

It is a little late for this Easter, but I wanted to share this with you anyway.  It would be a great dessert for many feast days, including Valentine's Day or Pentecost.  Add some blueberries and it would be a fun dessert for Divine Mercy Sunday as well!

In our family we have people with gluten intolerance and one poor little muffin who is lactose intolerant.  So I generally have to get a bit creative with our holiday treats. 

All I could think about was the fact that I wanted to have that wonderful trifle here at Catholic Cuisine we have every year on Easter.  So I searched the net, but nothing looked very good (well to me, that is, I was being picky).  Then I found, on Pinterest, a link on how to make whip cream from canned coconut milk.  With that and a gluten free cake mix from Pamela's I knew I had it!

A Paleo Strawberry Coconut Trifle

• 1 package Pamela's Vanilla Cake Mix
• 3-4 pounds strawberries (you can do less, but we went for it)
• 1/2 to 1 cup almond or coconut milk
• 1 cup coconut
• 1/2 cup evaporated cane juice  (you could use agave or another sweetener I am sure to your taste)
• 2 cans Native Forest unsweetened FULL FAT coconut milk

Bake the cake according to directions.  Do this the night before and let it cool completely.  I had to hide mine on top of the fridge.  In the morning cut up into 1 inch cubes.  Poor the almond or coconut milk over the cubed cake till it is moist but not soaked.  Cut the strawberries and sprinkle with coconut and sweetener, mix.  Make the coconut whipped cream.  Follow these directions.  They work and it is AMAZING.  I didn't have enough whipped cream for the top because one of my cans got shook up, which was a huge disappointment.  So we only had one layer of the coconut whipped cream instead of two.  I ended up drizzling the other can a little over everyone's servings instead.

On the bottom of your trifle or glass bowl, put half the cake.  Put half the strawberry mixture on top of that, then half of the 2 cans worth of whipped coconut cream.  Repeat.  On top place a decorative strawberry and some toasted coconut.



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Angel Food Blackberry Trifle for Michaelmas

As Abigail mentioned in the post below, blackberries are traditional for celebrating the feast of St. Michael. In A Book of Feasts & Seasons, Joanna Bogle, says that "It is a tradition that blackberries are no good to eat after September 29th because 'the Devil spat on them when he was cast out of Heaven into Hell on Michaelmas'!" But what do you do if your family doesn't like blackberries? Here is a trifle recipe that my family enjoys that is great with or without real blackberries. Blackberry jam substitutes for the real berries and is a lovely compliment to the sweet lemon cream and light angel food cake which reminds of the other archangels we celebrate today.

Angel Food Trifle

1 angel food cake (store bought or homemade), chopped up into bite sized pieces
2 (8 oz.) tubs Cool Whip or equivalent whipped cream
2 lemons
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
fresh/frozen blackberries or blackberry jam or preserves


First, zest lemons to measure 1 tablespoon of zest. Next, juice lemons to measure 1/4 cup. In a bowl, whisk together sweetened condensed milk, lemon zest, & juice. Fold in 1 1/2 C. of Cool Whip. Set lemon cream aside.


To assemble the trifle:
Put 1/3 of the cake bits in the bottom of a tall glass container. Spoon 1/3 of the lemon cream on top along with scoops of plain cream. Add blackberries, sprinkling a few here and there or enough to make a solid layer depending on your family's fondness of blackberries. If you are using the jam instead, drop spoonfuls of it on top of the cake before the cream layer. Repeat twice to make 3 layers finishing with a layer of Cool Whip. Top with more blackberries. (If you are making this ahead, you might want to wait and add the blackberries on top just before serving so they don't weep all over your whipped cream.)

In the event your family doesn't like blackberries, I thought I'd let you know we decided to use some Haribo Gummi Raspberries to decorate the top. Symbolic and tasty!

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Strawberry-Coconut Tres Leches Trifle

I've had a number of requests for the recipe for the Strawberry Trifle we made for the feast of St. Joseph.  There really wasn't any particular significance to why we included it on our St. Joseph Altar, other than the fact that my girls were finishing up "S" week and it was a great way to use some Sliced Strawberries!

It would be a great addition to upcoming Easter celebrations, and since it is based on the flavors in a popular Mexican cake, it would be great dessert to make in honor of any of the Mexican Saints. 

Strawberry-Coconut Tres Leches Trifle

Adapted from Pampered Chef's 2010 Season's Best Cookbook

1 lb fresh strawberries, divided
One 16-oz frozen pound cake*, thawed
(*The recipe called for 3 packages of Ladyfingers.)
1 can sweetened condensed milk, divided
1 can (14 oz) unsweetened coconut milk, divided
1 container (8 oz) sour cream
1 container (12 oz) frozen whipped topping, thawed, divided
1 pkg (3.3 oz) coconut cream* instant pudding and pie filling 
(*The recipe called for vanilla.)
1 tsp Cinnamon

1. Set aside one strawberry for garnish. Hull remaining strawberries and slice. Set aside.

2. Trim Pound cake and dice into 1-in. cubes. Set aside. Whisk together 1/2 cup of the condensed milk, 2/3 cup of the coconut milk and sour cream. Add cake and toss gently.

3. Attach open star tip to Pampered Chef's Easy Accent® Decorator. Fill with 1 cup of the whipped topping. Combine pudding mix and remaining coconut milk; whisk until thickened. Add remaining condensed milk and cinnamon; whisk until incorporated. Fold in remaining whipped topping.

4. To assemble, place half of the pound cake mixture into Trifle Bowl; top with half of the strawberries. Spread half of the pudding mixture over strawberries. Repeat layers one time. Pipe whipped topping over top; garnish with strawberry fan.

5.  Enjoy!  Oh, and be sure to share! ;)

Update:  I just read on Colleen's blog, Footprints on the Fridge, that she is planning to serve this dessert on Sunday night, Palm Sunday.  She says that they will have "passionfruit juice (since this Sunday is also known as Passion Sunday)..." and this trifle "... which we will use to symbolize that even though we are saddened that Christ had to shed His blood for us (the red), we are filled with gratitude that by His sacrifice, we are washed clean (the white)."  Isn't that perfect?!  Thank you for sharing your creativity with all of us Colleen! Pin It