A Tale of Two Desserts- Part One: Trifle

It's a perfect Christmas here at our house. It's our tradition to spend the day together, just the two of us (plus dog and cat.) We enjoy a leisurely breakfast - today I made apple fritters and, for me, a couple of my homemade breakfast sausages. We lingered around the tree with our coffee and tea, opening gifts and making and receiving holiday phone calls.
The afternoon has been spent watching movies on TV, noshing on whatever we could find in the fridge. That included last night's leftover Parisian-style gnocchi with butternut squash and shitake mushrooms.
But this post isn't about breakfast, or about dinner. It's about dessert.

At the last minute, I invited a friend to have Christmas Eve dinner with the two of us. Now, if dinner had just been the two of us, I wouldn't have made any dessert. Dennis is perfectly happy without sweet temptations and I'm so happy to have them, I'll eat too much. But with another dessert eater coming over, I was ready to give in to temptation.

Just two days ago, in a lovely Christmas moment, a friend sent us an astonishingly delicious butter rum cake from Sugar & Spike. It was so good, and with a nudge from that same friend, thought suddenly about Trifle.

A traditional holiday sweet, trifle is made up of jam-smeared cake slices, doused in booze, then layered with creme anglaise/vanilla cream and fruit. Several of these layers are then topped with sweetened whipped cream.
I could already tell this butter rum cake would layer beautifully in a trifle. I peered into the depths of the refrigerator and saw about 3 oz of apricot glaze leftover from tart-making, three egg yolks leftover from some meringue art (post forthcoming,) - those would make a beautiful vanilla sauce, just add cream and milk and vanilla bean. I had some raspberries and blueberries. And there were all the wonderful liqueurs from the summer fermenting. In a glorious moment of inspiration, I remembered David Lebovitz' candied cherries (from A Perfect Scoop.) Suddenly, a trifle was born. I put it together in the early afternoon. By the dessert hour, it was heavenly. While making the trifle, I thought "this is how trifle came to be." finding bits and pieces all around the kitchen that come together in delicious beauty.
Trifle
Serves 4

Leftover pound cake, stollen or pannetone, about six slices
Jam - raspberry or apricot seems best
Brandy or Apricot or Peach liqueur
Vanilla custard (3 egg yolks, 1/4 c sugar, 1/2 c milk, 1/2 c cream, 1 tsp vanilla)
1 pt Raspberries, blueberries
Candied cherries**
1/2 c whipping cream, whipped to soft peaks
A beautiful glass bowl, about 1 qt size

Make the vanilla custard. Heat the cream and milk (I use the microwave and heat for about a minute.)
In a small saucepan, whisk together the sugar and egg yolks. Stream in the cream/milk mixture slowly, whisking all the time. Keeping the heat at medium, stirring constantly, the custard should thicken in about 5 minutes. Stir in the vanilla. Continue to heat until slightly thickened - stir with a wooden spoon, then drag your finger through the custard on the back of the spoon. When the line remains, the custard is done.)
Strain through a sieve into a bowl set in an ice bath, to cool the custard quickly.
Now make the trifle.
Start by spreading jam on one side of the cake slices.
Begin the layers with two or three slices of the cake pressed into the bottom of the bowl.
Sprinkle a healthy slosh of liqueur over the cake.
Add a few raspberries.
Add 1/3 of the custard.
Start again with the jammy cake slices - and repeat the whole process two more times.
Cover with plastic and pop in the 'fridge for at least two hours.
No more than two hours before you are going to serve the trifle, cover the top with whipped cream.
If you have raspberries left over, place them on the top of the trifle.
**I made the candied cherries using some sour cherry jam I made last summer than never quite jelled. I just cooked them down forever until all the liquid was gone, then carefully plucked them apart onto parchment paper to dry a bit. The recipe/idea from A Perfect Scoop - an indispensible ice cream cookbook by David Lebovitz. It's such a treasure, I suggest you put it on your wish list right away!)

Chill the trifle well and serve cold.

Merry Christmas from my kitchen to yours.

Christmas Eve appetizers gravlax, dill mustard, marcona almonds, kalamata olives,
Stoneyman Gourmet Farmer Hillandale Tomme. jack rose cocktails.

Catching Up

I've always thought the term "busy as a bee" was just a folksy saying, but I watched a honeybee in the lavender today and I believe it's true. They are busy creatures and rarely sit on a blossom, lounge around listening to their apian Ipods.

And, evidently, neither do I.

It's been weeks since I sat down to write. In the garden, I've busied myself with weeding and tying up tomatoes. And in the kitchen, it's all about the first canning sessions. As I went through each day (somewhat frantically), trying to get everything done, I would think "I really should be writing about this.” I even took a number of photographs to illustrate what was going on.


So, time has passed. Here are reports from both Farm and Kitchen.

The farm is warming my heart. Everything is very, very tall. I planned to put the plants where I knew the sun would cooperate – four to six hours of good sun – IN LATE SUMMER. In the early part of the summer, that part of the yard is only sunny three to four hours a day. Consequently, everything grew to the sunlight. Tomatoes are putting on their first blossoms last week – all about five feet off the ground, which will be interesting if the heirlooms weigh in at 1.5#. Vegetable gardening is such a labor of love. Every day, I battle mosquitos (they’re just awful this year) to add another support or tie, look for bugs, pull a few weeds. And so far, my harvest has been about five salads worth of leaf lettuce, 1 cup or so of English Peas, a dozen strawberries, two or three cups of basil, two or three cups of parsley, sufficient quantities of chives, thyme, rosemary and oregano and several nasturtiums. Clearly, this is not going to feed even our family of two.


I am working on patience, regular watering, weekly doses of Alaskan fish fertilizer both from the watering can and through the hose end sprayer, which, by the way, seems to be a great insect detractor as well – ‘tho it smells like dead fish for a couple of hours.

I have high hopes for late summer harvesting.

Without a doubt, the more interesting world is the one in the kitchen – the preserving room. I depend on three books: The Blue Ball Book of Preserving; Mes Confitures; and Well Preserved.

I’ve been haunting the farm stand and the farmer’s market, buying when the prices seem right and the produce is at the peak of ripeness.

Here is my early summer production:

2.5 pints sauerkraut
6 quarts of dill pickles that exploded (sigh)
3 more quarts of dill pickles. So far so good.
6 pints of amazing sweet pickle chunks (Craven County Sweets)
1 pint pickled asparagus
2 quarts sour cherry liqueur
2 quarts peach liqueur
1 gigantic glass jar of green walnut wine, still steeping
7 quarts sour cherry pie filling
6 pints sour cherry jam
6 pints raspberry jam
5 pints peach, strawberry, lemon verbena jam
6 pints strawberry rhubarb jam
4 pints strawberry balsamic jam
1 quart peach slices in ginger syrup, an experiment

Today, I found gorgeous apricots that should ripen tomorrow and will become jam. That may complete my jam making, as the tomato season is heating up, and I’ll be on to salsa, bloody mary mix and pasta sauce for the next two months.

I love this season, and this, my second year of canning, is just so satisfying. It’s glorious to go to the basement and see all the sparkling jars lined up and know that winter will be that much tastier.

The walnut wine was quite fun. It took me two years to time it right .... and remember to ask Susan, the orchardist at the farmers market (Nob Hill Orchards,) for green walnuts. She brought me a bag of lovely scented green orbs, and I quartered them and poured in cheap red wine, vodka, orange peel, cloves, and vanilla bean. It steeps for 40 days, then, once strained, sits another three mohts to develop. It will be perfect at Christmastime.



I’m especially thrilled with the liqueurs. Last summer, I put up two quarts of sour cherries in vodka or maybe brandy, and sugar, promptly forgot that I did it, and by the time I found the jars again – sometime this Spring – I wondered what I should do with the odd looking fruit. I had completely forgotten that FRUIT was not the point of this recipe.


A casual internet conversation led me to strain the fruit and taste the booze. It was divine! My mind was busy thinking about ways to reduce and use as a glaze for duck. Or mix with sparkling water for a fruity, light, summer cocktail. From that point forward, no fruit was safe.

For an incredibly easy and satisfying canning experience, here is a recipe for fruit liqueur.

Sour Cherry (or Any Fruit) Liqueur
Source: an internet conversation

One quart glass jar with lid, washed well in soapy hot water.

½ lb. sour cherries or any other, preferably organic, fruit, washed.
Leave pits in as they add a slight almond flavor. Prick cherries with a knife tip. Half or quarter peaches, apricots, apples and pears.
½ lb. sugar (about 2 cups)
2 cups vodka, the cheap stuff
You can also use eau de vie, marc or brandy, but do not spend money unnecessarily, cheap is best.

I’m sure you could add vanilla bean, cloves, cinnamon stick. I’m not sure about green herbs like thyme and rosemary, but intend to test some herbal infusions.

Do not shake, just place in a warm spot for at least three months.

Strain through a coffee filter, cheesecloth or wet paper towels. I like it best chilled, served in a cordial glass.