Recipe: Tropical Trifle

This Tropical Trifle is another quick and easy recipe … after making the Banana Strawberry Trifle… Warren got to talking about what other combinations would be good… and we were off and running…. We love tropical flavors… especially coconut… so what better way to start than with a coconut cream pudding…

TIPS

I do recommend you make the whipped cream from scratch… I make Chantilly Cream… a touch of vanilla… it really adds a wonderful flavor to the dish.

You can use fresh sliced strawberries instead of pie filling… the problem I have with fresh is that after a day or so… the strawberries start to get a tang to them… so if you know the dish won’t get completely eaten in a day… use the pie filling.

I made the pudding with whole milk.. if you want to cut the fat and calories a bit.. use non fat milk or a lower fat milk… the pudding will not be as thick.. but the dish will still be very good.

Instead of vanilla wafers… I found coconut cookies at the grocery store and broke them into pieces … it truly added to the wonderful coconut flavor which is mild in the pudding….you can also use pound cake… either one makes for a great trifle.

I used a 7 inch bowl that has 3 inch sides… this recipe makes just enough for that size bowl. It should make 6-8 individual trifles depending on the size of the trifle glasses.

I hope this terrific trifle with its tropical flavors gives you tasty relief from the tropical heat now hitting almost everywhere in the States!






Recipe: Tropical Trifle

All you need:

For the pudding:

1 box (5.1 oz.) JELL-O Coconut Cream Instant Pudding mix
3 cups cold milk

For the Chantilly Cream:

1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons sugar
½ to 1 teaspoon vanilla (to taste)* I use 1 teaspoon

Other ingredients:

Coconut cookies, broken into pieces
1 can (21 oz.) strawberry pie filling
1 small can of pineapple tidbits, drained

All you need to do:

To make the pudding:

In a large bowl, whisk or beat with an electric beater for 2 minutes, the pudding mix and cold milk. Allow to stand for 5 minutes, pudding will thicken.

To make the Chantilly Cream:

Whip all the heavy cream, sugar and vanilla until the cream forms soft peaks.

To assemble the trifle:

Spread half the pudding in the bottom of a large glass bowl (see tips for size bowl).

Place a layer of broken coconut cookies over the pudding.

Spread half the pie filling over the cookie pieces.

Sprinkle the pineapple tidbits liberally over the pie filling.

Spread half the Chantilly Cream over the pie filling.

Repeat the layers in the same order except don’t completely cover the top layer with pie filling… instead make a large circle of pie filling leaving about a 2 inch border.

Sprinkle the pineapple tidbits all over the top (including the border and pie filling).

Pile some Chantilly cream over the pie filling leaving a border of pie filling showing for a pretty look.