Strawberry Shortcake Trifle
I am not sure why I never combined ladyfingers with strawberries before. Using them together in this dish made a wonderful dessert- that was also very easy. It was somewhere between a trifle and a shortcake so I called it both!
I want to just say something about ladyfingers. There are two types I see in stores around here, soft or crisp. The soft ones are smaller and cake-like and found in bakeries in grocery stores. Like sponge cake. The other ladyfingers are crisp and larger. I find the crispy type at Italian stores and sometimes at specialty grocery stores. The ladyfingers you want for this recipe are the larger, crisp ladyfingers.
I was happy with how it came out. The ladyfingers were soft, not mushy. They actually were kind of fluffy. The flavors blended so nicely. Great summer dessert. Light and refreshing, but a little rich, too. I made vanilla pudding, but make life easier and just use store bought or instant from a box- if you prefer.
Here is the recipe. Enjoy!!
Strawberry Shortcake Trifle
1½ – 2 pounds strawberries, washed, stemmed and sliced
½ c. sugar
24 ladyfingers
1 recipe vanilla pudding- recipe follows
¾ c. Hazelnut chocolate spread
Whipped cream or whipped topping
Combine strawberries with the sugar and set aside. Make the pudding, if you haven’t already. You can use pre-made pudding. You’ll need 2-3 cups of pudding. In a 9×9-inch baking dish, place one layer of the cookies. You might have to trim them a little to fit. I had 2 rows of 6 cookies, but I had to break off a little for the second row to fit. Spoon over half of the strawberries, with some of the liquid in the bowl. Spread a layer of pudding over the berries. For the next layer, spread some of the hazelnut spread over each lady finger before putting it in the pan. When you put them in the pan, place them with the spread on the under side. Add another layer of the pudding, then top with the rest of the strawberries. Cover and place in fridge until ready to serve. You can do all this up to 2 days ahead. Before serving, remove cover and top with whipped cream or any whipped topping you like. Serves 6-8.
Vanilla Pudding
1 c. sugar
½ c. cornstarch
½ t. salt
3 ¾ c. half and half
1 T. vanilla- or a little more
2 T. butter
Combine dry ingredients in a medium saucepan. Whisk in half and half and vanilla until well mixed. Heat over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture starts to bubble and get thickened. Mixture will get pretty thick. Turn down heat to keep it from scorching. As soon as pudding is thickened, remove from the heat and stir in the butter until melted. Place pudding in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and chill until ready to use. Makes about 4 cups.
“Cheeseburger” Cookies
I have been doing a cooking camp in Mentor this week. We have made all sorts of dishes including these darling cheeseburgers cookies. I know, I normally cook everything from scratch, but these are so fun. Also a nice thing to make when it is too hot to be baking. They are just assembled, not baked, and even younger kids can make them.
Cheeseburger Cookies
1 package vanilla wafer cookies
1 package Keebler Fudge N Caramel or Grasshopper cookies, or other small chocolate cookies
2 c. powdered sugar
1- 2 T. milk
few drops of yellow and red food coloring
1 c. coconut, optional
several drops of green food coloring, optional
1/4 c. powder sugar
1 T. milk
sesame seeds
Combine 2 cups of powder sugar with the milk and red and yellow food coloring. This should be the color of cheese. Place the coconut in a small bag and add a few drops of green food coloring. Close the bag and shake well to evenly color. This will be the ‘lettuce’.
To assemble cookies use 2 vanilla wafers (the bun) and one Keebler cookie (the burger). The orange frosting works as the cheese and glue. The coconut is the lettuce. Place a vanilla wafer flat side up on work surface. Place a little dab of “cheese” on the cookie and then a Keebler cookie. Sprinkle a little coconut on the burger, then some more cheese and the top bun, flat side down. Combine the remaining powder sugar and milk. You should have a thin glaze. Brush this lightly on the top of the finished “burgers” and sprinkle with a few sesame seeds. Makes about 2 dozen cookies.
Chocolate Eclair Cake
This recipe has been around a long time. It’s very tasty and deceptively simple to make. For starters there is no baking involved. Nice when it is hot and you just don’t feel like turning on the oven.
The dessert itself is layers of graham crackers and a pudding and cream mixture with chocolate frosting to finish it off. You do need to assemble it a day ahead, so there is some planning needed, but no cooking. As the mixture sits, the crackers soften. When you serve the cake it cuts beautifully. The cake is supposed to remind you of an eclair, thus it’s name.
The original recipe calls for frozen whipped topping – like Cool Whip. You can easily substitute real whipping cream.
No-Bake Chocolate Eclair Cake
4 c. vanilla pudding
1 small container non-dairy whipped topping, thawed or 1 cup whipping cream, whipped
1 box graham crackers
1 can chocolate frosting or 1- 2 c. homemade chocolate frosting
Combine pudding and whipped topping or whipped cream and set aside. In 9×13 inch cake pan place 1 layer of graham crackers. Try to cover the whole bottom of the pan with the crackers, breaking them to fill in gaps, ff needed. Spoon half of the pudding mixture over the crackers and spread out evenly. Place another layer of graham crackers over the pudding mixture and then spoon on the remaining pudding mixture, smoothing evenly. Place last layer of crackers on top. Warm frosting slightly and pour over the top. Spread out evenly. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Serves 10-12.
