Stirring up the dirt

Does everyone remember the Friends episode where Rachel makes trifle? The pages stick together in the cookbook and she ends up making a trifle which includes ingredients for a shepherd's pie.

Ross: "That tastes like feet."
Joey: "I like it."
Ross: "Are you kidding?"
Joey: "What's not to like? Custard? Good. Jam? Good. Meat? Goooooood."

This trifle is a little more traditional. There is no meat in it at all. Instead it uses fresh red berries which always make me think of Christmas. It also uses alcohol, which forms the baseline for my Christmas activities. And if you got to spend Christmas with Thatinlaws then you'd be pouring alcohol into all of your dishes also!

This was also a great chance to use the Mayhew Jelly I picked up in Savannah. I got a fascinating lesson on Mayhaw berries from the owner of the wine store where I found the jelly. It's basically just a great sweet jelly that I love to use in tarts and thought would work well with the strawberries and raspberries in the trifle. I was right! I love traveling to new places and bringing home specialties to try.

Mixed Berry Trifle

• 1 pound cake, cut into 8 slices
• 1/4 cup sherry
• 1/2 cup frozen strawberries
• 1/2 cup frozen raspberries
• 4 Tbsp Mayhaw Jelly
• 1 pkg of instant vanilla pudding
• 1 carton cool whip

1. Make vanilla pudding according to package directions.
2. Arrange half of the pound cake on the bottom of a glass bowl.
3. Spoon half the sherry over the cake.
4. Layer the strawberries over the cake and top with 2 Tbsp of the jelly.
5. Pour half the pudding over the layers.
6. Layer the remaining cake, sherry, raspberries, and jelly.
7. Spoon the cool whip over the layers and refrigerate overnight.