Limoncello Trifle

To illustrate yesterday's post on pudding confusion, one real life example of this happened with our dear friends Jared and Jane.  They are a native Scottish couple who have "adopted" us.  I work closely with women at the church Jared pastors.  We have been so blessed by  our relationship with their personal and church family.

At their son Ian's Cricket match

Go Ian!

How cute are they by the way?  I could just eat them up with a spoon!

Coolest school clubhouse ever

Seth is sopping wet from crawling around in the puddles

Jane and Jared have the love language of gift giving, and we have been  grateful benefactors of their generosity.  From stuffed animals and clothing for Seth, to cell phones and coffee grinders for us, possibly our favorite gift from them has been a "pudding" recipe.

We had been trying to get together for weeks but were having difficulty in aligning our schedules.  Jared suggested they just stop by our house after Seth had gone to bed and if we'd provide the tea and coffee, they'd bring the pudding.  We'd lived long enough in Scotland that weren't expecting jello pudding, but we weren't quite sure as to what they would bring.  

And oh were we glad when we tasted what they brought.  Jane had made us a Limoncello Trifle, and we were sold the minute we tasted it.  Its citrus-y flavor was my kind of dessert, and Taylor loves anything custard-y so Limoncello Trifle was a hit!  They graciously offered to pass on the recipe.  Now, I feel I can make proper "pudding."  And you can too if you're interested.  It's pretty, looks and tastes like you spent hours in the kitchen, but it's easy to make.  That is if you can find all of the ingredients and have a conversion chart :)

Limoncello Trifle

3 oranges

75 ml limoncello

100g sponge fingers

250g mascarpone

2 heaping Tbsp icing sugar (powdered sugar)

100 ml semi-skimmed milk (2%)

1 lemon

1 tsp vanilla

A punnet of raspberries (a plastic container of raspberries)

1-100g bar of dark chocolate, shaved

1. Juice oranges into serving dish.  

I used a pie dish to give you an idea of about how big it should be.

2. Stir in limoncello.

I don't have a photo of me stirring it in because, well, I forgot it completely until I was further along in the process.  So if you're scatterbrained like me, it's apparently not a problem if you add it after step 3 because that is when I did.  Details, details.

3. Cover base of dish with sponge fingers.

(3 1/2. Add limoncello if you forgot to earlier)

4. In a separate bowl, mix cheese, sugar, and milk.  

5. Add finely grated lemon zest and juice from half of the lemon.  (Then give the other half to your one year old who is obsessed with lemon and doesn't even flinch while eagerly devouring it rind and all.)

5. (You see how I forgot the limoncello??)

6. Whisk in vanilla.

7. Spread mixture over fingers (the sponge fingers not your own).

8. Place raspberries on top and add grated chocolate.

No chocolate on this one - thought it was too pretty without it.

9. Chill in fridge.

Enjoy!