This time of year it’s all about the theatre of food: setting puddings alight, carving the turkey at the table, and edible gingerbread houses. There is food everywhere: peppermint candy canes are stuck into stockings and popcorn garlands placed around the Christmas tree. It’s the only time of year when eating an entire selection box for breakfast at 5am is acceptable.
As well as plum pudding, trifle is the traditional option for a sweet ending to Christmas dinner. My sister-in-law Eimear makes the best one. It involves real home-made custard, home-made sponge and a crunchy almond brittle added to the top. It’s a labour of love and is much-anticipated as the festive season approaches.
I love trifle. I usually omit the jelly, using mixed berries and their juices as an alternative, and soak the sponge with a generous dousing of sherry. As a child there was nothing worse than eating a dessert only to discover a layer of alcohol-soaked cake.
If I’m making dessert for a large group, I make sure to have an alcohol-free version or an alternative for children. Generally speaking they love anything that looks like you’ve created a fuss, so a dusting of cocoa or icing sugar, or sticking a sparkler in the dessert, can elevate it from the everyday to the extraordinary.
Trifle is a good dessert for kids to help with. It’s an assembly-line job where they can be handed the separate elements to layer it up themselves. It’s lovely to make individual servings, as one big trifle can get messy when being dished up. Small glass bowls are ideal, or little glass yoghurt jars, which will show off the colourful layers.
This year I’ve decided to ring the changes and make tiramisu. This is a really simple version and so quick to make. It’s laced with coffee and is, sweet and light; the perfect option for dessert after a heavy meal. A thick blanket of lightly sweetened cream envelops the coffee-soaked biscuits.
Add a dash of rum, sweet Marsala or coffee liqueur to the cooled coffee as you layer up the biscuits and cream. This dessert can be assembled in minutes and kept in the fridge until needed.
I’ve used the traditional boudoir biscuits: light airy sponge fingers that are widely available. Amaretti cookies – Italian almond-based biscuits – are a nice alternative and ideal for making this dessert gluten-free. This version of the popular recipe is great too, as it contains no raw egg, making it suitable for elderly and pregnant diners.
Honey is lovely as a subtle sweetener in the cream and coffee, but light brown or white sugar is fine too. Grated chocolate can be used in between the layers or instead of the cocoa on top. I love the bitterness of the cocoa powder, however, and it’s so powdery and dry with the cream.
I sometimes make a white chocolate and raspberry tiramisu. It’s tiramisu meets trifle, and it tastes amazing. Grated white chocolate and a few raspberries are tumbled in between the creamy mascarpone layers, and Irish coffee liqueur is used to soak the biscuits. It’s very boozy, fruity and creamy, and so ticks all the boxes for an indulgent seasonal dessert.
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TIRAMISU
The five ingredients
- 250g mascarpone
- 500ml cream
- 250ml freshly made coffee
- 200g boudoir biscuits
- 2tbs cocoa powder
From the pantry
- Sugar or honey
Method
Add a little honey or sugar to the coffee and set aside to cool.
Whip the cream and sweeten a little with some sugar or honey. Mix the mascarpone so it is loose and easy to blend in with the cream. Gently fold it into the whipped cream.
Splash some coffee on the base of a glass serving bowl. Arrange the biscuits on the base and drizzle over more of the coffee. Spread a layer of cream mixture and repeat with another biscuit and coffee layer, finishing with a thick layer of creamy mascarpone.
Dust generously with cocoa powder and leave to rest in the fridge for at least two hours before serving.
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