Giving your loves a special dessert on Valentine’s Day does not have to break the bank, y’all. Nor does it have to be complicated. Take these simple Chocolate Brownie and Raspberry Trifles with Raspberry Coulis for example.
For my segments on THV11, I often try to prepare dishes that anyone can pull together fairly easily. But easy doesn’t have to mean any less pretty, does it. This trifle looks like you put in a lot of effort and time when, in truth, they only take a few minutes to pull together.
Again, this is a great one to prepare with your children or grands.
They can be as difficult or easy as you make them. By difficult, I mean simply whipping up your own heavy cream and cooking up a batch of homemade brownies. But you really don’t have to do that unless it just floats your boat!
For the show, I used purchased dark chocolate brownies and refrigerated whipped cream topping (such as Cool Whip), making the dish super easy. It wasn’t any less delicious, however.
I managed to find some really pretty raspberries to use as the fruit layer, but you could just as easily use strawberries if you prefer. I think this same idea would be a fun one for July 4th by using red velvet cake, blueberries and whipped topping. What do you think?
Set out a variety of toppings, from sprinkles, to nuts to additional chocolate syrup or ice cream topping. Chocolate heart-shaped candies are also good. You could actually use ice cream in place of or in addition to the whipped topping if you’d like.
I like the mix of trifle containers. I have a random collection of martini and champagne glasses that I have picked up over the years to use just for dishes like this. The assortment makes for a fun table, I think. Just look around your home; I bet you can find plenty of pretty dishes you can use without making any special purchases.
Just let your imagination go wild, y’all!
Happy Valentine’s Day.
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup heavy whipping cream (May substitute prepared topping such as Cool Whip)
- 1-2 Tablespoons powdered sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 8 purchased or homemade chocolate brownies, cut or crumbled into small pieces, about 2 cups
- 2 cups fresh raspberries, dark sweet cherries or strawberries
- 1 cup chocolate ice cream topping
Garnishes
- Dark unsweetened cocoa, optional
- Raspberry Coulis, optional
- Toasted, chopped pecans or walnuts, optional
- Chocolate candy hearts
Raspberry Coulis
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 3 tablespoons water or orange juice
- 12 ounces frozen raspberries thawed (don't use fresh)
- 1 tablespoon Chambord Framboise or Grand Marnier liqueur, optional (substitute orange juice or water)
Instructions
Trifle
- n a chilled large mixing bowl whip cream with sugar and vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer on high speed with wire whip until stiff peaks form; set aside in the refrigerator
- Divide half of the brownie crumbles among 4 parfait glasses.
- Layer raspberries, chocolate topping and whipped cream over brownie crumbles; repeat.
- Sprinkle with a sprinkle of dark cocoa powder and drizzle with raspberry coulis. Sprinkle chopped nuts overall, if desired.
- Refrigerate up to 4 hours.
Coulis
- Combine sugar and water (or orange juice) in a 1 cup (or larger) microwave-safe cup or bowl. Stir to combine. Mixture will be very thick.
- Cook in the microwave on high power for two minutes. Stir for 5-10 seconds to ensure that the sugar crystals are dissolved.
- Combine frozen raspberries and hot syrup in a blender container. Blend until mixture is smooth and pureed.
- Pour puree through a fine mesh strainer set over a medium-size bowl. Stir and push on the solids with the back of a rubber spatula until all of the liquid has been extracted. This will take several minutes as the mixture will be thick.
- Discard the seeds. Add the liqueur, if using and stir to combine.
- Store in the refrigerator for 5-7 days or in the freezer for 2-3 months.
