A Healthy Alternative

Trifle is not exactly a healthy dessert, but in this era of gyms, personal trainers and macro diaries, is it possible for the trifle to evolve? As we have previously discussed, it is the trifle’s capacity to reinvent itself that has ensured that the humble trifle remains one of every families favorite sweet.

So a few years ago, when I was in a particularly  health conscious phase of my life, I set myself a challenge to prepare a “diet trifle”.  The trifle would be a success if I could convince my mother in-law, a proud trifle chef herself that it was edible. My mother-in-law is a dessert queen . Her love of cooking and eating desserts is well known but she is a traditionalist,  rarely varying from her tightly held secret recipes. I guess why would you want to try changing things when there is no need?  In recent years however,  increasingly her children and grandchildren have become increasingly health conscious. She has tried for many years to tempt them to the dark side, but she has slowly realised that “carb counting” is here to stay.

The other pet hate for my mother-in-law is cooking with packet ingredients. So making trifle means making the most delicious custard from scratch, full cream milk, vanilla, eggs, sugar,and lots of love and care. No packet custard will do. So if I was going to try to feed my mother-in-law a diet trifle, I thought I would also try to cut a few corners. So with a few cartons of diet custard , some lite raspberry jelly and shop bought rolly polly sponge, I started to assemble my trifle. A combination of fresh berries, kiwi fruit and passion fruit (all fresh) and Sherry  completed my ingredient list.

So the big day arrived and my extra sized trifle looking spectacular. It was agreed by all that there would be no mention of diet or cartons to my mother-in-law until after she tasted the trifle and gave her remarks. Surprisingly she liked it! Could it be possible that she did not see through the illusion? As she was enjoying her last bite of the diet delight,  someone remarked  “I cant believe this is a diet trifle!”. In that instant, it was like she choked on a strawberry, almost sending the last mouthful across the table. The room erupted with laughter as there was no denying she had been enjoying the trifle, despite it being full of Skim milk and Splenda.

Cheers