cooking @ home

What is the difference between a parfait and a trifle? Well, first, this is actually a British trifle as they contain lady fingers, where as the American version, one thinks more of ice cream. Nowadays they are fairly interchangable words. That having been said though, one can still easily a web forum full of people arguing strongly as to which one it really was. Myself, I always like to go with the an alliteration when given the choice.

What is this then? It’s a multi-layered desert in a glass. Note: A trifle can be done directly in the glass, but is often done in a (you guessed it) trifle bowl, and then put into glasses. The idea as you see is two-fold. First, the repeated mention of glass is an easy clue that this is a desert to be as much relished by the eyes as it is by the tongue.

There is, I find (as I always seem to, being new to writing recipes though not to cooking) is giving accurate instructions when everything is different. This could be done in the trifle dish and then moved over to the glass. But even if done directly, not every glass container is the same. Not even remotely. Different volumes, different (internal) heights, different top widths and diameters. Sizes like Mut and Jeff, like Laurel and Hardy. Trying to figure out “exacting” directions. I’d say, near impossible. With that in mind, I’m tossing completely out the concept and going with rough and approximate guesstimates. (If you can live with that, you’re obviously a baker. Pass on to another recipe.)

Obviously since we’re using liqueur this is an “adult dessert”. But don’t fret, I’ve included the children’s version at the end.

I just quickly wanted to say what inspired me for this. Obviously I’d seen several parfait and trifle recipes recently. Then I looked around the house at my canned fruits, some peaches, apricots, pears and pineapple. Pear I though, what a wonderfully odd fruit. Compared to the others mentioned, not the first choice in a dessert as the others seem, somehow more robust in flavor.

At that point of course, now I just had to come up with something for the pears. Creme de cocoa maybe? Chocolate’s always a winner, but then I thought what it’s usually paired up with, raspberry, orange, and the rest. Again, strong flavors when compare to the pear. So I thought light, and up came Kahlua. Ok, pear and coffee, odd, but it should work. What else?

So then I began thinking of contrasting flavors but given how light this was heading, any contrasting would end up overpowering the rest of the flaovrs. Think complimentary tastes then. When I spied the bag of shaved almonds on my shelf, I was immediately sold. The flavor would lend itself naturally with the others, and yet the slight crunch would be a excellent contrast in textures. Yes, I thought, this is going to be a winner.

One thing, yes the tastes are light, but it is definitely a sweet desert. Try to avoid the natural tendency to really soak the fingers in the Kahlua. I’ve made this twice now, and the one where I had a “lighter touch” was better. In short, you can go overboard with the Kahlua quite easily.

Needlesstosay, something like this is great for getting children to have a “sundae” style desert containing no ice cream and still getting them to eat some delicious fruit.

Pear Parfait (Trifle)
©2007 Harry Kenney

ingredients:

Ladyfingers
Canned pears (though we won’t be using the syrup)
Kahlua liqueur
Whipped cream
Shaved almonds

How much of what varies too much upon shapes and sizes of dessert glass (and even more so if you’re using an actual trifle dish and then spooning it out after) — so wing it. As some sort of guide though, a dozen lady fingers and a 29 oz can of pears will serve about four. (Or, depending, maybe five, six tops.)

Roll ladyfingers on the side in a shallow plate or bowl of Khalua. You want to get the edges covered, not the insides, so you want the liquid to come up to only maybe 1/4 of the size of height of sideways ladyfinger. This means you leave a bit of crunch in the middle. Remember, not too long at all, in, roll, cover all sides, out. These are very much edible sponges.

Depending on your container, place the ladyfinger in the bottom. Smaller bowl or width, break in half. For a thinner, more vertical glass, break into three or four pieces. This is a layered dessert and it’s all going to be scrunched and destroyed with the spoon while eating, so don’t worry about this.

Add a couple shaved almonds and a small dollip of whipped cream in the middle here. Remember, small. (Also remember we’re doing this only on the bottom, and not to do this on the next layer.) Ok, next layer put in some pears. Break those in half or more with your tablespoon as needed to fit that glass.

Next layer, whipped cream. Now we do it all again the same way. Ladyfingers rolled in the Khaula, broken to fit (no dabs of whipped cream and almonds here, again, none). Top with a layer of cut pears. We should be near or at the top now, however much you’ve put in.

At the top, heavily cover with whipped cream. Take some of the Khalua remaining in the dish (pour more if needed) and put two or three tables spoons of it over and down the whipped cream. Sprinkle generously with shaved almonds. Voila.

Extra punch version: You could even go further with this by making the whipped cream yourself using heavy cream, a bit of powdered sugar, a dash of vanilla extrac, and toss in a few shots of Ameretta. More almondy and definitely more “punch”. And, as for a total 180, there’s the … Kid’s version: Substitute the Kahalua with chocolate syrup or perhaps caramel syrup. Leave or remove the almonds as you see fit. (Some kids love nuts and chocolate, some can’t stand nuts.) The almonds can certainly be replaced with anything from raisins, to minced marachino cherries, to little chunks of fresh banana. Be creative.