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This 4th of July Lemon Berry Trifle is to die for! It’s light and creamy with refreshing summertime flavors.
We had a BLAST this last Fourth of July with our family out by the pool. That’s always been my happy place; poolside, cold beverage, grill going, tasty snacks, and oldies or country music on! Nothing is better than that!
This recipe is absolutely perfect for any summer gatherings and the top can really be decorated with whatever berries, or color scheme you want.
And yes those are Epiphany star cut outs because this Catholic house didn’t have any traditional small star cookie cutters. Note to self, next year order some off Amazon because they are not easy to find in person in July.
Prep Time: 40 minutes
Chill Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
Yields: 12 servings
Lemon Glaze Ingredients
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp almond extract
Berry Trifle Ingredients
2 containers of fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced (leave some halved to decorate the top)
1 container of blueberries
1, 4-serving size package vanilla instant pudding
2 cups milk
1, 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened
1, 5.3 ounce carton vanilla-flavored Greek yogurt
1, 8 ounce container of cool whip
1 store bought angel food cake
Let’s tie those aprons on and get to it.
Start by making the vanilla pudding! I just followed the box directions here, nothing fancy.
Put the package of pudding mix into a mixing bowl and add 2 cups of milk.
Whisk together until the mixture is smooth and set in the refrigerator to chill while you prepare the rest. Whew, the hard part is over! ;)
Gather your glaze ingredients and head over to the stove. In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, pour in 1/4 cup sugar and 1/4 cup lemon juice.
Add in 1/4 cup water!
Then pour in 1/2 tsp almond extract. This little ingredient gives the whole thing a really nice pop of flavor.
Whisk everything together until the sugar has dissolved. This took me about 2-3 minutes!
Note: This is not going to come out as a thick glaze like we normally think when we hear the word, but is really intended to wet the angel food cake and lift it up with flavor.
Set that aside and cut the angel food cake into quarter inch thick slices. Lay them out on a cutting board or dish and brush the glaze on both sides of the cake.
Cut the angel food cake into cubes and set that aside until we are ready to assemble the trifle.
Yeah, I ate a cube of cake too!
To turn our attention to the pudding mixture you will need the three things pictured below. We will also use the cool whip but I left that in the fridge until the moment I needed it.
It's Texas… all that is good and holy melts here.
RIP that stick of butter we left on the counter.
In a mixing bowl combine the 8 ounce package of cream cheese and the 5.3 ounce cups of Greek vanilla yogurt. Mix together with a silicone spatula until smooth.
Add in the pudding and beat with your hand mixer on medium low until it is smooth.
Scoop in 8 ounces of cool whip and fold into the pudding mixture. Folding is key, don’t use your hand beater for this, we want light and fluffy!
Before we begin to layer the trifle I want to show you how to easily make the jicama stars.
Cut into 1/4 inch thick slices, then lay your cookie cutter down, press, and pop out your star shapes. Just like you would cut out a child’s fun shape sandwiches on a slice of bread!
Now we put the trifle together layer by layer. Begin with 1/3 of the angel food cake and lay that across the bottom of the trifle dish.
Then scoop 1/3 of the pudding mixture and spread it across the cake to make another layer.
Line the glass dish with strawberries and blueberries, then sprinkle a layer across the pudding.
Do this three times, or as many as it takes for you to get to the rim of the trifle dish.
About half way up I evenly placed three jicama stars around the edge of the dish to create a little design interest, then continued my layers to hold them in place.
When you get to the very top of the dish spread out a layer of pudding. This will help to hold our fruit design in place.
I began by putting one medium sized star in the center and lining the rim with strawberries.
Outline the star in the middle with blueberries.
Place strawberry halves in the inner points of the star.
Then fill in the open areas with blueberries.
I wanted a pop of white on the top so I also added four jicama stars to each corner.
Put that in the fridge for an hour to chill then serve and enjoy with family and friends, or just eat it by yourself with a glass of white wine, I won't tell on you.
Prayer for Our Nation
God our Father,
Giver of life,
we entrust the United States of America to Your loving
care.
You are the rock on which this nation was founded.
You alone are the true source of our cherished rights to
life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Reclaim this land for Your glory and dwell among Your
people.
Send Your Spirit to touch the hearts of our nation's
leaders.
Open their minds to the great worth of human life
and the responsibilities that accompany human freedom.
Remind Your people that true happiness is rooted in
seeking
and doing Your will.
Through the intercession of Mary Immaculate,
Patroness of our land,
grant us the courage to reject the "culture of death."
Lead us into a new millennium of life.
We ask this through Christ Our Lord.
Amen.