Happy Friday All!  It is Memorial Day Weekend for all of us hard working Americans and this is the time we fire up the grills and dust off the patio furniture to kick off the summer and remember those who paid the ultimate price for the reason we can wave our flags high  from our homes.

With any holiday in this house, food is just a given.  I love to cook as much as I love to craft and I think I love to eat more than both combined! So I will share one of my new favorite summer desserts . . . Very Berry Trifle  made with Cream Cheese Pound Cake.

1. I found the pound cake recipe via Pinterst of course! Once baked, I separate in half and freeze one half for another trifle.  I slice the half I am using in about inch slices and set aside.
2. To make the fruit base I prep and slice full container of  fresh strawberries and toss in a sauce with about 1/4 cup of sugar and a vanilla bean I split open.  I cook on simmer until the berries are mushy and all the sugar is disolved, fish out the vanilla bean and then puree it using a stick blender.  Set aside to cool.  I also slice another full container of strawberries and wash a small container of raspberries and set aside
3. Using an instant vanilla pudding I make the pudding per instruction and add the guts of a vanilla bean (I think you are getting I love vanilla . . . I feel this takes a big place for flavor of the usual Brandy or Cognac that is called in most traditional trifle recipes).  I set in fridge to set up.
4. As the puree and pudding are processing, I take a half pint of whipping cream and add 1/4 cup of powder sugar and whip together using my stand mixer (hand mixers would work fine as well) until it has nice semi firm peaks.
5. Using  a trifle bowl (any bowl would work) I begin the layering of the  fresh berries, pudding, puree, pound cake, puree, whipped cream, berries, and (very light layer) white chocolate chips in that order.   Let sit in the fridge for about 2 hours before serving and you got yourself a fresh and very yummy dessert that will be a showstopper!

Ingredients:

• For pound cake see recipe HERE
• 1 half pint whipping cream
• 1/4 cup powder sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 package of instant pudding (make as directed)
• 2 Vanilla Beans
• 2 containers of fresh strawberries
• 1 container of raspberries
• 1 cup of white chocolate chips (use a good quality brand for best results)

Thanks for sharing a piece of “yum-yum” pie with me!

Linking up to:

Gotta Create – Wildly Original Linking Party

The Real Thing – Real Family Fun #15