Recipe: Cheery Christmas Fruit Trifle
Traditional trifle recipes call for some pretty fattening ingredients—Creme anglaise, custard, and jelly—and while all those sweet, creamy layers are delicious, they can also add up to 350 calories or more per serving. Good news though, because our Cheery Christmas Fruit Trifle keeps the beautiful layers and the sweetness at only 170 calories. And it can be made as much as a day ahead, leaving you free to concentrate on hot dishes the day of the big holiday meal.
How do we make this trifle so low calorie? It’s mostly in the pudding. We used Snack Pack zero sugar vanilla pudding in our versions of this trifle, which at zero calories works well to keep this trifle diet friendly. But we also recommend Professional Weight Management’s own high protein puddings for an extra dose of appetite satisfying protein to counter the natural sugars in the fruit. Our dulce leche flavor would balance the fruit nicely, while our lemon chiffon would be an excellent complement to blueberries if you choose to use them.
Ready for the ingredients? We actually made two versions of this recipe—one with a variety of fruits and a second with only cherries. The basic ingredients are zero calorie pudding, your choice of fruit, no-sugar angel food cake, and, not pictured, unsweetened almond milk.
Pro Tip: We had the no-sugar angel food cake in the freezer as we’d bought it a few months ago at PriceCutter in Springfield. It wasn’t available at our nearest store when we shopped last week but you may be able to find it at yours. If not, you can make your own no-sugar angel food cake or make yours from a regular angel food cake and add about 30 calories to the recipe’s total.
Tear or cut your cake into small chunks, wash your fruit and pit it if you’re using cherries. Roughly chop the cherries, but reserve one unpitted to use as a garnish. Stir about two tablespoons of almond milk into your pudding to thin it slightly and make it easier for the pudding to soak into the cake.
Pro Tip: A tool like the one pictured here makes pitting much easier but you still need to doublecheck to confirm that the pit is removed since the tool can sometimes miss the pit. Wear an apron because cherry juice can splatter!
Now that you have fruit, cake and pudding ready, just start layering in a single serving dessert glass or wine goblet: cake, then fruit, then pudding. And repeat.
Your trifle can be refrigerated for as little as three hours or overnight. When you’re ready to serve, dollop some light whipped cream over your layers and top with a cherry.
Pro Tip: This trifle not only looks beautiful on your holiday table but can also be customized for your guests since it’s made in single servings. Fill each with the fruit each guest likes best!
