It's that time of the year again! Fruits are aplenty and strawberries are leading the pack. Now I had a lot of leftovers from all that Christmas baking - a little cream here, a little jelly there - and the most obvious thing to make would be a trifle. But this post is titled parfait and not trifle so this begs the question, what is the difference between a parfait and a trifle? They are both layered desserts which pretty much look the same. Well after a lot of digging around I think it fundamentally boils down to two key ingredients that make a trifle which do not usually feature in a parfait - one is cake and the other is custard. Cake and custard is essential for a trifle while a parfait usually is made of ice cream or whipped cream. Not earth shattering distinctions if you ask me but tasty all the same.
My parfait today comprises of everything I had leftover from Christmas, namely whipping cream, mascarpone cheese and cranberry jelly. So I just got some strawberries (because everything is better with strawberries!) and whipped up this dessert.
It makes more sense to serve this dessert in fancy glasses as individual portions, but you can also layer it in a trifle bowl if you like.
Makes enough for 12
250gms digestive or glucose biscuits
2tbsp melted butter
250gms of cranberry jelly *
250gms Mascarpone cheese
250gms whipping cream
50gms castor sugar
500gms strawberries
*adding jelly is optional, I had some homemade cranberry jelly in the fridge and hence I used it up.
Whip the whipping cream till triple in size. Add the mascarpone cheese and sugar and whip again. If the mixture looks too thick, add a little milk. You can also add a little booze or liquor to cream if you like.
Crush the biscuits to a coarse crumb texture. Drizzle in the melted butter and mix thoroughly. Slice strawberries into bite sized pieces. You can also choose to slightly mash the strawberries with a fork. If your strawberries are too tart, sprinkle some castor sugar on top of it and then mash.
To assemble, line up all the serving glasses. Add the biscuit mix to the bottom of the glass and gently press down. Now add in the jelly. Top with a big spoonful of strawberries followed by the cream mixture. Repeat the strawberry and cream layer until the glass is filled.
Top with some grated chocolate if you like. Refrigerate and serve chilled.
