Would You Like Chocolate With That? ~ Chocolate-Raspberry Cookie Trifle

 

It's Chocolate Friday again - Woo Hoo!  And I know.  You saw the title and now you're not even paying attention to what I'm saying - you're scrolling down to the pic so you can start drooling.  It's OK - I'll pretend like you're slowly and carefully reading my every word.  :)

Valentine's Day is almost here, but there is still time for you to do something crafty (I gave you some links to CUTE ideas yesterday) and to plan a yummy chocolatey dessert.  You could look through all my chocolate desserts and choose something OR you could try out this lovely recipe!  I recently ran across it in a Pampered Chef recipe book.  I HAD to make it and I'm pretty sure that the folks at our church potluck enjoyed it.

Now my hard-core everything-from-scratch friends will have to come up with their own fabulous version, but I know they can do it!  The rest of us can head to the store and enjoy our dessert a little sooner!  :)

  

Chocolate-Raspberry Cookie Trifle

1 cup milk
1 pkg (3.3 oz) white chocolate instant pudding and pie filling*
1 container (16 oz) frozen whipped topping, thawed, divided
1 box (12 oz) vanilla wafers, divided
1 cup milk chocolate morsels**
1 jar (12 oz) seedless raspberry jam, divided
1 bag (12 oz) frozen sweetened raspberries (not in syrup), thawed***

*I could not find white chocolate pudding AT ALL - I checked 3 grocery stores and hubs checked another 3.  I substituted cheesecake flavor pudding...yum.
**I used semi-sweet chocolate morsels...also yum.
***I used frozen raspberries, but they were unsweetened - no need for the sweetened.

1.  For filling, in mixing bowl combine milk and pudding mix; whisk until pudding mixture begins to thicken.  Reserve 1/2 cup of the whipped topping.  Gently fold remaining whipped topping into pudding mixture.  Cover and refrigerate.

2.  For ganache, combine chocolate morsels, reserved whipped topping and half of the jam in a small bowl.  Microwave on high 40-60 seconds or until melted, stirring after each 20-second interval.  Stir until smooth.  Reserve 1/4 cup for garnish.

3.  Place remaining jam into another bowl.  Microwave on high 30-60 seconds or until melted.  Place berries into bowl.  Pour jam over berries; stir gently.  Set aside 16 cookies for garnish; break remaining cookies in half.

4.  To assemble trifle, place one-third of the broken cookies into bottom of trifle bowl.  Layer one-third of the raspberry mixture over cookies.  Top with one-third of the pudding mixture and one-third of the ganache.  Repeat layers two more times, finishing with a smooth layer of ganache.

5.  Dip reserved whole cookies halfway into reserved ganache; place into top of trifle.

Yield: 16 servings

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I may have used a few less cookies on the top and made sure there was some extra ganache and a little whipped cream mixture left over so I could dip the cookies in both and sample, you know to make certain that this dessert was safe to consume because I am very safety-conscious like that.  ;)

This would be such a pretty Valentine's Day dessert!  You could even make individual servings by layering in glass dishes or goblets.  You could just make the ganache and serve it over ice cream with some raspberries.  Or you could just eat it right out of the bowl - I won't tell.

And now it's whose turn to bring some chocolate??  YOUR turn!  Bring those family-friendly chocolate posts on over here and link them up below!  And if you're reading this in a reader or before there are many links, you really should check back and visit the links.  There have been some outstanding chocolate desserts linked up and I wouldn't want you to miss out!

Happy Chocolate Friday!

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