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1 Comment Are you still looking for the perfect dessert for Christmas? And preferably one that is super easy and takes very little time to make? Then this Christmas Trifle with macaroons is for you. It takes no more than 15-25 minutes to make, and the great thing is that it can be made almost entirely in advance. Speaking of easy Christmas desserts, this is one to remember!
Christmas trifle with macaroons
For this ultimate Christmas dessert, we used mostly ready-made ingredients. Of course, you can make the macaroon pudding and macaroons yourself. But then you would be missing out on the convenience of this Christmas trifle. Because yes, Christmas is stressful enough. Especially if you have sacrificed yourself to be in the kitchen and have been stressing for days to get all the groceries.
What do you need to make the Christmas trifle?
- Macaroons or other cookies of your choice
- Small meringue – you can usually buy those during Christmas time ready to go. If not you can also use larger ones and crumble it.
- Whipping cream or heavy cream
- Sugar
- Pudding – I used macaroon pudding but use whatever pudding you prefer. I went with a storebought variety. Vanilla or a similar flavor would also work really well
- Fresh berries – Use whatever berries you can find that look pretty and taste good. Keeping in mind that it is not berry season
- Fresh mint – because a little green looks extra festive
And that’s all. In terms of equipment you will need an electric mixer or stand mixer and maybe a wooden spoon or spatula for mixing it all in. And really it is just a matter of making the layers look pretty and that’s it
Stress-free Christmas dessert
The great thing about this dessert is that you can make it a few hours in advance. As it uses fresh whipped cream, it is not practical to make it days in advance. Also, the cookies will lose their crunchiness. This also happens if you make them a few hours in advance, but it’s not a big deal. It will still be delicious.
Just leave the decorations until the last minute so you can give your Christmas trifle the crunch it needs.
Decorate to your heart’s content
You can use whatever you like to decorate the Christmas trifle. We chose macaroons, raspberries, whipped cream, red currants and some mini cress. The latter can be replaced with some nice sprigs of mint.
How do you make the macaroon Christmas trifle?
For best results, use a large bowl. I used a pretty large glass bowl so you can easily see the layers in the trifle.
Start by building up the trifle with the strawberry jam at the bottom. You can use any jam you like. But use a really good one. And remember that the jam is a big part of the trifle so you’ll want a good big jar of the jam. It would also work really well with the cranberry compote.
As for the biscuits, I used cantuccini and amaretti (those hard macaroons). Again, you can use whatever you like.
The macaroon pudding is super tasty in the Christmas trifle. If you absolutely do not like macaroons, substitute another pudding of your choice. In that case, of course, also replace the macaroons with something else.
Build the trifle up to the last layer of amaretti. When ready to serve, decorate with whipped cream and fresh fruit.
I also made this delicious trifle with poached pears! Which is a great alternative too.
Christmas trifle with macaroons
Ingredients
- 400 g strawberry jam
- 500 ml whipping cream or heavy cream
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 800 g macaroon pudding or other pudding of your choice
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 200 g amaretti cookies keep a few aside for the top
- 200 g cantuccini cookies
- 2 springs fresh mint
- 250 g fresh strawberries
For decoration
- 200 g fresh raspberries
- 1 handful of ready-made mini meringue foam
- red currants
Equipment
- Large glass bowl 22 cm (10 inch) in diameter
- Piping bag with nozzle
How to make the christmas trifle with macaroons
- Take the glass bowl and place a layer of strawberry jam in the bottom of the dish, then place the cantuccini cookies on top. Whip the cream with the sugar until stiff peaks and spread over the cantuccini. Leave some whipped cream for decorating the top of the trifle.
- Halve the strawberries and place them in a ring around the glass, open side down. Place the rest of the strawberries in the middle.
- Spread the macaroon pudding over the strawberries and spread it out evenly (it's not very precise).
- Place the amaretti cookies on top of the macaroon pudding.
- Fill a piping bag with the remaining whipped cream. Make nice clusters on the top. Arrange the amaretti, raspberries, red currants and a few sprigs of mint on top.
Notes
- While you can make this christmas trifle largely in advance, it is still whipping cream and that will not get any prettier if you store it for too long. Since it is such an easy recipe to make I would advise making it at most 1-2 hours in advance.
- Macaroon pudding (or bitterkoekjespudding as wel say here) is pretty specific. But you can replace this with any other pudding you like. Just make sure it tastes good with the rest of the ingredients.
- Strawberry jam can be replaced with raspberry jam, cranberry compote or something other
- Amaretti cookies are small and round and crunchy
- Cantuccini cookies are longer and usually filled with nuts. You can find those online or in a grocery store with a selection of Italian style biscuits.
- If you can’t find either you can still use other cookies of your choice.
Nutrition Information per portion:
Disclaimer:
The nutritional values above are calculated per portion. The details are based on standard nutritional tables and do not constitute a professional nutritional advice.
Christmas trifle that looks way more complicated than it actually is. Super tasty and super quick to make!