Trifle season

Perhaps you remember the classic episode of the television sitcom "Friends" in which Rachel, a notoriously bad cook, concocts a holiday trifle.

As Rachel describes to dinner guests Ross and Joey the contents of her version of the classic English layered dessert, the two become suspicious, for interspersed among the typical tiers of ladyfingers, jam, custard, whipped cream, and berries there is a layer of beef sauteed with peas and onions.

Not surprisingly, the dish is not a huge success and, curious, Ross surreptitiously takes a look at the cookbook where Rachel found the recipe only to discover to his astonishment that some of its pages have stuck together. As a consequence, Rachel created a combination trifle and shepherd's pie.

The moral of this story is that a trifle should be taken seriously. Both simple and luxurious, easy to make yet guaranteed to dazzle, down to earth but elegant, it is the perfect showstopper for your holiday table. Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., praised it as "that most wonderful object of domestic art."

Thanks probably to William the Conqueror, the name for Britain's most esteemed Christmas dessert comes from the French word for inconsequential. But a trifle is anything but.

The three fundamental elements of a trifle -- in this case cranberries, pound cake, and whipped cream cheese -- stand ready to be assembled into a glass container suitable for showing off the layers of the dish.Submitted by Tom Harte

Perhaps it was originally considered trivial because, according to legend, it was devised as a way to use up leftovers, especially stale cake. Even today in England it is sometimes called a countertop sweeper because no shopping is required to make the dish -- just scoop up what you can find on the counter, or in the fridge.

Whatever else it might contain, a trifle has just three basic elements: cake or something similar, fruit, and custard, all topped off, of course, with whipped cream. Moreover, each of these elements is amenable to variation.

For the cake layer, for example, you could use gingerbread or cookies or brownies or Swiss rolls like they do at Fortnum & Mason, the great London food emporium in Piccadilly -- or even donuts. For the fruit layer you could employ instead jam or jelly or lemon curd. And for the custard you could substitute dulce de leche, or whipped cream cheese, or mere pudding. Yet the possibilities inherent in altering just these three variables are innumerable. Not surprisingly Pinterest has more than a thousand versions. Not bad for a dish originally nothing more than fruit and custard.

That's all a trifle was in its earliest incarnations back in the 16th century when it was called a fool. It wasn't until 1596 a recipe for something actually called a trifle first appeared. By the mid-18th century the modern trifle started to materialize.

Preferably a trifle is served in a pedestaled glass bowl to show off its layers. But no matter what it's served in, a trifle is typical British understatement.

The fruit component of a cranberry trifle begins with a mixture of cranberries, sugar, ginger and water cooked until the berries burst and the sauce thickens.Submited by Tom Harte

Cranberry Trifle

This recipe couldn't be easier. You don't even need to cook a custard on top of the stove. Moreover, you can just use store-bought pound cake, a short-cut uncharacteristically advised by Martha Stewart, from whom the recipe is adapted.

Cake, whipped cream cheese, and cranberries are repeatedly layered together to create a festive take on trifle, a classic English dessert suitable for the holidays.Submitted by Tom Harte

Served in classic fashion in a glass pedestaled bowl to show off its layers, a cranberry trifle is a stunning finish to a holiday meal.Submitted by Tom Harte

• 7 cups cranberries, fresh or frozen, divided
• 3 cups sugar, divided
• 2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
• 8 ounces cream cheese
• 1/4 cup light-brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 2 loaves (24 ounces) pound cake

Combine 6 cups cranberries, 2 cups sugar, ginger, and 2 cups water. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and cook until cranberries begin to burst. Cool completely. Beat cream cheese, brown sugar, and 1/4 cup sugar, and vanilla, combining well. On medium speed gradually add heavy cream and continue beating until soft peaks form. Cut cake into 3/4-inch thick slices and arrange 1/8 in bottom of a trifle dish. Spoon 1/8 of compote over cake, spreading to edges of dish. Spoon 1/8 of cream mixture over cranberries, spreading to edges. Repeat twice. Cover and refrigerate at least two hours. Meanwhile, combine 1/4 cup sugar in 1/4 cup water and heat over medium heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Stir in remaining 1 cup cranberries to coat well. With slotted spoon, transfer cranberries to rack and dry for one hour. Roll cranberries in remaining 1/2 cup sugar until well coated. Dry for one hour and use to decorate top of trifle.