White Chocolate Mousse Holiday Trifle

I firmly believe that despite our flaws, the United States of America is still the greatest nation on the planet. I love celebrating the Fourth of July, and I'm not ashamed to say I love my country! As the fourth approaches, I have been thinking a lot about sharing some great recipe ideas with you all. I really wanted to create something great to end your holiday barbecue as you settle in to watch
fireworks light up the sky. What better way to celebrate America's birthday than with this show stopping and impressive White Chocolate Mousse Holiday Trifle?

Trifle is a really fun and easy dessert to assemble. (And I think you'll find it even more fun to eat!) I created this trifle to show love of country and love of food. The base layer is made of Red Velvet cake with sliced strawberries sprinkled in. Next, a creamy, fluffy layer of white chocolate mousse is generously applied over the layer of cake. Then the mousse is topped with fresh blueberries. Repeat the layers one more time in that order finishing off with a few whole strawberries in the center just to make it look extra pretty. Sparkler is optional, but how fun would it be to present this dessert to your guests with one lit on top! What a fun way to get everyone psyched up for fireworks!

I really love fireworks, don't you? If I had a bunch of money to blow I'd buy tons every year and put on my own show. Dead serious. Now that I live in the desert the public is limited as to the types of fireworks we can purchase, so I usually like to go to a public fireworks display somewhere in town. What's your favorite part of celebrating the Fourth of July? Parades? Parties? Food? Fireworks? It's all good! And so is this recipe, I hope you try it and let me know what you think!

White chocolate mousse holiday trifle

by The Goldilocks Kitchen

Prep Time: 45 mins

Cook Time: 10 mins

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Ingredients (about 10 servings)

• 8 oz of white chocolate chips or white baking chocolate
• 2 and 1/2 cups of heavy cream
• 1 box of red velvet cake mix
• 3 large eggs
• 1 and 1/4 cup water
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 lb of fresh strawberries, sliced (save three whole as a garnish)
• 24 oz (1.5 lbs) of fresh blueberries

Instructions

1. Bake red velvet cake mix according to directions.

2. While the cake is baking, place the white chocolate chips into a medium mixing bowl. Heat 1/2 cup of heavy cream in a small sauce pot over medium high heat stirring constantly until it reaches a simmer. Remove from heat and pour over the white chocolate chips. Stir gently until all the chips are melted and smooth. Place in the fridge to cool.

3. Pour the remaining heavy cream into the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix on medium for about 30 seconds then on high until soft peaks form. (Watch the mixer, this can go fast.)

4. When the chocolate mixture is cooled, whisk in about 1/3 of the whip cream into the bowl with the white chocolate mixture. Gently pour this mixture into the bowl of remaining whip cream. With a large spatula, gently FOLD the chocolate mixture into the whip cream, by running your spatula along the sides of the bowl holding the bowl at an angle. If you mix to rough, the mousse will deflate.

5. When the cake is cooled, slice into 1 and 1/2 inch squares. Line the bottom of a trifle bowl with two layers of cake squares and slices of strawberry. Press down gently to squish just a bit. Add a layer of chocolate mousse to cover the cake/strawberries and then a single layer of blueberries on the mousse. Repeat with a single layer of cake squares/strawberries, then mousse again and a final layer of blueberries with the whole strawberries in the center. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour to allow the mousse to set up. Serve.

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Blueberry Swirl Muffins

Ladies and Gentleman! Announcing the ultimate Blueberry muffin! So moist, delicious and full of blueberry flavor in every bite, you'll gobble them up faster than you can say supercalifrajalisticexpialadocious!
You are seriously gonna love these. When I pull these out of the oven, I have to fight my kids off with a Styrofoam sword or they'd eat them all up :0)

There are a million blueberry muffin recipes out there. Of course I'm going to share some secrets with you that will take your average blueberry muffin and really make it exceptional. You can use frozen or fresh blueberries for this recipe, and you'll be cooking a portion of them into jam on the stove. ( I learned a valuable lesson when making this batch~ don't buy fresh blueberries out of season. Holy cow expensive!)
I prefer fresh when the budget will allow. The quick berry jam that you'll cook is then swirled around in the batter to ensure sweet berry flavor in every bite. Top the muffin batter off with a lemon sugar streusel and you have perfection. I love the way the tart bright flavor of lemon balances the sweetness of the cooked blueberries.

Buttermilk is used in the batter to help give a really nice bit of tartness, and again works to balance the sweet flavor of the berries. I have talked about making your own substitute buttermilk at home in previous recipes. Do not use the substitute for this recipe, or your muffins will be dry. You'll need to use store-bought buttermilk this time.

Over-mixing this batter can be a real downer. Literally. If you mix it too much before baking, too much gluten will form from the flour and inhibit the rising in the oven during baking time. If you want your muffins light, moist and airy, be careful when mixing the berries and flour into the batter. You'll want to see a few small streaks of white flour remaining. Don't worry, as the muffins rise and cook in the oven the flour will be moistened and incorporate into the muffin just fine.

So here it is, the recipe for the best blueberry swirl muffins!

Blueberry Swirl Muffins

by The Goldilocks Kitchen

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 18 minutes

Keywords: bake bread Blueberries

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Ingredients (1 dozen)

Lemon Streusel Topping

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest (1 large lemon or 2 small)

Muffins

• 2 Cups fresh blueberries
• 1 and 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 and 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions

Stir together the lemon zest and the sugar in a small bowl and set aside.

Set your oven to heat at 425 and move an oven rack to the upper-middle position. Spray your muffin tin with cooking spray. Measure out the sugar. Scoop one heaping teaspoon of sugar out and put it in a small saucepan. Add 1 cup of blueberries to the sauce pan and place it over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, stirring and mashing the berries with a spoon until the berries are all broken and the mixture is thickened and reduced to approximately 1/3 cup jam. Remove from heat and continue with the recipe while it cools.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a large mixing bowl. In a medium bowl, whisk the remaining sugar and the eggs together until thick and well mixed. Slowly whisk in the butter and oil, followed by the buttermilk and vanilla.

Using a rubber spatula, fold the egg mixture and remaining 1 cup blueberries into the flour mixture until just moistened. The batter should be very lumpy with a few white streaks of flour. Don't overmix.

With a 1/3 measuring cup or an ice cream scoop, divide the batter evenly among the twelve cups in the muffin tin. The batter should completely fill the cups. Spoon 1 teaspoon of the jam mixture into the center of each muffin. Using a skewer or toothpick, gently swirl the batter around back and forth about 4 or five times. You just want to swirl the jam around in the batter, not mix it together. Sprinkle the lemon streusel on top and place the muffin tin in the oven for 17 minutes, rotating the pan half way through baking.

Cool the muffins in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove to finish cooling on a wire rack. I like to use a good pair of tongs to get the muffins out easily. Run a knife around the edges first.

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