Hartley's Gluten Free Jolly Jelly Christmas Stollen Trifle

Shake the traditional Christmas trifle up this festive season with this easy, boozy, Christmassy recipe!

Yield: 3 mini trifles
Prep time: 1 hour
Cook time: No cooking required

Christmas Stollen Trifle

Tis the season to be jolly and nothing beats the jolly-making like a bit of booze. And a traditional English trifle. Except, this traditional English trifle has been turned on its head and given a festive shake up! When you tuck inside and dig all the way to the bottom, you'll find a layer of Hartley's orange jelly with rum-soaked raisins and maraschino cherries suspended inside. (Omit the rummed raisins for kids & tee totalers.) Next layer up is decadent, buttery stollen, followed by thick pillows of whipped cream sprinkled with whimsical gingerbread men and a chocolate Christmas star tucked in for luck.

Before we continue, allow me to clarify for my North American readers: when I say jelly in this post, I am referring to Jello. Here in the UK, jello is called jelly.

This recipe was born out of a challenge set by Hartleys: to suspend anything Christmassy in some of their fantastic jelly! But as as I was thinking about Christmassy ingredients to use, I couldn't help but be reminded of a trifle and wanted to revamp the traditional layered dessert.

The best thing about trifles is there are no hard and fast rules and my version is no exception to the rule. If you prefer strawberry jelly, then opt for this instead of the orange. If you're not too keen on the stollen, then swap it for something else: gingerbread would work a treat and still impart that Christmassy vibe. If boozy desserts aren't your thing, skip the alcohol altogether! Or if you're just not a fan of rum, then swap it for your favourite tipple. Vodka, whiskey and even Kirsch would all work well. One thing I won't give you liberty to change is the whipped cream! You've got to have it!

Get in the kitchen with your kids and have fun creating your family's take on a classic trifle. To get you started, make sure you pick up a packet or two of Hartley's Jelly from your local shop and then let the Christmas creativity begin!

Ingredients:

For the Christmas Stollen Trifle
1 package Hartley's orange jelly
1 package gluten free stollen, ready made
maraschino cherries
raisin
rum
whipped cream
chocolate stars
mini gingerbread men sprinkles

Hartley's Jolly Jelly Christmas Stollen Trifle

Instructions:

1. Soak raisins in just a bit of rum or other tipple to cover them. Leave to absorb while you get on with the jelly.
2. Make up one packet of Hartley's Festive Jolly Jelly according to the easy-to-follow instructions.
3. Drain the raisins and pat dry.
4. Pop the raisins and a few maraschino cherries into the bottom of trifle dish.Make sure you mark the trifles that don't contain any boozy raisins.
5. Set the jelly in the fridge. Depending on how cold your fridge is and the residual alcohol in your jelly, this can take anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours.
6. Layer squares of stollen on top of the set jelly followed by lashings of squirty cream.
7. Scatter over gingerbread men sprinkles and tuck a chocolate star into the cream of each trifle.
8. Serve and enjoy!