TRIFLE is a popular alternative to a rich plum pudding for Christmas Dinner. It is a family favourite in many Scottish households and another one of those recipes which is shared with each generation. Many families have a much-treasured trifle bowl. I remember when my brother dropped my mum’s much-loved crystal bowl when he was helping to dry the dishes. It broke into smithereens and both were clearly upset, as it had been my grandmother’s. My brother was very young, but poignantly, he understood the significance of what had happened and saved his pocket money for many weeks to buy her a new one. I was very impressed with his resolve and remember him handing over the new bowl with great pride. Although it was a much less expensive version of the original, this was definitely a true case of the "thought that counted".

Many moons ago, my dear friend, the musician and broadcaster Frieda Morrison, told me another trifle-related story. Back then we were both 18, sharing lodgings in Dundee and in our first jobs with DC Thomson’s weekly women’s magazines, Family Star and Secrets. As junior editorial assistants, we were frequently sent upstairs to collect proofs from the case room, and I became fascinated with the hot metal printing process and the huge letterpress machines. In fact, I feel incredibly privileged to have been part of that whole era of journalism.

Frieda grew up in the north-east fishing village of Portknockie and had a wonderful accent. Indeed, when annoyed, she blurted out words I had never heard before in my safe haven of a south Edinburgh secondary school. But as a Borders Scot at heart, I well understood the importance she always placed upon her language and dialect. When I moved to Skye, I discovered much more about the Gaelic language than I had known in my younger years. However, the Scots language deserves its place in our culture too, particularly as it exists in profusion in our poetry, song, traditional stories, ballads, great works of writing and of course, the names of many Scottish dishes.

Frieda’s father was the village baker in Portknockie and she remembers a time when families gathered at the bakery on Christmas Day to roast their turkeys or meat pies in the big oven. Her mum was a notable home cook. Leftover sherry from the bottle she purchased especially for adding to her own Christmas trifle, was shared around the small throng of people, who were offered to share a “wee gless o’ sherry”, as they arrived. I love the idea of this community spirit and I hope you will find an occasion to share some of your Christmas with friends around you too.

Many trifle recipes pour a raspberry jelly over the sponges and leave this to set before adding the other ingredients. If you do this, you could make the jelly extra fruity by adding the raspberries to the jelly, but this is not essential. I suggest using cream sherry or Madeira wine to soak into the trifle sponges, but this is also optional. Adding more sherry or Madeira to your custard will make the finished trifle even richer and flavoursome, but again, this is optional. The separated egg whites can be stored in a sealed container in the freezer or refrigerator for another occasion. Label the container with the number of egg whites it contains. Bring back to room temperature before incorporating these into other mixtures, or making meringues.

Making trifle is easy, and it can be adapted to suit all tastes, with layers added to suit your own choices. Chocolate trifles were popular in olden times, for example, with different varieties of fruit and nuts used, such as poached apricots and hazelnuts for decoration.

Celebration sherry trifle

(Serves around 8 portions)

For the custard

275ml fresh milk

275ml fresh double cream

6 large egg yolks

2 rounded tbsp caster sugar

2 tbsp cream sherry or Madeira wine (optional)

For the trifle

50g flaked almonds

1 packet of trifle sponges

1 heaped tbsp good quality raspberry jam

4 tbsp cream sherry or Madeira wine

300g fresh or frozen raspberries

2 large ripe bananas

2 ripe William pears

Juice of 1 large lemon (or 2 if more juice is required)

275ml fresh double cream

Method

1. First, make the custard. Pour milk and cream into a non-stick saucepan, set over a medium heat and warm until just beginning to bubble around the edges.

2. Meanwhile, whisk egg yolks and caster sugar together in a bowl until thick and creamy.

3. Pour the hot milk and cream over the egg yolk mixture and whisk together immediately.

4. Pour the whisked mixture back into the warm saucepan, return to a low heat and stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture begins to thicken at the edges. Keep stirring and test. As soon as the mixture coats the back of the spoon and you can draw a line through it with your forefinger. Turn off heat and pour cooked custard into the bowl. Whisk immediately and set in a basin of very cold water to cool quickly. Whisk sherry (if using) into the custard as it cools.

5. If the mixture shows any sign of curdling or becoming lumpy, pass the custard through a fine sieve and return to a clean bowl to cool. This is a fairly quick process and care should be taken to stir or whisk the custard at each stage, to ensure it remains smooth and silky.

6. Set the custard aside to cool. To make trifle: heat the grill to a medium temperature. Scatter the flaked almonds over a flat baking sheet and toast under the grill. Watch carefully, as they can burn if left for a second too long. When they have turned a light brown colour, remove tray from the grill and set it aside until the nuts have cooled.

7. Splitting the trifle sponges in half, and spread each cut surface with raspberry jam. (The number required depends on your trifle dish dimensions. You will need enough to cover the base plus the first few centimetres up the sides.)

8. Once the jam-covered sponge halves are in place, sprinkle the sherry (or Madeira) all over. The sponges will soak up the liquid.

9. If using frozen raspberries, ensure they are defrosted at room temperature and use them to cover the sponges completely. If using fresh ones, break them gently with a fork before covering the sponges, allowing the juices to run. Set aside one whole raspberry for the final decoration.

10. Squeeze the juice of half a lemon into a small bowl and slice the bananas thinly into the same bowl. Using your fingertips, gently toss the banana slices in the lemon juice to prevent them going brown. Cover the layer of raspberries with the banana slices.

11. Peel the pear and cut lengthwise into quarters. Remove the stem and cores and slice each quarter into four long, thin slices. Place on a plate and pour over the juice of the other half-lemon, ensuring the slices are coated in the juice (if you need a little more juice, use the second lemon).

12. Arrange the sliced pears evenly over the bananas. Retain five slices for decorating the finished trifle.

13. Once the custard is completely cool, pour it over the layer of pear, to cover the fruit completely. You are aiming to achieve a layered effect.

14. Whisk the double cream until thick but still floppy.

15. Cover the custard layer with the cream, using a palette knife to spread it over the whole surface. Make a swirly pattern in the cream to resemble a snowy surface.

16. Decorate the cream with the remaining pear slices and the raspberry. Scatter the cold, toasted almonds around the edge. Cover the dish with cling-film and refrigerate before serving.

Shirley Spear is owner of The Three Chimneys and The House Over-By on the Isle of Skye, and chairwoman of the Scottish food Commission, which is helping to build Scotland into a Good Food Nation. See threechimneys.co.uk