Strawberry Nutella Trifle

Loving my Anthropologie
Berry Dish (you can find it here) 

Where to even begin with this post...Saturday I went to my farmer's market (a favorite weekend errand of mine) and I saw the first strawberries of the season. My heart literally did a little leap as I passed by the beautiful plump red berries. It immediately brought me back to my childhood days of picking strawberries on my Great-Grandpa's farm and selling them roadside to the beach tourists or happy locals. Summer on Long Island, ahh those were the days. It brought back memories of my sister and I doing cart wheels to try and entice the passerby's to purchase our little pints of strawberries. It made me think of my cousins that came down every June when the mimosa trees were in full bloom for a visit and how excited we would get to see them. That being said I wanted to do something extra special with these berries. I had found this Pin, which had brought me to memories of eating Nutella crepes along the streets in Paris when I was just 15. With all of these memories floating about I'm not sure how I even came up with this, but I did and I think you'll thank me. I decided upon a Strawberry Nutella Trifle with layers of Oreo cookies, fresh market strawberries, Nutella cheesecake filling, and light whipped topping. I mean come on, if that doesn't sell it I'm not sure what will. But back to the strawberries, you know that you have good quality, fresh and in season berries, when they are small, in a variety of shapes, and deep red in color. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to make something fabulous with these little guys.

Strawberry Nutella Trifle
1 pint fresh strawberries, sliced
2/3 cups Nutella
1 (8oz.) bar of 1/3 less fat cream cheese
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tub fat free whipped topping
14 Oreo cookies, crushed
2 Tbsp. butter, melted

In a large plastic zip bag crush the Oreos. Divide the Oreo crumbs into two. In a small bowl, combine half of the Oreo crumbs and melted butter. Using either a large trifle dish or two smaller ones, press mixture in the bottom to form crust. In a medium bowl, using an electric mixture mix the Nutella and cream cheese. Using a spatula, fold in half the tub of whipped topping and vanilla into the Nutella mixture. Layer the Nutella mixture on top of the Oreo crumbs, then make a single layer of sliced strawberries, top with a portion of the whipped topping, then end with the cookies crumbs. Repeat until you have reached the top of the dish or you run out of ingredients :) I ended with the strawberries on top with a dollop of whipped topping and crumbs for garnish. Allow to chill for 2 hours before serving for the filling to set.

I do hope you try this decadent and simple dessert. It is a no frills recipe with all the frills when served. This could easily be done as a quick impromptu dessert or part of a fancy well planned dinner party. I apologize for all of the photos I couldn't help myself...It was that good ;) I may or may not have dipped a few extra berries in the left over filling to then dip in the leftover crumbs. Which could be actually quite delicious for an even easier deconstructed version of this recipe.