Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Golden Oreo Strawberry & Cream Trifle


Do you have a ridiculously easy dessert that you always make when invited to a cookout, party, or any kind of gathering? You know, the one that always gets rave reviews and praise and deep down you're all "seriously? This takes, like, zero effort, are you kidding me?"

We had one growing up - my mom's strawberry trifle.

I know, I post a lot of reliable desserts from my childhood. What can I say? Food is a pretty big deal in my family. Lord knows my waistline knows it!

Whenever we hosted a party or event - especially if it took place in the summer - my mom usually made her trifle. Why the heck not? It's really just 3 ingredients: a cake made from a mix, frozen strawberries, and cool whip. Once she made a chocolate version out of chocolate cake, chocolate pudding, and candy. It was also amazing but the strawberry is the original and it's just stupid to mess with a good thing.


When it's hot or you just have a lot on your plate, this dessert lets you get the awesome praise in just the fraction of the time.

I decided it was time, though, to kick this old standard up a notch. Sure, cake, strawberries, and cool whip are dang delicious but what if we added something else? What if we layered Golden Oreos between the strawberries and cool whip?


I knew it'd be just the thing to upgrade this simple dessert.

The Oreos absorb some of the strawberry's liquid but don't get overly soggy. The bits that don't get much liquid action stay crunchy and add a new texture to the otherwise soft trifle.


I know you'll be happy if you make this. I promise it won't take much brain power. The cake comes together so easily and you can bake it a couple different ways. You can simply make two round cakes or you can bake it up in a 9x13 pan and cut the cake up into squares. From there, you just layer it all up - cake, strawberries, cookies, cool whip, cake, strawberries, cookies, cool whip, cake - OK, you get the picture, right?

Mmm, layers. Yummy, scrumptious layers!



Golden Oreo Strawberry & Cream Trifle

Ingredients
  • 1 yellow cake mix (+ ingredients to make it)
  • 2 8oz container Cool Whip, thawed
  • 2 1lb container frozen sliced strawberries in sugar, thawed
  • 1 package Golden Oreos
  1. Prepare and bake cake as directed on box (you have 2 choices with the cake: you can make two 9 inch rounds if your bowl allows or you can make a 9x13 pan and cut the cake into squares).
  2. Let cake cool completely.
  3. Crush entire package of Oreos coarsely (I opted to crush them in a Ziploc bag with a rolling pin - I didn't want to crush in my food processor and grind the crumbs too fine).
  4. Place one cake on bottom of bowl (or cover bottom of bowl with cake pieces).
  5. On top of the cake, spoon enough strawberries to cover.
  6. Cover the strawberries with 1/3 of your Oreo crumbs.
  7. Carefully spread 1 container of Cool Whip over the crumbs.
  8. Repeat once more - cake, strawberries, cookies, ending with the second container of Cool Whip. Garnish with any leftover Oreo crumbs.