Strawberry Parfaits

 I can remember eating my grandmother’s strawberry pie every year since I was old enough to remember anything.  I can’t actually remember her making it, but I can recall helping my mother make it for Easter and special occasions in the summer.  She would allow us to count the marshmallows and then let us lick the beaters clean after each round of assembly.

This is a retro recipe of sorts in that the ingredients are very 60’s or even 50’s in my mind.  To make this pie you will need the following:

1 package of strawberry jello

One box of vanilla wafers

16-20 regular sized marshmallows

1 package of frozen (yes frozen) strawberries in juice

1 package of regular cool whip

Additional berries for garnishing

You begin by thawing the frozen berries.

Once they are thawed you set them aside and dissolve the jello in 2 cups of boiling water.

Once dissolved you add the marshmallows and the juice from the frozen berries.

Now here is where I made a little switch.  I am not a huge fan of big chunks of fruit in my desserts.  You might be, in which case, only add the juice.  I added the entire bowl of berries and juice…you’ll see why later.

Continue stirring until the marshmallows are completely melted.

Once this mixture is melted and combined you set it in a container and place it in the fridge over night to solidify.

It will solidify as if it were jello.

You then remove it from its jar or bowl and using a mixer or hand mixer, blend it until it nearly doubles in size and becomes a bit more airy or, as my mother described it, fluffy.

This is where I was glad I added the entire bowl of both berries and juice- blending it all reduces the chunkiness of the berries, but again, you can go either way.

You then fold in the cool whip and berries (if you saved them aside).

You will be left with a lovely light pink mixture.

To serve I decided to make parfaits.  You could make a pie with this simply by lining a pie plate with the vanilla wafers and then topping it with the jello / cool whip mixture.

I wanted individual desserts and couldn’t be bothered with cutting a pie- this seemed much more simple.

I crushed my vanilla wafers and layered them in the glasses with the strawberry jello / cool whip mixture.

Top them with a little whipped cream and some additional (tiny) chunks of marshmallow and berries.

These are super sweet and so refreshing for a summer dessert.  For me they will always make their yearly debut at Easter dinner and continue on throughout the summer.