Ginger Peach Trifle

I am wildly excited about the dessert I'm bringing to DogTopper and JPZapper's annual dungeon party next Saturday. At the risk of spoiling the Shock and Awe experience for anyone reading who might be attending--treachery akin to revealing who dies in the Harry Potter book--here's what I have planned.

I'm making a Trifle! It's a classic english dessert. Only I'm doing it up not-so-classic. Jury is still out on whether I'll make it in a big glass bowl (the traditional presentation), or have a bunch of little individual servings in plastic cups.

First off, I'm gonna get me some good peaches. That might be difficult, so I want to take care of that on Wednesday, just in case I have to scour all the frutivendoli in a fifty mile radius to find some really nice ones. I'm gonna slice them up in a bowl, add a little sugar to draw their juices out, and add some fresh ginger. Then that's gonna sit and get all sweet and soupy till I'm ready for it.

Thursday night, I'm baking a batch of gingersnap cookies. Then, on Saturday morning, I'll have to make some vanilla syrup (simple enough: just water, sugar, a pinch of salt, and vanilla extract, bring to a boil and reduce), and a batch of crème anglaise. The crème anglaise is a custard, made with cream and egg yolks and sugar. I'm probably going to add more cream than the recipe calls for, because I want it to be creamy rather than custardy.

And finally, I'll put it all together, layering the peach-ginger mixture, the créme anglaise, and the crumbled ginger snap cookies, now and then giving it a shot of the vanilla syrup. The top layer will be the crème anglaise, and I'll decorate it with some peach slices and gingersnap cookies and a swirl of the vanilla syrup.

As my sister the chef used to say, "They'll scream. They'll cry. They'll live others' lives."