Raspberry-pear trifle the perfect Christmastime treat

CBC Toronto reporters share their favourite Christmas treats in our Holiday Eats series.

Each year, my mom asks my sisters and me to prepare a dish to contribute to the family holiday meal.

I discovered a great recipe for raspberry-pear trifle in our well-worn copy of a Good Housekeeping recipe book, and I've been asked to make it every year since.

The recipe features amaretti cookies, which add a nice crunch opposite the pound cake, custard and fruit. I also like how the colours of this recipe change as the red from the raspberries spreads into the pears.

I love making this recipe because I've grown to associate it with CBC Radio 2's annual Christmas Sing concert. The first time I set out to create the dish, I wanted some background music so I turned on the radio and discovered the annual CBC radio Christmas concert recorded each year from the Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul in Montreal.

There was something about preparing the food I was going to share with my family and listening to the choirs and musicians performing such joyful music that put me in the holiday spirit.

In subsequent years, when I was asked to make the dish, I'd coincide it with the radio broadcast of the concert on Dec. 25. In the past few years, I've even been able to prepare the dish in advance, by streaming the recording on demand thanks to CBC Music.