American Berry Trifle

Happy 4th of July! Our best layer is yet to come.

For every generation that experienced the darkest chapters of America, many believed it was the end of our grand experiment.

In 1861, eleven states walked out, and the country went to war with itself. The question on the table was whether the experiment would exist at all. It was the closest we have ever come to the end.

In 1932, a quarter of the country was out of work. Banks failed by the thousands, breadlines wrapped around city blocks, and serious people asked out loud whether democracy could survive an economic collapse. In much of the world that year, it didn’t.

In 1968, we watched the country come apart on live television. Dr. King in April. Bobby Kennedy in June. More than a hundred cities burning, a war losing its last defenders, a convention in Chicago that turned into a street fight.

The people living through those years had no way of knowing what came next. Emancipation and reunion. The New Deal and the broadest middle class in human history. Civil rights victories that took root and held.

Each of those endings was a beginning. And now is again our time to plant that flag of hope. We are doing the work, and our greatest era is just ahead of us.

This country was made in layers. One generation’s work, then another’s, pressed on top of struggle, holding together sometimes despite itself. Nothing about that process is smooth.

I believe our greatest era lies ahead, given what I see. The volunteers. The poll workers. The teachers three weeks into summer break who are already planning for fall. The neighbors who show up for one another without being asked, in driveways, at school pickup lines, and in church parking lots all over this country.

We are powerful, and we are here.

So this weekend, make something sweet. Feed the people you love.

We will overcome. And we will be overjoyed.

Happy Fourth of July.

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American Berry Trifle

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 pints strawberries, hulled and halved

• 2 pints blueberries

• 2 cups blackberries

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 pound cream cheese, at room temperature

• 1 pint heavy cream

• 2 angel food cakes, cut into 1-inch cubes (You can use a premade cake or make it yourself — I make mine from 2 “Duncan Hines Perfectly Moist Angel Food Cake” mix boxes, using two 9x5-inch loaf pans)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Bake the angel food cakes per instructions and allow to cool completely.

2. Cut the cakes into 1-inch slices, then cut the slices into 1-inch cubes.

3. Add sugar and cream cheese to a stand mixer (or a large mixing bowl if using a hand mixer). Beat on medium speed until smooth and light.

4. Add the cream and beat on high speed until smooth and the consistency of whipped cream.

5. Arrange half of the cake cubes at the bottom of a 10-13-cup trifle bowl. Sprinkle evenly with a layer of blueberries and blackberries, reserving some for the top.

6. Dollop half of the cream mixture over the blueberries/blackberries and gently spread to create an even surface. Sprinkle that layer with strawberries, again reserving some for the top.

7. Layer the remaining cake cubes on top of the strawberries, then dollop the remaining cream mixture over the cubes and gently spread to create an even surface at or near the top of the bowl.

8. Finish with the remaining blueberries, strawberries and blackberries, arranging them in a decorative pattern. Cover and refrigerate 1 hour.

9. Enjoy!

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The Dad Briefs covers the civic, political, and quietly human stories that shape family life in America — with recipes along the way.