Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle

I intended to make this pumpkin gingerbread trifle the weekend after Thanksgiving for our gathering with Michael's family. However, we had so much pie leftover from the actual holiday that I thought better of it. So I had all of the ingredients on hand and was just waiting for a good excuse to make it.

Yesterday, big group of friends + football + drinks + dinner + coming back to our house afterward = the perfect excuse to make it.

This was super easy to make (as most trifles are), and what's not to love about gingerbread, pumpkin, pudding, and cool whip? That's right: Nothing. It's all good, folks.

I ran into one minor issue when making this. I followed Paula's recipe exactly, but apparently, her trifle bowl is MUCH bigger than mine. Because I had about twice as many ingredients as I actually needed. Two gingerbread cakes? One would have been OK. All of that pudding and pumpkin pie filling? About half of it would have sufficed.

So my layers aren't as even and pretty as they would have been if I hadn't run out of room. Oh well.

I lightened up the recipe as much as possible by using fat free/sugar free vanilla pudding mix, and also fat free cool whip.

I finished off the top by putting some cool whip into a piping bag with one of my Wilton decorating tips and making several little swirlies on top. It turned out cute.

Apparently, this ended up being a super popular holiday recipe. Ever since I first saw it, I've seen it on numerous blogs, have heard about it a few times, and when I mentioned it to our crowd while we were out at dinner? It turned out that one of our friends had actually made it before--for Thanksgiving, of course.

But, should you be one of the people out there who has not yet seen this beauty...

Without further ado, I give you the recipe (by none other than Paula Deen):

Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle
(Source: Paula Deen)

Ingredients:
- 2 (14-ounce) packages gingerbread mix
- 1 (5.1-ounce) box cook-and-serve vanilla pudding mix
- 1 (30-ounce) can pumpkin pie filling
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/3 teaspoon ground cardamom or cinnamon
- 1 (12-ounce) container frozen whipped topping
- 1/2 cup gingersnaps, optional

Directions:
1. Bake the gingerbread according to the package directions; cool completely.

2. Meanwhile, prepare the pudding and set aside to cool.

3. Stir the pumpkin pie filling, sugar, and cardamom into the pudding.

4. Crumble 1 batch of gingerbread into the bottom of a large, pretty bowl.

5. Pour 1/2 of the pudding mixture over the gingerbread, then add a layer of whipped topping. Repeat with the remaining gingerbread, pudding, and whipped topping.

6. Sprinkle the top with crushed gingersnaps, if desired. Refrigerate overnight. Trifle can be layered in a punch bowl.