Gingerbread Trifle

I know many of us are facing the new year with a clean start to healthy eating so this may not be the kind of recipe you are hoping to see. After giving it some thought  however, I felt that it would be wrong of me not to share this big bowl of goodness with you. I first tasted this dessert at our Sunday school progressive dinner party right before Christmas and have not stopped thinking about it since then (is that weird?). I needed a dessert to take to our friends house for New Years Eve and this one came to mind immediately. After googling a few recipes I took several different ideas to come up with this recipe. Even better I was able to lighten it up by changing some of the ingredients. All I can say is I was not the only one who went back for seconds on New Years Eve.

If you are in need of any dessert ideas during the month of January or want to get a head start on next years Thanksgiving and Christmas menu then plan on making this recipe. Book mark it, tag it, save it as your favorites, whatever you need to do but trust me this is a recipe you must try.

Gingerbread Trifle

Ingredients:
- 2 (14oz.) packages gingerbread cake mix
- 1 (5oz.) box sugar free, fat free vanilla pudding
- 2 (15oz.) cans pumpkin
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 container lite whipped topping
- 1/2 cup gingersnap cookies, crushed
- 3/4 cup Heath Toffee Bits

Directions:
- Bake gingerbread cake according to the package directions. Allow to cool completely. (I ended up only using about 3/4 of the two cake boxes. Portion may vary depending on the dish size).
- Meanwhile, prepare the pudding and set aside to cool.
- Add pumpkin, sugar and cinnamon into the pudding.
- In a decorative bowl fill, crumble in about a 1/4 to 1/2 of the gingerbread cake, filling the bottom.
- Pour half of the pudding mixture on top of the gingerbread, sprinkle with 1/2 cup toffee bits, then add a layer of whipped topping (half of the container).
- Repeat layers crumbling in more (if not all)of the gingerbread, add pudding mixture and top with the rest of the whipped cream.
- On top of the trifle add the crushed gingersnap cookies and the rest of the toffee bits (1/4 cup).
- Refrigerate overnight or about 8 hours.