Pumpkin Trifle

As soon as fall begins, I always get on a pumpkin obsession.  I have already made pumpkin cookies, pumpkin brownies, and pumpkin Chili and have been thinking about what my next pumpkin goody might be.  As I stared at some of my unopened wedding gifts, I noticed my beautiful glass Trifle bowl that I've had for over 2 years and still haven't used.  I thought of a brilliant idea...pumpkin trifle!  I bought a Pumpkin Spice Pudding mix that has been sitting in my cupboard as well and thought that would taste good as well as pumpkin cake and then I just kept thinking about other flavors I could incorporate in this trifle.  Next thing I know I am at Wegmans buying what I imagine would be good flavors together and next thing I know I've created this delicious Pumpkin Trifle that I wound up sharing with my work friends the next day! It is fun playing around with ingredients at times, especially when what you've made up actually comes out good! This is definitely a dessert I will be making every fall!

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Ingredients:

* 1 Box of Pillsbury Perfectly Pumpkin Cake Mix

* 1 Cup of Water

* 3 Whole Eggs

* 1/2 Cup of Oil

* 2 (3.4 oz) Boxes of JELL-O Pumpkin Spice Instant Pudding (Seasonal)

* 1 3/4 cup of 2% Milk

* 20 Ginger Snap Cookies
* Large Tub of Kraft Cool Whip

Procedure:

*Pre-Heat oven to 350 degrees
* Make Pumpkin Cake according to the package (Beat 3 whole eggs, 1 cup of water, 1/2 cup of vegetable oil and mix well)

* Spray a 9x13 inch baking Pan with Spray and bake according the directions on cake box (about 30 minutes)

* When cake is finished take out of the oven and let cool completely for about an hour

* While cake is cooling, make the Pumpkin Spice Pudding according to package directions
(Whisk 2 boxes of Pumpkin Spice mix and 1 3/4 cup of 2% milk).  I used less milk than it called for so that the pudding would be thicker. 

* Cover the pudding and put in the refrigerator until the cake is cool.  
* In a food processor grind 20 Ginger Snap Cookies into crumbs.  Place in a bowl and set aside

* Once the cake has finished cooling, cut it into small even squares (I got 60 squares out of it.  Cut 10 rows of 6)

* Now we are ready to assemble the Trifle.
* Get your trifle bowl out, along with your cake, Pumpkin Spice Pudding,Ginger Snap Crumbs, and thawed Cool Whip.

* Layer the bottom of the Trifle bowl with cake

* Spread the Pudding on top of the Cake

* Sprinkle the Ginger Snap Crumbs all of the pudding layer.

 *Spread a layer of Cool Whip over the crumbs.

* Follow this procedure 3 times (I lightly pressed the cake pieces down for more room for all layers)

* Top the cake with Ginger Snap Cookies.

* Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

~*~ Enjoy!~*~