Bulk buy shops can be such a blessing and a curse. I love being able to save some money by bulk buying things we use a lot of, but then sometimes you come across things you really don’t need…and they’re such great deals…or so you think.
This happened to me the other day at Costco. We dropped in to pick up some formula and coconut sugar, and as I’m making a beeline for the formula (straight through the aisle of holiday items, first mistake) I noticed huge tins of Christmas cookies. I stopped (second mistake) and saw that one of these ginormous tins was full of butter cookies. I remembered (third mistake) loving these cookies as a child and eating tons of them. The huge tin was only $10, so I grabbed one (fatal mistake).
And then I got home and realized I just bought the biggest tin of butter cookies in the world. Did I really think I was going to eat them all?
After a couple weeks of failing to make a dent in the montrosity, I decided that I had to use the cookies in some way. That or give them away.
And that’s how this was born – layers of chocolate pumpkin pudding and maple whipped cream sandwiched between crumbled butter cookies. The cookies soften and become cake-like, so it’s like a glass full of soft cake and pudding. I kept the pudding and whip only slightly sweet because I knew the cookies already had tons of sugar, so if you like your desserts super sweet, feel free to up the sugar.
Chocolate Pumpkin Cookie Trifle
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Yield: 6 wine glass trifles
Ingredients For the Pumpkin:
- 1 can pumpkin puree (15oz)
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup maple syrup or coconut sugar
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
For the Chocolate Pudding
- 1/2 cup coconut sugar
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 3 cups whole milk
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
For the Maple Whip
- 2 cups heavy cream, cold
- 2 Tbs maple syrup
For the Trifle
- 48 butter cookies, crumbled
Instructions For the Pumpkin
- Add all ingredients in a small saucepan and heat until it starts to bubble, stirring occasionally. Set aside.
For the Chocolate Pudding
- In a small saucepan, whisk together sugar, cornstarch and salt.
- Slowly add milk in a thin stream, whisking constantly.
- Heat over medium-low heat, whisking and scraping the sides often to avoid lumps.
- When the mixture starts to thicken (about 10 minutes in), add the chocolate.
- Mix until the chocolate is fully melted and mixture looks like pudding (about 2 minutes).
- Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla and pumpkin mixture.
- Allow to cool completely.
For the Maple Whip
- Combine heavy cream and maple syrup in a bowl and use a hand mixer or immersion blender to whip the cream until stiff peaks form.
For the Trifle
- In a wine or trifle glass, add about two Tbs of the chocolate pumpkin pudding.
- Follow this with a layer of crumbled cookies.
- Top the cookies with 2-3 Tbs of maple whip followed by another layer of cookies.
- Repeat layers until your glass is full.
- Allow assembled trifles to sit for at least half an hour to soften the cookies.
Notes
– Regular sugar can be substituted for coconut sugar.
– For stronger pumpkin flavor, remove 1 cup of chocolate pudding before combining it with the pumpkin.
This recipe is a departure from what I normally post. Definitely not gluten free or dairy free and not exactly simple either, but still I’d venture to say it’s pretty easy to pull off. And it tastes good. That matters, right?
