Gingerbread Apple Cookie Trifle
This Gingerbread Apple Cookie Trifle is a semi-homemade holiday delight that also happens to be grain-free and refined sugar free.
Ingredients
- 2 boxes of Simple Mills Grain-Free Pecan Cookies (about 30 cookies)
- 1 cup jarred apple butter
- 1 cup dried fruits diced small (I used a combination of dried apricots, currants, dates and cherries)
- Splash of Grand Marnier (optional)
Cream Cheese Filling:
- 3 cream cheese blocks room temperature (8oz each)
- ½ cup heavy cream
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- 2 Tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon mineral salt
Instructions
- Begin by making the cream cheese filling. In a large bowl, add softened cream cheese, cream, nutmeg, maple, vanilla and salt. With a hand mixer or in a stand mixer, beat the mixture until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.
- Add chopped dried fruits to a small bowl with a splash of Grand Marnier. Divide your cookies in half, first reserving five cookies to crumble as a final garnish.
- To layer trifle, set out your whipped cream cheese, dried fruits, cookies and apple butter. Begin by layering the first ½ of cookies in a single layer lining the entire bottom of the pie plate.
- Next, add ½ of the whipped cream cheese, smoothing evenly. Next, add the apple butter, smoothing evenly, and a uniform sprinkling of ½ the soaked dried fruit.
- You’ll then add the second single layer of cookies and the remaining cream cheese filling, smoothing in a decorative way. Crumble the reserved cookies until fine and sprinkle all across the pie.
- Finish with remaining dried fruit. Chill until very cold and cookies are able to soften into a cake texture- at least 6 hours. If you don’t allow enough chilling time, the cookies will remain crunchy. Serve ice cold and enjoy!