There are just some foods and flavors that will always instantly remind me of the holidays. Some of these flavors are warm spices, peppermint and creamy desserts.
This Everything Christmas Trifle has layers of Gingerbread Shortbread, EggNog Pudding and Cheesecake to give it the taste of the holidays!
I know it’s not even Thanksgiving yet, but after seeing a container of Eggnog in the grocery store the other day I got a little excited about Christmas coming up! I started thinking of all the other Christmas flavors that I so dearly love and decided to put them all together into the Ultimate Christmas dessert.
I am calling it the {Everything} Christmas Trifle. It is layered starting with a gingersnap shortbread, chocolate chip “cheesecake”, eggnog pudding, and cool whip or whipped cream.
Then I garnished with gingersnaps and served it alongside some gingerbread cookies. Everyone LOVED this… it’s so addicting!
I started with the gingersnap shortbread. You can add Pecans to this too which I love! I love this shortbread because the ginger isn’t too strong to overpower the other flavors.
The next layer tastes like cheesecake without all the fuss. You only need to mix it up really well! This may be the best part to me and I think I could eat this on it’s own.
Then the Eggnog pudding layer. I know not everyone loves egg nog and that’s okay. If you are one of the ones that doesn’t like it then rest assured you can just make a regular vanilla pudding layer instead and it will still turn out great.
Then just start layering it all in. I finish it all off with a layer of whipped cream or cool whip. I used cool whip this time and it was fantastic.
Everything Christmas Trifle has most of our favorite Christmas flavors in one bite!
Tips for making an Everything Christmas Trifle:
- Decorate with either ginger snaps or gingerbread cookies on top. You can get really creative with the decorations here!
- Whip the cheesecake layer really well. You’ll want the cheesecake layer to be really light and airy so that it spreads evenly. You can achieve this by whipping it well and also bring the cream cheese to room temp before whipping.
- If you don’t have a trifle bowl an alternative is to make these into individual serving sizes. Use clear 9 oz. cups and layer them with all the layers inside. I would only try out one layer of each unless you want to do really thin layers.
- Make sure you have a large spoon to serve it with. It’s a lot like banana pudding in texture and so it won’t work with a cake server or a pie server. A large spoon will work the best!
{Everything} Christmas Trifle

Ingredients
- 2 cups crushed up Gingersnaps, crush them up into crumbs prefferably with a food processor
- 3 Tbsp . Sugar
- 1 cup of flour
- 1 cup salted butter
- 2 cups eggnog
- 3 cups milk
- 1 family sized box of vanilla instant pudding mix and 1 regular box vanilla instant pudding mix
- 2- 8 oz . boxes of cream cheese
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 2 cups Cool Whip plus 1 more cup
- 1 cup mini chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup pecans optional*
- a few gingersnaps for decorations optional*
Instructions
- makes about 15-20 servings
- Combine the flour, gingersnap crumbs, sugar, butter and pecans (if using) until mixed. Spread out evenly on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. Take out and let cool. Meanwhile mix both pudding mixes together with the milk and eggnog. set aside. In another bowl mix cream cheese, powdered sugar and 2 cups of the cool whip together (I suggest using a mixer). Fold in chocolate chips to cream cheese mixture once it is mixed up. Next start layering. start with the Gingersnap shortbread. The shortbread will be very crumbly like a pie crust... use about half of it. Layer it about an inch thick depending on your trifle bowl. Then make a layer of the cream cheese mixture... you will also use about half of this. Then a layer of the pudding. Repeat all and then place a layer of cool whip at the top. Garnish with some gingersnaps and a few gingersnap crumbs. Chill for at least 2 hours... although it can be eaten right away it is best served cold. Enjoy!
Nutrition Information
Serving Size
1 gramsAmount Per Serving Unsaturated Fat 0g
Lynn
Saturday 24th of December 2022
I made this delicious trifle last year for Christmas. It was way better than I thought it would be! I made it gluten free (with gluten free ginger snaps). Everyone liked it so much they asked me to make it again this year. I decided to make them in half pint jars this time. Thanks for the amazing recipe!!
Denise
Friday 24th of December 2021
I made this last year and it was wonderful. Making it right now and don’t remember if butter is melted or softened. Does anyone know?
Robin W
Thursday 25th of November 2021
Thanksgiving 2021.. SO incredibly great! WoW. Will definitely make again
Kathy Condon
Sunday 15th of December 2019
I made this for my family Christmas party and it was a hit! Thank you for sharing your recipe!
Laura
Saturday 22nd of December 2018
Does anyone know where the cute little gingerbread boy cookies can be found?
Sarah
Sunday 23rd of December 2018
I got some at Wal-Mart, Pepperidge Farm brand.