I remember back in my college days when I was invited to my best friend’s sister’s house, and I tried one of the most amazing desserts ever. It had a buttery, salty pretzel crust, with a cheesecake type layer, topped with fresh strawberries inside a sea of strawberry Jell-O. I was in heaven, and wondered where this deliciousness had been all my life!
Of course I got the recipe, and I’m sharing it with you today! Some people call this strawberry pretzel dessert a salad, but let’s be honest. This is definitely dessert, although calling it a salad might make you feel a little less guilty about eating it? Either way, you’ll love it! This recipe is very easy to make, and is great to take over to a BBQ or get together with friends. That way you’ll be forced to share and not hoard it all for yourself. Yes, it’s THAT good!
Strawberry Pretzel Dessert Recipe
2 cups crushed pretzels
3/4 cup melted butter
3 Tbsp. sugar
1 package softened cream cheese (8 oz)
1 cup sugar
1 container Cool Whip, thawed in fridge (8 oz)
Strawberry flavored Jell-O (6 oz)
2 cups boiling water
Package of strawberries (16 oz., or about 4 cups), sliced
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. To crush the pretzels, I placed them inside two large Ziploc bags (doubled), and used the rolling pin to crush and smash them. You want there to be small chunks of pretzels in the crust, so don’t smash them to dust! Combine the pretzels, the melted butter, and the 3 Tbsp. of sugar in a bowl, and press the mixture into the bottom of a greased 9″ x 13″ baking dish. Bake for 8 minutes, then let cool.
2. While the crust is baking, combine the cream cheese and the sugar in a mixing bowl. Fold in the Cool Whip. Place the mixture over the cooled crust, making sure to spread the cream all the way across the top evenly. Be sure to seal the crust by going all the way to the edge of the pan, or the Jell-O layer will seep through and turn the cream colors, which you don’t want. Place the crust and cream top in the fridge to cool for a couple of hours.
3. While the dessert is in the fridge, dissolve the Jell-O powder in the boiling water, and let cool. Place mixture in the fridge for a few minutes until it starts to thicken slightly, then stir in the sliced strawberries. Pour the Jell-O and strawberries mixture over the top of the cream cheese layer, and spread evenly. Refrigerate.
Once the Jell-O has completely set it’s time to dig in! The combination of salty pretzels with the sweet cream cheese layer and the fresh strawberries and Jell-O layer is amazing!
For more delicious desserts, you’ll want to try these!
Chocolate Covered Potato Chips
Happy eating!
