I don’t fully understand why this dessert is called “Strawberry Pretzel Salad.” I don’t really look at it as a salad! Very pleasing dessert. Total crowd pleaser.
This recipe has just a hint of pretzels on the bottom. Some might say not enough. I used to think it wasn’t enough. So in my latest version I used 2 cups of crushed pretzels (which is nearly double what we call for in this recipe) and 12 TBSP of butter. And I liked it a lot less with more pretzels. I think the whipped layer, the fresh strawberries and the jello should be the star, while light dusting of pretzels offers a nice crunch on the bottom, but by no means should be overpowering. So the recipe here asks for a lot less pretzels, barely enough, barely there, just a hint… And that’s how we like it!
Strawberry Pretzel Dessert
Ingredients
For the Jell-O topping:
6 oz strawberry Jell-O (2 small packages or 1 large)
2 cups boiling water
1 lb fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
- For the crust:
2 1/2 cups salted pretzels (measure before crushing)
1/4 cup sugar
1 stick unsalted butter (8 TBSP)
- For the cream cheese layer:
8 oz package of cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
8 oz package of cool whip, thawed
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9x13 glass baking dish lightly.
- Combine Jell-O with 2 cups of boiling water, stir and set aside. We'll allow this to cool to room temperature.
- Crush pretzels. You can do this in a food processor. I prefer doing it in a large resealable bag with a rolling pin. Melt a stick of butter in a medium-sized pan and then stir in sugar, followed by crushed pretzels. Press the crust into the prepared dish evenly. Bake in preheated oven for 9-10 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.
- Beat cream cheese until fluffy. Beat in 1 cup of sugar on medium-high until light and fluffy. Fold in 1/3 of cool whip very gently with a spatula. Then fold in the remaining cool whip with a rubber spatula, do not overmix. Spread the mixture over the cooled pretzel crust. Make sure to spread all the way to the edge, because if your Jell-O leaks - it will make the pretzel crust soggy.
- Stir in sliced strawberries into the cooled Jell-O mixture we set aside in step 2. Pour this over the cream cheese mixture. Refrigerate until firm for at least 4 hours.
