About 12 years ago, I went to a gathering that served Strawberry Pretzel salad. I had never heard of it at the time and tried it. It was so good and so memorable because for years after that, I would think about it and how I wanted to try to make it myself. But, for one reason or another, it would just slip mind when it came time for holidays or other gatherings that I went to. However, this year I finally made it. This is the recipe I followed and here’s how I made it.

Ingredients

• 2 cups crushed pretzels ( I placed mine in a Ziploc bag and crushed them with a rolling pin)
• 3/4 cup melted butter
• 3 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 (8 ounce) package of cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 (8 ounce) Cool Whip, thawed
• 2 (3 ounce) packages of strawberry Jello
• 2 cups boiling water
• 2 (10 ounce) packages of frozen strawberries

Directions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees
• Combine the crushed pretzels with the melted butter and 3 tablespoons of sugar mixing well. Once thoroughly combined, pour into a 9×13 inch dish and press mixture flat to form a crust.
• Bake 8 to 10 minutes, until set. Set aside to cool.

• While the crust is cooling, cream together the cream cheese and 1 cup of sugar in a large mixing bowl. Fold in the whipped topping.
• Spread the mixture onto the cooled crust.

• Dissolve the Jello in boiling water. Be sure to mix until the gelatin is completely dissolved or it will not set correctly. Stir in strawberries and allow to set briefly. The Jello should be to an egg white consistency before pouring it over the cream cheese layer. Once it has reached that consistency, slowly pour on top of the cream cheese layer making sure to spread out the strawberries evenly.
• Refrigerate until set.

How mine turned out

So, I followed the instructions above and things went pretty well. One thing I did differently was I thawed my strawberries first and then cut them up into smaller pieces. I just thought it would be easier to eat with smaller strawberry pieces versus whole strawberries on top. Some of my frozen strawberries were pretty big.

Problems I encountered

When it came time to dissolve the Jello and mix the “frozen” strawberries into it, I had forgotten that I thawed my strawberries so the set up time was longer. I didn’t realize that I should have placed the Jello into the refrigerator to set. Almost an hour passed with it sitting on the counter and still not achieving the consistency I needed. It wasn’t until I finally decided to put it in the refrigerator that it started to set fairly quickly. So, just something to note that if you decide to thaw your strawberries, be sure to place the Jello into the refrigerator to help it set faster.

If you’ve never had this before, you have to try it. It’s very different and so easy to make. The flavors are just perfect together, too. You have the sweet from the strawberries and Jello, the creaminess from the cream cheese/Cool Whip, and the crunch and saltiness from the pretzels. Such a wonderful combination. 🙂