Lisa's Fruit Salad With Caramelized Pretzel Topping

WiGal's Note:

This recipe is from Lisa, a wonderful girl, who is my beautician in Wisconsin. I call her girl b/c she used to be a student of mine about 30 years ago. Oh, dear how time passes by. Now she is a model parent and wife who could also be a model in a magazine. I am guessing at the amount of pretzels. But what a great way to use up leftover pretzels! This recipe does not include the chilling of the fruit salad. Break up the pretzels inside a bag.

• Total Time: 15 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 5 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 8

CARAMELIZED PRETZEL TOPPING

• 3 cups pretzels, broken up into small pieces
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup brown sugar

SALAD

• 2 (3 1/2 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 2 cups Cool Whip Topping, thawed
• 8 ounces crushed pineapple, strained
• 2 (11 ounce) cans mandarin oranges, crushed & strained

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Line a jelly roll pan with foil.
3. Break up pretzels on pan.
4. Melt butter in microwave, add brown sugar, stir together, and dump onto pretzels.
5. Stir until well coated.
6. Bake for 5 minutes.
7. Cool and break apart pretzels.
8. For the fruit salad put into large bowl: mix pudding and buttermilk together.
9. Fold in the whipped cream, crushed pineapple, and mandarin orange pulp.
10. Cover top of salad with caramelized pretzel topping right before serving.

Reviews

[diner524]

What a wonderful fruit salad, the family loved the new fruit salad!!! Everyone loved the sweet and salty flavors going on in the salad. I made the recipe as written except that I only used one can of the oranges and I added two sliced bananas. This makes a very large bowl of fruit salad, so next time I would only make 1/2 of the recipe. DD was only too happy to take a big bowl home with her. Thanks for sharing the recipe. Made for PRMR Tag Game.

[Chef maryft]

I had this recipe at a family reunion today. It is fabulous. I came home and had to search to see if I could find it as I did not have a name. Thanks for sharing. I will be making this SOON.

[KateL]

Unqualified yummy! DH began nibbling onthe caramelized pretzel topping as soon as it started to cool, and he wolfed down his dessert. This is oh so simple, but it tastes so good. The salt and brown sugar combination excites the taste buds. I used Lite Cool Whip. Thanks for posting WiGal. Made for Top Favorites of 2008 Tag as a prize for WiGal becoming Frog #5.