Pretzel Jello Salad

Karen67's Note:

I got this recipe from a friend Lynn when we hosted a BBQ for our families (we shared an apartment a few years after college). My family loved this recipe. It's perfect for summer and eating outside, but wait to bring it out into the heat until you are ready to eat.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 30 mins
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 12

• 1 1/2 cups thin pretzels, crushed (crush them before you measure)
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 8 ounces light cream cheese
• 12 ounces Cool Whip (light or fat free is fine)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 cups boiling water
• 1/2 cup cold water
• 6 ounces strawberry Jell-O gelatin dessert
• 20 ounces strawberries, sliced (fresh or frozen, I used closer to 10 oz)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Place pretzels in ziplock bag and crush into small pieces using rolling pin. Measure pretzels after crushing.
3. Mix together pretzels, 3 tbsp sugar, and butter.
4. Pat pretzel mixture into a 9 x 11 pan and bake for 10 minutes.
5. When the crust is cool, mix cream cheese, 3/4 cup sugar and Cool Whip together and spread on crust.
6. Bring 2 cups water to a boil and stir in strawberry Jello. Add cold water and mix well.
7. Add strawberries.
8. Let mixture set until slightly thickened, then pour over cream cheese mixture.
9. Refrigerate until jello is firm.

Reviews

[rosslare]

Not strictly a salad in my books, but really nice and refreshing dessert. I used only 1/2 cup of sugar, perfect for us. Because it's not a berry season, I made it with peach jello and canned peaches, not bad!

[twixxy]

Love this 'salad' for dessert. Came together very easily with little effort. Make very certain your cream cheese layer meets the pan very well on all four sides or the runny jello layer will seep down to the pretzel layer. Delicious and we ate every bite!

[LifeIsGood]

Wow, did this jello salad go over well at our Easter gathering! Everyone loved it and wanted more. It really could be a dessert but it worked really well with our ham dinner, too. Only one problem, I guess I didn't wait long enough when letting the jello set until slightly thickened (there was no time given for this in the directions so I waited about 20 minutes) - and when I poured it over the top, it ended up seeping down into the coolwhip and pretzel layers. This left me with a veryyyyy thin layer on top. Luckily I had another small box of red jello and used that to increase the jello layer. I ended up using frozen (defrosted) strawberries, which worked fine, but next time I will use fresh. Thanks for a winning recipe!