You will love this fabulous dessert–uh, salad! It has a wonderful pretzel crust, a lusciously smooth cream cheese layer, followed by a delicious strawberry Jello layer and finally topped with whipped cream. Oh, yum! The question about this recipe is whether or not it should even be classified as a salad!! It seems more like a dessert to me!

My dear friend, Mimi Pownall gave me this recipe in the very early 1980s, and I love the recipe for its versatility. You can use frozen or fresh strawberries. One time I decided to make it with strawberry pie filling instead of all the Jello goop. That was yummy, too. This recipe has been all over the Internet for years and I’m not sure who the originator of this recipe is. I would not be surprised if this recipe originated from the makers of Jello or someone else selling a product.

You will love this fantastic recipe. Try it at a potluck sometime and see everyone swoon. This is such a marvelous recipe for holidays or Valentine’s Day with it’s beautiful colors and light creamy taste. It’s wonderful to serve after a large meal because it’s so light and fluffy. Add this to your holiday dessert list. You won’t be sorry.

Here’s a look at this yummy dessert…..uh, salad!

Here’s the finished product before serving.

Here’s another look at this fantastic dessert.

Here’s what I did.

It is easier to work with pretzel sticks rather than regular shaped pretzels.

Crush pretzel sticks – about 8-oz.  will yield 1 3/4–2 cups crushed pretzels. That’s all you’ll need.

The easiest way to crush the pretzels is to put them through the food processor. I didn’t think about that until after I’d already started crushing the pretzels with a rolling pin!

Measure out about 2 cups crushed pretzels. (My original recipe calls for 3 1/2 cups but it is way too much and ends up filling the pan up to much with crust).

Add brown sugar.

Add butter and mix ingredients together.

Mix everything together. The mixture should neither be too dry or too moist. This is too dry.

Bake the crust for 10 minutes at 350. Cool the crust COMPLETELY before adding the next layer. This will take about 30 minutes cooling time.

Soften cream cheese in mixing bowl.

Add sugar.

Add 8-oz. cool whip.

Cream all the ingredients together with an electric mixer until smooth.

Smooth the cream cheese mixture over top of cooled pretzel crust.

Here I’ve spread the cream cheese mixture over the pretzel crust.

Meanwhile, boil water.

Stir in 1 large or 2 small packages of strawberry gelatin.

Dissolve the gelatin in boiling water.

Stir in thawed strawberries. Allow mixture to thicken. I usually put it in the freezer about 30 minutes to allow it to thicken.

Spread thickened strawberry mixture over top of cream cheese layer. I usually place the mixture back in the freezer another 30 minutes to set the topping. Cover this with foil (NOT PLASTIC WRAP)!!! Plastic wrap will adhere to the strawberry mixture and ruin the surface. Cover with foil and refrigerate about 6 hours or overnight before serving. Serve with Cool Whip or whipped cream.

You can cover the whole strawberry surface with cool whip or just dollop whipped cream on top like the picture.

Time for a spoonful of this luscious gelatin salad – really more like a dessert!

Here’s another look at this fabulous dessert.

In this picture you can see the details of the pretzel crust, the cream cheese layer and the strawberry layer, topped with whipped cream. Yum.

Here’s the delicious recipe with a few tips. As you will notice, I’ve changed the name from salad to dessert!

STRAWBERRY PRETZEL DESSERT

(Recipe from Mimi Pownall, when we attended First Baptist Church Indian Rocks, Largo, FL)

2 cups crushed pretzels

¾ cup butter, melted

3 tbsp. brown sugar

8-oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened

16-oz. container cool whip, divided

¾ cup sugar

1 large pkg. strawberry gelatin (or two small pkgs.)

2 cups boiling water

3 cups frozen strawberries

Mix pretzel crumbs, brown sugar and butter. Press into greased or sprayed 9×13” baking dish and bake at 350° for 10 minutes. (Be careful not to overcook this crust and burn it). Cool completely. Mix sugar, cream cheese and half the cool whip and place on cooled crust. Bring water to a boil. Stir in Jello and dissolve. Add strawberries. Stir until thick. If necessary put in freezer for a half hour or so until mixture thickens. Spread over cream cheese layer. Place in freezer another 30 minutes to set strawberry glaze. Refrigerate overnight before serving. Spread with cool whip before serving–or cut in pieces and dollop each piece with cool whip. About 12-15 servings.

NOTE: May substitute cans of pie filling for strawberry mixture, although this is really good. I have used raspberry and blueberry pie filling as a substitute for the strawberry-Jello mixture. But I bet you could use fresh blueberries or blackberries and Jello to match and it would be fantastic, too.

NOTE: The original name for this recipe calls it a salad. This is really a dessert, NOT a salad!

Here’s another look at this wonderful dessert. Take this dessert along to your next party and there won’t be a smidgen left!

Here’s a piece for you! Doesn’t this look yummy?

Your family, friends, and company will love this wonderful dessert–salad!

This is a great dessert to take to holiday parties. The colors are so festive.

One final look. I’ve left the spoon for you to enjoy a bite.

You may also like these recipes:

Strawberry Twinkie Dessert

Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies

Philadelphia Cheesecake

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