Sweet and Salty. Creamy and Crunchy.
We are in the midst of the strawberry season here in North Carolina. What do you do when you are gifted a box full of fresh strawberries? You start searching for ways to use them up before they go bad. Luckily I found a few new recipes to try that call for fresh strawberries, including this one from Sugar Apron.
Make sure you allow yourself enough time to make this recipe. It requires very little baking time but will require some chill time to set the filling and the topping.
Prepare the Strawberries
Begin by preheating the oven to 350 degrees F. While the oven preheats, prepare your strawberries by rinsing them and patting them dry. Cut off the tops and slice into fours.
Make the Crust
Next, crush the pretzels until you have at least 2 cups of crushed pretzels. Then melt the butter and add to the pretzels, along with the 3 tablespoons of sugar. Stir until well combined. Once the mixture is completely mixed, press into the bottom of a 9 x 13 casserole dish. Bake the crust for at least 10 minutes or until the crust appears toasted. Then set aside to cool.
Second Layer
While the crust cools, mix the cream cheese and sugar with an electric hand mixer until well combined and smooth. Next, fold in the whipped topping and mix thoroughly. Once combined, spread evenly over the cooled crust. Then refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Top It All Off
Once the filling is set and chilled through, you can make the Jell-O topping. Boil two cups of water and then mix with one packet of strawberry-flavored gelatin. Add the fresh sliced strawberries and refrigerate for about 5 minutes to cool down the mixture. Do not let the gelatin set in the bowl.
After the strawberries and gelatin mixture have cooled down, pour over the cream cheese layer. Refrigerate the dessert for an hour to make sure the gelatin completely sets.
The outcome of mine was more like a Jell-O poke cake. The gelatin mixture didn’t really form on top of the cream cheese layer like it was supposed to. As soon as I poured the gelatin over the cream cheese filling, I could see it soaking down towards the pretzel crust. Not much I could do at this point but cross my fingers and hope for the best.
Chill Out
I let the dessert chill for several hours in the refrigerator before trying a piece. Although the gelatin didn’t really make a layer on the top as it should have, the dessert turned out to be quite delicious.
If you make this recipe and figure out how to keep the gelatin layer from seeping into the filling and crust, please share your secrets with me. Thank you in advance.
Enjoy!
Is it Strawberry Season in your neck of the woods? Need more strawberry recipes in your life?
Check out this Fresh Strawberry Cobbler recipe.
Fresh Strawberry Pretzel Dessert
Course: DessertDifficulty: Easy16
servings2
hours10
minutesSweet and salty. Creamy and crunchy.
Ingredients
- For the crust:
2 cups of crushed pretzels
3/4 cups of butter, melted
3 tablespoons of sugar
- For the filling:
8 ounces of cream cheese
8 ounces of whipped topping
1 cup of white sugar
- For the topping:
3 ounces of strawberry flavored gelatin
2 cups of boiling water
1 cup of fresh strawberries, sliced into fours
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- To make the crust, mix together the crushed pretzels, melted butter, and sugar.
- Press the pretzel crust mixture into the bottom of a 9 x 13 baking dish.
Bake for 10 minutes or until crust is toasted. - Once the crust is baked, set aside to cool.
- While the crust is cooling, start on the filling mixture by combining the cream cheese and the sugar. Use an electric hand mixer and beat until smooth.
- Next, fold in the whipped topping. Then spread the mixture over the cooled pretzel crust.
- Refrigerate for 30 minutes or until the filling firms up.
- Once the filling has set, prepare the topping. Start by boiling the 2 cups of water.
- In a medium bowl, stir together the boiling water and the gelatin mixture. Add the fresh-cut strawberries to the gelatin mixture and refrigerate for at least 5 minutes to cool down the mixture.
- Pour the cooled gelatin mixture over the cream cheese layer and then refrigerate for an hour or until completely set and chilled.
