Every once in a while, I make a recipe that my family isn’t sure about. Usually, it involves gelatin. I admit that its texture and wobble can raise a few eyebrows. However, there is one gelatin dessert that even my skeptical family enjoys: strawberry pretzel salad.
What about this creamy and crunchy treat turned them into converts? It’s simple! It has the perfect blend of salty and sweet that combines into delicious perfection.
What I love even more about this recipe is how simple it is to make. There is minimal cooking involved so that is a major win, especially during the hectic holiday season.
You may find versions of this recipe, such as the one on The Recipe Critic blog, recommended as a summer dessert. However, the creamy goodness and sweet berries also work well on a holiday table as a lighter alternative to the traditionally rich pies and cakes of the season.
The ingredient list is pretty basic: pretzels, butter, sugar, cream cheese, frozen whipped topping, water, strawberry Jell-O mix and frozen strawberries. Many of these things I often have in the house already, and with a prep time of less than an hour, you can whip this up for last-minute holiday visitors or potluck soirees!
Putting this dessert together is a snap. The Cookin’ Chicks break it down into fewer than a dozen steps, with most of them being simple things like preheating the oven, breaking up the pretzels or mixing the gelatin into the boiling water.
The only cooking you need to worry about is boiling the water for the Jell-O and then baking the butter, sugar and pretzel mixture in a glass rectangular pan. Everything else is simply blending ingredients together and then layering them into the final dessert.
Simple and delicious!