Strawberry Pretzel Salad (NO Jell-o)
One of my top favorite desserts! I’ve been obsessed with this since my friend’s mom in middle/high school would make what I called Strawberry Deliciousness. I had never had it before and when she would make it I literally could not stop eating it.
The bottom layer is crushed pretzels with butter and sugar, the middle layer is traditionally cool whip and cream cheese, but I make my own whipped cream and mix it with cream cheese. And then in this recipe, instead of using Strawberry Jell-O, I mixed strawberry juice with gelatin and then added in freshly sliced strawberries. For the regular recipe WITH Jell-O, click here.
This recipe is great year-round. Enjoy!
Some Cooking Essentials:
Pyrex Glass Bowls
Pyrex 9x13
All Clad Measuring Cups
Kitchen Aid
All Clad Sauce Pan
Fine Mesh Strainer
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Strawberry Pretzel Dessert- NO JELL-O
Ingredients
- 2 cups crushed pretzels
- 1 cup melted butter (2 sticks)
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 1/3 cup confectioners' sugar
- 3 lbs strawberries, hulled and sliced- 3 quarts
- 6 tablespoons lemon juice, about 2 lemons
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 2 packets of unflavored gelatin (or enough to set 4 cups of liquid)
Instructions
- Clean and slice 2lbs of the strawberries (32 oz / 2quarts) and combine them with 1 ½ cups of sugar and 6 tablespoons of lemon juice in a large bowl.
- Cover and refrigerate overnight, allowing the strawberries to macerate and release their juices.
- Strain the mixture, discarding the macerated strawberries and reserving the liquid. You should have approximately 3 cups of strawberry juice.
- Preheat your oven to 350°F.
- In a medium bowl, mix the crushed pretzels, melted butter, and sugar together.
- Transfer pretzel mixture to 13x9 greased or lined baking dish and press firmly into dish.
- Bake for 12+ minutes or until crust has slightly caramelized- I set the timer for 10 minutes, and then check on it and set the timer for 2 minutes and so on until it’s cooked to my liking.
- Let cool to room temperature.
- Add whipping cream, confectioners sugar & vanilla to mixing bowl, or stand mixer bowl.
- Using a stand mixer or electric hand mixer, beat the ingredients together starting on low speed and gradually increase to high as whip cream starts to firm up and forms peaks. Transfer to a large bowl.
- Using a stand mixer or electric hand mixer, beat cream cheese and granulated sugar together on medium until fluffy & white.
- Fold the whip cream into the cream cheese and mix until there are no visible cream cheese streaks left.
- Spread mixture over cooled pretzel crust, spreading to the edges of the dish to create a seal- this is important so that the jello is separated from the pretzel layer to keep it crunchy. Refrigerate for 45 minutes.
- In a separate bowl, sprinkle the unflavored gelatin over ½ cup of cold water and let it bloom for about 5 minutes.
- Pour the strawberry juice into a small saucepan and gently heat over medium heat.
- Once the strawberry juice is heated, whisk it into the bloomed gelatin until fully dissolved.
- Place the bowl with the strawberry-gelatin mixture in the fridge until it cools down but doesn’t set (about 30-45 minutes).
- Once the mixture is cool, add in the remaining sliced strawberries.
- Pour the cooled strawberry-gelatin mixture over the cream cheese layer.
- Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight, until the gelatin is fully set.
- Slice, serve and enjoy!
