Sweet and Salty Pretzel Pie

One time a while back, my boyfriend’s parents invited me over to grill. After lunch, my boyfriend’s mom pulled out Strawberry Pretzel Pie.  I scooped up a piece and took a bite.  Right then and there I thought I’d died and gone to heaven.  The pretzels were still crisp, the cream cheese filling was rich and creamy, and the strawberry jello was filled with juicy strawberries.  I had tried making strawberry pie before and mine had never turned out anywhere near this wonderful.  After speaking with his mom, she told me that the secret to keeping the pretzels crisp was to bake them before the toppings were added.  She had also mentioned that it was in a local cookbook, but didn’t specify which one.

Fast forward about a year and I was at work, and had a major sugar craving.  For some reason, Strawberry Pretzel Pie jumped into my head and I knew that it wasn’t going to go away.  After work, I headed over to Postville and picked up some strawberries and cream cheese.  When I got home, I got out all of my local church cookbooks and started looking through the pie sections.  I wasn’t finding my recipe and was getting a bit upset.  I looked through the pie sections again and read each and every one.  After searching for a half an hour or so, I thought to look in the dessert section rather than the “Pie” section because there isn’t a traditional “pie” crust.  After flipping through my trusty Zion Lutheran Church Cookbook, I found the recipe that I was looking for–and when I looked to see who’s recipe, I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was my boyfriend’s mom’s recipe.

I got to work and shortly, I was enjoying this–

When Jason got home he scooped a piece for himself.  He took one bite and informed me that he was going to need ATLEAST one more piece. Because I enjoyed it so much, I thought I’d let you have the recipe as well.

Pretzel Salad Dessert

2 3/4 cup crushed pretzels (not too fine)

3 Tablespoons sugar

3/4 cup melted butter

1-8 ounce package cream cheese

2-10 ounce packages of frozen strawberries (I used fresh)

1 cup sugar

1-10 ounce carton cool whip

2-3 ounce packages strawberry jello

2 cups boiling water

First Layer–Mix pretzels and 3 tablespoons sugar; pour butter over top and mix.  Pat into a 9 x 13-inch pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

Second Layer–Cream softened cream cheese and 1 cup sugar.  Fold in cool whip and spread over cooled pretzel layer.

Third Layer–Pour boiling water over jello and add strawberries.  When the jello mixture begins to thicken, spoon over the cream cheese mixture.

This past weekend, I went over to Jason’s parent’s house to celebrate Father’s Day and made this to bring with.  When I was talking with Jason’s mom, she said that the reason that the recipe calls for frozen strawberries is that when you add it to the boiling water, the frozen strawberries, it acts as the cold water that you add when making Jello.  I also found out that the recipe originally came from Jason’s Grandma who got it from a lady that she worked with.

Another awesome thing about this recipe is that you can make it the night before and it will keep good overnight without the crust getting soggy.

So next time you are looking for a fun, summery dessert, remember this dessert.  You also may want to remember the recipe, because EVERYONE will ask you for it!