Strawberry Pretzel Salad Recipe

Happy Monday, everyone! I hope you all had a fabulous weekend! My weekend was busy but great! Saturday I had the honor of helping host a sweet friend's baby shower for her first baby girl, due September 3rd! She and her husband have adopted two precious boys, so we had to fix her up with some pink!! :) It was such a sweet time. 

Sweet, glowing Sarah!

Yummy food table!

Two words: COFFEE. PUNCH. If you've never had it, you are missing out on an addiction!

The shower was at 10:30, so we made brunch food. One of the things I volunteered to bring is a southern STAPLE where I'm from in Alabama -- Strawberry Pretzel Salad. You will not find ANY green on this salad, though! (But hey, it's called salad so it's healthy, right???) In my hometown, you will find this dish at barbecues, baby showers, church potluck dinners, and cutesy restaurants where moms and daughters frequent. It's the perfect mix of salty and sweet! And it's one of my favorite desserts salads, so I thought I'd share the recipe with you!

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First you need to crush up some pretzels! (If you have kids, this is a great job for them. ;)) I used the checkered kind, but any kind will do. You'll want to crush them into bits/chunks, not powder, so you still have a crunch when you eat it. Mix with melted butter and sugar and press evenly into a 9x13 pan. Bake on 375 for 8 minutes, and then let cool completely. 

Next, combine softened cream cheese, thawed Cool Whip, and sugar. I've seen people use up to 1 whole cup of sugar for this part, but I used half a cup, because there is definitely not a shortage of sugar in this recipe! But if you have a super sweet tooth, by all means, you go for it!! Mix these 3 ingredients until smooth and creamy, then spread across the cooled pretzel layer. 

Now for the third layer, slice up some fresh strawberries! You can also use a couple of bags of frozen strawberries for this part (and it will probably even help the Jell-O to set faster), but I love fresh! I could just jump in that bowl right now! Mmmm.

Lastly, combine your strawberry Jell-O with boiling water, then add your strawberries! Let that sit for just a few minutes, then pour over your cream layer. Spread the strawberries evenly. 

Voila! Now put that in the fridge for at least 4 hours, until the Jell-O is set, and you will have many new best friends when you serve it. You can add a dollop of whipped cream and a slice of fresh strawberry for presentation if you want! 

A few notes: Even though you want the Jell-O to set in the fridge for 4 hours, I would recommend making this dish the day you're going to serve it. That way the pretzels still stay crunchy instead of soft! I wasn't able to do that this time because I wasn't going to get up at 4am to make a strawberry pretzel salad!!! =P Also, be careful when putting it in the fridge, and make sure you have a flat surface. I did neither this time. Ha! Too much wiggling it around, so some of my Jell-O layer seeped down to the pretzel layer. I tried to fix the appearance with some Reddi-Whip. ;)

There you go! I hope you enjoy! If you bring this to your 4th of July BBQ, I promise it will be a hit! :) Have a great week!