The perfect blend of sweet & tart, this raspberry pretzel salad is the perfect dessert.
This dessert salad has an amazing pretzel base, with a middle layer of cool whip & cream cheese, and it's topped off with a delicious raspberry jello. It also uses real raspberries, which I absolutely love. I hope you all love it as much as I do.
If you are not a raspberry fan, you can substitute the raspberries for a fruit of your choice. I am also a huge blueberry fan, and I plan on making this again with blueberries. Another great idea would be to play with the middle layer by adding vanilla, and using strawberries as the top layer. You could create more of a strawberry shortcake salad that would be absolutely delicious.
- Pretzel Base:
- 3 cups crushed pretzels
- 3 tablespoons powdered sugar (I like using granulated sugar as well)
- 3/4 cups melted butter
- Cool Whip Middle Layer:
- 8oz cool whip – thawed
- 8oz cream cheese
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice (optional)
- Raspberry Top Layer:
- 1 6oz package raspberry jello
- 2 cups boiling water
- 2 packages of frozen or fresh raspberries (you can use fresh raspberries)
- Turn the oven on at 325 degrees. Crush the pretzels by placing them in a plastic bag and smash them with your fist. This is a great time to let out all of your frustration from the day, and really let it all out:-) Combine the crushed pretzels, powdered sugar, and melted butter in a large bowl and stir gently until evenly coated. Once it is all mixed, place in a 9 x 13 baking pan. Bake for 10 minutes.
- Beat the cool whip, cream cheese, powdered sugar, and lemon juice in a large bowl. Chill in the fridge.
- Combine the jello powder with 2 cups boiling water. Make sure the jello is completely dissolved before adding the raspberries. Once dissolved, add the raspberries to the bowl and gently stir. Set in the fridge until thickened.
- With your pretzel bottom layer ready to go, take out the cool whip middle layer and spread on the pretzels. Once the jello is thickened, spread the raspberry jello on top of the cool whip middle layer. Place in the fridge until your ready to eat it.