So before I left for my vacation over Thanksgiving, I did something stupid. Reeeeeally stupid. I made this recipe (that wasn’t stupid, that was good planning with lots of forethought) and took pictures, but I wasn’t happy with how the final pics (ummmmm…I’ve discovered that Jello is really hard to photograph). So I unloaded my SD card onto my computer, deleted all the pictures on the card so it would be nice and empty for my trip, and then figured I’d have the pictures when I got back.
I have no pictures (at least no pictures that I didn’t take of the final product today).
I don’t know what happened to them (along with the pictures of my kids at the zoo and my dog being creepily human-like), but they are gone and I am sad. At least we have Creamy Jello Pie, right?
In all reality, I’m willing to bet the vast majority of you have some variation of this recipe already. It is kind of like the No-Bake Peanut Butter Bars or Muddy Buddies–it just seems to be one of those things that everyone has at their holiday potlucks, which is a good thing because it is delicious. The primary difference here is that it’s usually made in a 9×13″ pan, but it is prettier, easier to cut, and, dare I say tastier when it’s in pie form. Heck, my husband claims to hate this dessert (or “salad” as you may sometimes find it called, which, sadly, doesn’t make it healthier), but when it’s in pie form, he thinks he’s eating some fluffy strawberry cheesecakey treat with a salty-sweet crust and then he wants some more. This is one of the many ways that I mess with his brain.
For starters, preheat your oven to 350. Then you’ll need about 3 1/2-4 cups of pretzels, sugar, and butter. Imagine placing the pretzels in a blender or food processor if you have one and processing them into crumbs so you get about 1 1/2 cups of pretzel crumbs. In a medium bowl, mix the pretzel crumbs with 1/4 c. sugar and a stick and a half of melted butter. That’s right. A stick and a half of butter is where we’re heading. Gently press the crumb mixture into the bottom of a 10″ springform pan and place the pan in the oven. Bake it for 10 minutes, then remove it and let it cool completely.
When the crust is cool, combine 2 8-ounce packages of cream cheese, a small can of drained crushed pineapple, and 3/4 cup granulated sugar. Beat with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, then fold in a thawed 8-ounce container of Cool Whip or 1 8-ounce tub of Cool Whip or 8 ounces of sweetened whipped cream. Gently spread it over the cooled crust and then refrigerated for about 1 hour.
Bring 2 cups of water to a boil. When it’s boiling, add 2 3-ounce packages of strawberry Jello and stir to combine. Add a 14-16 ounce package of frozen sliced strawberries and stir until the strawberries are thawed. Gently pour over the cream cheese mixture and refrigerate until the Jello is set or at least 2 hours.
When you’re ready to serve it, gently run a butter knife around the edge of the springform pan and then gently release the sides of the springform pan.
Cut into wedges and serve.
Pretend that because it’s so light and fluffy and strawberry-y that it’s also calorie-free because that’s how these things work.
Creamy Strawberry Jello Pie
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups crushed pretzels (about 3 1/2-4 cups small pretzels; they can be easily crushed in a blender or food processor)
1/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. melted butter
2 8-ounce packages cream cheese
1 small can crushed pineapple, drained (optional)
3/4 c. sugar
1 8-oz. tub thawed Cool Whip or 8 ounces sweetened whipped cream
2 cups water
2 3-oz. packages strawberry Jello
1 14-16-ounce package frozen sliced strawberries
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350. Combine the crushed pretzels, 1/4 c. sugar, and melted butter in small mixing bowl and then gently press into a 10″ springform pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes, then remove and allow to cool completely.
When the crust is completely cool, place the cream cheese, 3/4 c. sugar, and pineapple in a medium mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer until the cream cheese is smooth. Fold in the Cool Whip or prepared whipped cream and then gently spread over the cooled crust. Refrigerate for at least an hour.
When the creamy layer has cooled for an hour, boil 2 cups of water, then stir in 2 3-ounce packages of strawberry Jello. Stir in the frozen sliced strawberries and continue stirring until the strawberries have thawed. Gently pour over the creamy layer and then refrigerate until the Jello is set (at least 2 hours).
When ready to serve, gently run a butter knife between the edge of the pie and the pan and then slowly loosen the edge of the pan. Cut into wedges. Serves between 12-14.
**This recipe can also be made in a 9×13″ pan**
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I’ve seen this recipe several times, but I’ve never made it. Looks like now I’m going to have to give it a try. I thought it was fun imagining and pretending throughout the post as instructed. And for the record, we really only NEED one picture of the final product, so even though lots of pictures are lovely, don’t sweat it! Maybe you should have posted a few of the kids at WDW instead!
P.S. I am STILL singing Rainbow Connection in my head. It won’t go away.
We call this pretzel jello, and it’s really good with raspberry jell-o and frozen raspberries too.
This is such a fun pie! Pretty too :)
I had to laugh at the fact that your husband likes this better when it’s in pie-shape because my husband is the same way! Maybe it’s a guy-thing? :o)
We call it a salad, because then we still get dessert!
Oh goodness.
I love this in pie form! Being allergic to strawberries (tragic, I know), I make this with raspberries or blackberries. Still ridiculously delicious. :)
Jeni made this once and I wanted to marry her. Except she was already married to Aaron. And I was already married to Troy. Oh well. ;)
My sister put her famous cranberry jello salad on top for Thanksgiving this year. It was the first time in my life I was able to enjoy cranberry jello salad (seriously, orange peel in jello? Why?). Anyway, it was delicious.
This is a really beautiful pie! Not to mention sounds really yummy! Gotta try it :)
We make this a little bit different and call it pretzel salad. That’s funny your hubbie doesn’t like it as a salad because it’s my hubbie’s most favorite. He would choose this over any other dessert, so he gets it for his birthday instead of cake :)
We call it strawberry pretzel salad. My family won’t allow me to attend any family function/dinner/event without bringing it! ;)
We’ve always used fresh strawberries (not boiled with the jello) and raspberry Danish Dessert (way better than the strawberry flavor!) I like the pretzel crust though…now I gotta make this soon. :D
Looks beautiful and sounds delicious!
I’ve had the bar version of this before and loved it. I would thoroughly enjoy having an entire pie of it!
Bummer about your pictures! I have a bad habit of not checking to make sure I have a good picture before eating the food item.
I hate fruit in desert, but this actually looks really good! But don’t tell anyone I said that.
But Sue, it’s not dessert, it’s SALAD. ;)
A sweet lady made this for our family after I had my 7th baby and I seriously think I ate 3/4 of it myself! Haven’t had it since so am so glad for the recipe! :)
You had me at butter, but lost me with the pineapple. Any chance this can be made without it and still turn out okay?
Yep, you can totally leave it out! Don’t let me lose you over pineapple! :)
My mom used to make this, and she called it strawberry pretzel salad. After she passed away, I searched the Internet for the recipe because I could not imagIne not havIng it again. All who try it fall in love, and it is requested every single time there is a pot luck. Good stuff!
This looks soooo yummy! can’t wait to try it!
We use pineapple juice instead of the water when making the jell-o. It is a little yummier that way! Just boil the pineapple juice just like you would the water and dissolve the jell-o in the pineapple juice.
This looks amazing and I want it RIGHT NOW! Love you!
C’est là que les délicieuses fraises de saison me manquent
Voilà des images bien méritantes
Je te souhaite une excellente journée
Valérie
OOOOO! I am going to have to try this recipe.
we are getting ready for the holidays by putting up the Christmas tree and playing Christmas carols.
cookies will be made tomorrow and then sat. we will finish up the shopping.
buy an image recovery program for your computer so if photos go missing again you can run the CF or any other memory card through the image recovery and it will bring back photos even when you have deleted them.
Too funny about your hubby! Around these parts, it is commonly made with a can of pie filling, like blueberry pie filling and would then be called…Blueberry Yum Yum. Seriously.
Made this tonight….kids were like…woahhh….can we have this WITH dinner?! Absolutely!!
I made this the other night when we had some friends over, and everyone really enjoyed it! I think it would be a good idea to let the Jello mixture cool a little before pouring it over the cream cheese… My creamy layer bubbled up into the warm Jello & looked funny. But it was ok, because we just slathered on some more whipped topping & no one was the wiser. Yummy!
Thank you, Thank you! I thought the recipe ‘sounded’ delicious, so I made it yesterday for my boyfriend’s birthday. Result: out-of-this-world delicious! And to add the the taste factor is the presentation! We all were standing in the kitchen when I took the sides off the springform pan and everyone in the room said “wow”! This recipe is a keeper. Thanks so much for sharing it!
I took this to my ward Christmas party, and it was defitelty the show stopper. It was the first dessert gone, and everyone was raving about how good it was. THANK YOU girls so much for this recipe!
Ooo this looks so good! And I can make it gluten-free, awesome! I just bought your book for my mother in law for Christmas. What do you get the woman who has everything? Cookbooks!! A woman can never have enough cookbooks!
Do you think I could add the drained pineapple to the jello layer instead of with the cream cheese layer? Would I have to do anything different? I like the idea of just a plain, smooth cream cheese layer. This sounds so delicous!
If you add pineapple to Jello, it won’t set up because of the enzyme bromelain. In your case, I’d probably just leave out the pineapple. :)
My family has made this for years. We call it Preztel Jello Salad and serve it with dinner. We have it every Thanksgiving because it goes great with turkey dinner. Have never used pineapple in it, I’m not a fan of pineapple, but it is really good with other fruit, (raspberry, blueberry) instead of strawberry.
that sounds like a delish pie <3