Strawberry Pretzel Salad

Ewwww....I truly never thought I would make this.  I've seen this recipe since the '60's and it always grossed me out.  And now, I've actually made it. For over a year, one of the kids in the after school program keeps asking The Blog Tech if he would ask me to make this.  Each time he has mentioned it to me I've wrinkled up my nose and said ewww.  Jello and pretzels?  UGH!  But this is the last week of cooking for the kids until the new year so I caved in and made it.  And you know what?  It's bomb!  It's fire!  The kids will be so happy!

 If you ever want to step into this weird recipe and give it a try, you will need to break up pretzels until you have 2 cups.  Mix these with 3 T. of brown sugar and 3/4 cup of melted but.  Press this in the bottom of a 9X13 pan and bake it at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.  Set it aside to cool.

 I quadrupled the recipe because I am sure the kids will stuff themselves with this.

 Mix an 8 oz. block of cream cheese with 1 cup of sugar.  Fold in 1 can of whipped cream.

 Spread this mixture over the cooled pretzels and refrigerate for an hour.

 Pour a 3 oz. packet of strawberry jello in a bowl.

 Pour 2 cups of boiling water over it.

 Add 10 oz. of sliced strawberries.

 Place this in the fridge to chill until it begins to set and then spread it over the top of the cream cheese layer.  Chill for several hours or overnight.

Serve each piece topped with additional whipped cream.

 To tell you how shocked I am by how tasty this turned out is no exaggeration.  I guess that is why the recipe is still around after all these years. I think I will wait until Spring to make it again and use fresh local strawberries and make my own jello.  Somehow the sweet strawberry flavor and the saltiness of the pretzels with the caramel flavor from the brown sugar and butter all works together perfectly.  This is one of the things I love about cooking, you can learn something new everyday.