Raspberry Pretzel Dessert

I love raspberries. Seriously. As a kid we had a decent sized patch of raspberries growing in our yard and I remember going out and picking a bucket full and then coming in, pouring some cream and sugar over them and snarfing down a gigantic bowl. Heaven.
Now that I live in an area that I can't grow raspberries I don't get to eat them very often because they are so stinking expensive. But, this week they were on sale for only $.86 so I snatched me up a few packages and tried to relive my youth. Needless to say, store bought raspberries are nothing like a fresh picked one so I opted to make them into a dessert. This is a recipe that my husband had a lot growing up because he also had a big raspberry garden at his house.
By the way, I brought this to a potluck the other day and I got some good compliments on it so I figured it was a keeper and blog worthy. Enjoy.


6 oz package Raspberry Jell-O
2 cups boiling water
2 cups salted pretzel sticks (before crushing)
¼ cup granulated sugar
8 TBSP butter
1 (8oz) package cream cheese - softened
1 (8oz) package Whipped Topping - thawed in the refrigerator
¾ cup granulated sugar
12 oz fresh raspberries

1. Pre-heat oven to 350°F.
2. Boil 2 cups of water and add the Jell-O. Set this mixture aside and allow to cool to room temperature.
3. In the meantime, crush the pretzels (you can do this by using a rolling pin and ziploc bag, or pulsing them in your blender or food processor). You do want these broken down pretty fine otherwise it will not hold together.
4. Melt the butter and combine with 1/4 cup sugar. Add mixture to crushed pretzels and stir to combine.
5. Press pretzel mixture into a 9x13 pan and bake for 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.
6. While Jell-O mixture and pretzel crust are cooling, prepare the cream cheese mixture. Take your softened cream cheese and combine with 3/4 cup sugar. Mix until well combined (I use a hand mixer). Add the whipped topping and stir well.
7. Take the cream cheese mixture and spread it over the top of the cooled pretzel crust making sure to go all the way to the edge so that you create a seal. Place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
8. Remove dessert from the fridge and evenly place raspberries all over the top of the cream cheese mixture.
9. Pour Jell-O mixture over the top of the raspberries and place in the fridge until the jello is set (I would wait a couple of hours)

**Randi's Side Notes**
~ You could use frozen raspberries, if needed. Just thaw first in the fridge.

This dessert recipe came from a blog called Natashas Kitchen. She has beautifully photographed step by step pictures of this recipe.