Strawberry Pretzel Salad

Retro, baby! We had another potluck night at work, and this time the theme was "Old Skool Treats". We were supposed to bring in a dish that reminded us of childhood. People brought in a lot of fun stuff: Chex Mix, Rice Krispy Treats, deviled eggs, etc. I made a strawberry pretzel salad adapted from this recipe on Allrecipes.com. To be honest, I've never had this dish before in my life. But growing up my mom made very little American food, so instead of bringing something that might frighten my co-workers I elected to scour the internet for something that smacked of retro. This recipe sounded perfect - it involves cream cheese, one of my favorite things, and JELL-O! C'mon, what's more retro than JELL-O??? Although the concept of this dish scared me a little I must admit it was really tasty when it was done. The salty pretzel crust with the sweet fluffy cream cheese layer and the strawberries on top is a great combo. I'm not 100% sold on the JELL-O part, but it was fun. I had a lot of co-workers tell me how they grew up on this stuff and how great it was to have it again.

STRAWBERRY PRETZEL SALAD

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups crushed pretzels

4 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar

3/4 cup butter, melted

2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 (8 oz) container Cool Whip whipped topping

1 (6 oz) package strawberry flavored JELL-O
2 cups boiling water

1 (16 oz) package frozen sliced strawberries

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl combine pretzels, 4 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar and melted butter. Press into the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. Bake for 10 minutes. Set aside to cool completely.

2. In a medium bowl combine cream cheese, 3/4 cup granulated sugar and vanilla until smooth. Fold in Cool Whip whipped topping. Spread evenly on cooled pretzel crust. Refrigerate until chilled, at least 30 minutes.

3. In a medium bowl stir strawberry JELL-O mix and boiling water until well combined. Mix in frozen strawberries. Pour over cream cheese mixture, spreading strawberries evenly across top. Refrigerate until completely chilled, at least 1 hour.