- So this is my famous strawberry pretzel salad.

You know, one of those salads that's really a dessert.

I love this stuff.

[easy, fun music] What I have just done here is put a block of room temperature cream cheese into the bowl and I'm gonna beat it around until it is creamy, just a few seconds.

All right, it's ready.

Gonna add some heavy cream.

A whole pint of it.

[mixer whizzes] With the machine off, some sugar, and a couple of teaspoons of vanilla.

I'm a pretty good pourer.

I think that's two teaspoons.

And now I'm gonna let my machine do the work for me.

I'm gonna let it beat on high speed until this is thick and creamy, like stiff whipped cream.

So while this is doing, I've got to tell you where I learned this recipe.

I grew up eating this.

I don't remember who in my community was the first person to make it, but I do remember that, suddenly, everybody was making it.

Just a couple of more seconds, and this is going to be ready to go in the crust.

[mixer whizzes] Look at that.

Creamy, beautiful, delicious.

When I lift up the beaters, you can see that it's got plenty of shape, so let me tell you what I'm gonna do.

I'm gonna make a little space, I'm gonna put this over here, I'm gonna put this over here, and I am going to bring up this great crust, and I'm gonna take my creamy filling and I'm gonna scoop it over this crust and spread it all the way to the edges.

When you're spreading this topping, I want you to take it all the way to the edges and make sure it touches the edges of your dish all the way around, because the next layer we're gonna put in is gelatin based, and we want it to stay in place, and if we use this delicious cream as a barrier to that gelatin topping, we're gonna get the most gorgeous edges with no seeping down the side.

Now, this needs to refrigerate until it is chilled and firm, and while this is in the fridge, I'm gonna circle back and tell you about this amazing crust.

[fun, easy music] I love a pretzel crust, because it's salty, crunchy, and more fun than graham crackers.

This is easy to make.

Pour pretzels and sugar into a food processor.

Melt a little butter and immediately drizzle it over the pretzels.

It's important to use melted butter while it's still liquid because once it turns firm, you no longer have melted butter, you have separated butter, and you won't be happy with your crust.

Pulse until the pretzels are finely crushed.

Don't pulverize them, leave a few chunky pieces because that crunch is part of the charm.

Pour it into your baking dish and pat it into place.

Then pop it in the oven until it's fragrant, about ten minutes.

When it's done, sit it on a wire rack and let it cool completely.

That's it, done.

You know, I have been making strawberry pretzel salad since I was in elementary school, and I'll confess to a couple upgrades.

I have swapped out frozen topping for real whipped cream and real sugar.

I put real fruit in mine.

But you know what I don't swap out?

Jell-O, good old strawberry Jell-O.

I am taking boiling water and stirring it into my beautiful red Jell-O powder.

Now that my Jell-O has dissolved, I am going to put it in the refrigerator to let it start cooling off and firming up.

That's going to take about an hour.

Look at these gorgeous, fresh strawberries.

We just talked about how to keep them fresh, and this is the key ingredient to this great recipe.

I'm gonna fold them into the gelatin, but I want to show you something.

The time to do the folding is before the gelatin is completely set.

See that wonderful little jiggle, it's still loose enough that it's going to take in all that fruit without turning chunky.

Some people say this looks like an uncooked egg white, but you can tell it's got movement in it, and that's the perfect time to add our fresh, beautiful berries.

That freshness is what sets my take on this recipe apart, and I think it is a winner.

So look, I'm just gonna take my spatula and I'm gonna fold this in until my berries are coated in the gelatin.

And then once I've done that, I'm going to put it on top of my chilled filling and spread it to the edges.

You want to put this back in the fridge until that last bit of gelatin sets up firm.

It's gonna take at least four hours, and what I'm gonna do with that time is, I'm gonna tidy up the kitchen and get a few other things done.

[fun, easy music] Oh, friends, look at this, look how pretty this is.

We've got that great, slightly salty crust, that beautiful, fresh berries, and that fluffy cream.

You know, this is as good as I remember.

No, it's even better, thanks to fresh strawberries.

[easy, fun music]