I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – one of the best things about food blogging has been meeting an incredible group of people along the way. And today a group of us has come together to celebrate one of our own with a virtual baby shower.
Aimée is the editor of Simple Bites, a wildly popular site that focuses on bringing your family together at meal time with real, wholesome food. Simple Bites provides its readers with healthy recipes, fantastic meal plans, and practical tips.
This month, Aimée and her husband are expecting a baby girl – turning their family of four into a party of five. Congratulations to Aimée and Danny on your new addition!
For Aimée’s virtual baby shower, I wanted to put a modern spin on the retro Strawberry Pretzel Salad. I’ve always wondered why this is called a salad as opposed to say – a pie? Any ideas? It’s a dessert that I fondly remember preparing with my Nana for all types of occasions – including baby showers. Although I couldn’t locate Nana’s exact recipe, I used one that I had tucked away in my recipe binder that used the same ingredients from her popular sweet and salty dessert. Only instead of serving it in a boring 9×13-inch pan, I decided to make it a little more girly and adorable by presenting them in Mini Mold Jars from Weck.
Whether you’re making these for a baby shower, or just because – I hope you enjoy this modern take on a classic dessert.
Be sure to check out the links below for more delicious recipes from some amazingly talented food blogger friends.
Strawberry & Vanilla Cupcakes with Strawberry Jam Frosting from Bluebonnets & Brownies
California Veggie Wraps from My Kitchen Addiction
Waffle Cone Fruit Cups by Dine & Dish
Mini Berry Pies on a Stick and Kettle Corn at Food for My Family
Perfectly Pink Pomegranate Smoothies from Food Your Way
Grapefruit Avocado Couscous by Stetted
Quiche Lorraine from GoodLife{Eats}
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Strawberry Pretzel Salad In Jars
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups crushed salted pretzels
- 4 tablespoons white sugar
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping (Cool Whip), thawed
- 1 (6 ounce) package strawberry flavored gelatin
- 2 cups boiling water
- 1 (16 ounce) package frozen sliced strawberries
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the pretzel crumbs, 4 tablespoons sugar and melted butter. Stir with a fork until the butter is fully incorporated into the pretzel crumbs.
3. Spoon 2 heaping tablespoons of pretzel crust into the bottom of each of your jars. Press the crumbs gently into the bottom of the jars. Be sure not to pack them in too tightly or the crust will be difficult to eat.
4. Place the jars onto a baking pan. Bake in preheated oven for about 6 minutes. Allow the jars and crust to cool completely before layering in the filling.
5. In a medium bowl, beat the sugar, cream cheese and vanilla until smooth. Fold in whipped topping. Spoon filling into a piping bag with a round tip or simply snip the tip of the bag. Evening divide the filling between each jar. Place the jars into the refrigerator for about 1 hour.
6. In a medium bowl, stir together the gelatin mix and boiling water. Stir in frozen strawberries. Place the bowl into the refrigerator for about five minutes. This will allow the gelatin to firm up a bit. Evenly spoon the gelatin between each the jars. Place jars back into the refrigerator for at least 1 hour. Serve chilled.
Notes
- If you don't want to make individual servings, this recipe will also work well in a 9x13-inch pan.
- You can make your pretzel crumbs as fine or coarse as you like. I prefer them to be a little on the finer side.
- I have not tried this recipe using using freshly whipped cream, so I cannot attest to the outcome.
- The jars seen in the photos are the Weck Mini Mold Jars {Style #976}.
Ellen McGovern
Thursday 28th of February 2019
This is called a 'salad' because this was one of the Jello Salads that were made back in the day. You know the ones when jello salads were popular! And jello molds! Lime jello with cottage cheese that was chilled before putting on a second, other layer of another color of jello, this time with crushed pineapple. These were always called Jello Salads. These salads were brought to potlucks and picnics and any church function that would include feeding the congregation.
Jamie
Tuesday 5th of March 2019
Thanks so much for stopping by, Ellen! I appreciate you taking the time to comment. Happy Baking! -Jamie
Heather stark
Sunday 8th of January 2017
My family loves this dessert n we have been making it for years . A family friend gave us the recipe n we make it for every occasion even just for dessert after a regular nite dinner. I have also experimented with hello flavors n frozen fruit n it is very versatile. I've done strawberry jello w frozen strawberrys n raspberries. Cherry hello w frozen cherries blue raspberry n strawberry hello mixed with frozen blue berries n also w frozen mixed berries . N I also liked peach jello with frozen peaches but I sliced the frozen pieces into bite size size pieces. N also there's pineapple jello w frozen pineapple chunks . We liked them all but the original is our favorite
Jamie
Monday 9th of January 2017
What great ideas, Heather! I'm going to give those a try.
Ginny Petersen
Sunday 19th of June 2016
I have made the recipe in the pan for years but made this last night for a bridal shower and have a few suggestions. Check before hand, wish I had, if the jars are oven safe. Since I didn't know I did bake the crust in a large pan and while still hot from the oven I transferred them into the jars and pressed down and this worked just fine. Secondly, I suggest the wide mouth jars...........less messy mistakes! I found piping the cream cheese into the jar was neater and I could control just how much I wanted in. I could not find sliced strawberries so I used whole ones. After adding in the hot gelatin I used a potato masher to 'smoosh" them so that the topping was more jam like than just whole berries in jello. They were a hit and gobbled up.
Jamie
Monday 20th of June 2016
Great suggestions, Ginny! I'm so glad everyone liked them!
jewle
Monday 18th of May 2015
We make this same dish for Christmas and thanksgiving. But we use gram cracker crust, so good, we always called it jello stuff!!
Jamie
Friday 22nd of May 2015
Jewle- The graham cracker crust sounds like a great variation. Thanks for stopping by.
-Jamie
Nathaly
Wednesday 1st of April 2015
For the Jell-O the recipe ask for one 6 oz pkg... I can only find 85 g (4 servings) pkg.... Can I simply use two?
Jamie
Monday 6th of April 2015
Nathaly- If you have a scale you could measure out 6 oz, if not try to use about 1 1/2 packages of the jello. I hope this helps.
-Jamie