Pretzel Jello Salad

For those of you that have never heard of this salad you might be thinking that pretzels and jello are a very weird combination. For those of you that have had this delicious "salad" before know that it is a fantastic combination of sweet and salty. This has been a favorite of my family for as long as I can remember. If I ever need to bring something to a friend or family get together and ask my husband what to bring 9 times out of 10 he will suggest this. Now you need to know there are other variations of this recipe out there. We do ours slightly different and I LOVE the way it turns out. I love each layer individually as well as all of them together. I hope you will try it this way and let me know what you think.

Pretzel Jello Salad

2 2/3 cups broken pretzels
1 1/2 cubes margarine or butter
2 8 oz packages cream cheese softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 6 oz package strawberry jello
2 cups water
1 large package strawberries
1 8 oz package cool whip (or enough whipping cream to cover top approximately 1-2 cups)

Cream together sugar and cream cheese. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Put margarine in a 9X13 pan and place in oven while preheating to melt. Break up pretzels. I have found that the easiest way is to put them in a strong zip lock back and roll a rolling pin over until you get the size of pieces you want. I like a combination of small and medium sized pieces. Pour pretzels over melted margarine or butter and mix. Spread pretzels out to cover the bottom of the pan. Bake for 6 minutes. Set in fridge to cool. Once cool spread cream cheese mixture over pretzels. The cream cheese mixture is thick so this can be a challenge, but don't worry it doesn't have to look perfect. Boil water. Mix boiling water and jello in a heat prof bowl. Set jello in fridge for 30 minutes. Add chopped strawberries to jello. Spread jello over cream cheese. Set in fridge until jello is set. Top with cool whip or whipping cream.

Here are some step by step photos