Strawberry Pretzel Dessert

I love this dessert. The balance between the fruit, sweet, and salty it perfect. This is a great recipe to make year round and for some reason the only time my family ever makes this is for Christmas Eve! Doesn't it make a pretty 4th of July dessert?

When my family makes this we buy the frozen sugared strawberries in a carton. You can find the frozen strawberries in the frozen dessert section of your local grocery store. They come in a 24 ounce container so a little more than you need for the recipe. Sometimes I add a little extra or I eat the rest because they are so yummy. :)

This recipe is really easy but you need to plan ahead so you have enough time for each layer to cool before you add the next layer.

This recipe is from the Illinois Mennonite Relief Sale Cookbook, 1984.

Strawberry Pretzel Dessert Recipe

First Layer:

1 1/2 sticks butter

2 2/3 cups pretzels

3 Tbsp. sugar

Second Layer: 

1 - 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese

1 cup sugar

1 sm. carton cool whip

Third Layer:

1 lg. box strawberry jello

1 cup boiling water

1 cup cold water

1 - 20 oz. pkg. strawberries, fresh or frozen

Roll pretzels with rolling pin until you have 2 2/3 cup crushed pretzels. Do not make too powdery. Melt butter and add sugar and pretzels. Press into a 9x13 pan and bake at 400 degrees F for 10 minutes. Let cool.

Prepare middle layer by creaming together cream cheese and sugar. Add cool whip. Spread over cooled pretzel layer. Let set in refrigerator until firm.

Mix strawberry jello with water. When the mixture starts to congeal, add strawberries. Pour over the cream cheese mixture and place in fridge until firm.

This is such a sweet, decorative dessert. No matter who you make it for they're sure to love it!

What's your favorite 13x9 summer dessert?
Comment below!

Megan

Peach Cobbler

This peach cobbler is the best. In my family, we call this a cobbler, but it's really more of a deep dish pie.

I love peaches and I especially love fresh-picked peaches! While growing up, we vacationed in Michigan every summer and picked bushels of fresh peaches. Some would be eaten fresh, sometimes we made peach butter, and others would be peeled and sliced into bags and frozen to enjoy throughout the year.

I like to blanche my peaches. I find this is the easiest way to quickly peel a lot of peaches. In a large pot of boiling water, add several peaches and boil them for 30 seconds. Remove peaches from boiling water and immediately place in ice cold water until cool. Then all you have to do is grab the skin and it will come right off! Super quick and child-friendly since you don't even need a knife!

This recipe does work with frozen peaches just keep in mind that your finished pie may have more juice. Adding an extra Tablespoon or so of flour can help with this.

The only thing that makes this pie better than it already is - vanilla ice cream! This pie is best served warm with vanilla ice cream.

This pie crust recipe is from my Grandma Salzer. She was such a good cook and baker. Grandma loved to watch cooking shows and wrote down at least half a dozen recipes a day! This is the only pie crust I use and I'm always getting compliments on it. Thanks Grandma!

The Deep-Dish Peach Pie recipe is slightly adapted from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book.

Peach Cobbler Recipe

Crust:

2 cups flour

3 tsp. sugar

1 1/4 tsp. salt

2/3 cup vegetable oil

4 Tbsp. cold milk

Filling:

3/4 cup sugar, or to taste 

4 Tbsp. flour

8 cups peeled, thickly sliced fresh peaches

2 Tbsp. lemon juice

3 Tbsp. butter 

For the crust measure flour, sugar, and salt into a 9x13 pan and mix well. Measure oil in a measuring cup then add the cold milk. Whip liquid with a fork. Pour liquid in pan with dry ingredients and mix well. Reserve a small ball, about the size of a plum, and put to the side. Press into place keeping the bottom even and going 3/4 the way up the side.

For the filling combine sugar and flour. Add the mixed sugar and flour to the sliced peaches and toss to coat. Let stand for 5 minutes. Stir in lemon juice. Pour filling into the unbaked crust and spread evenly. Top with small pieces of the leftover dough and dot with butter. 

Bake in a 375 degree F oven 45-55 minutes until the crust is golden. 

What's your favorite way to eat fresh peaches?
Comment below!

Megan