Name: 4th of July Pretzel Dessert
Prep time: 2 h
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 2 h 10 min
Yield: 15
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: Crust:; 3 cups pretzels, crushed; 1 1/2 sticks melted butter; 1/4 cup sugar; Cream Cheese Layer:; 2 cups (16 oz; 1 pint) heavy whipping cream, divided; 2 tbsp. powdered sugar; 8 oz. cream cheese, softened; 3/4 c. powdered sugar; 1 tsp. vanilla; 1/4 tsp. salt; Jell-O Layer:; 6-oz. package strawberry, raspberry, or cranberry Jell-O; 12 oz. package frozen unsweetened raspberries; For Flag Decoration:; 2 6-oz. packages fresh raspberries; 8-oz. package fresh blueberries

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4th of July Pretzel Dessert is a tradition for my family on the 4th. It’s perfect for adding festivity and color to your holiday celebration.

4th of July Pretzel Dessert can be made a day ahead, saving you time for other last-minute food (like guacamole) and decorations.

Prepare Crust

This crust can even be made 2 days ahead. Sometimes dividing the tasks makes the whole project more doable!

You’ll be crushing 3 cups of pretzels. See pictures below for some tools that work well for crushing: either a rolling pin or a wooden meat tenderizer mallet. Also note that the pretzel pieces are still rather large after crushing.

Mix pretzel pieces with 1 1/2 sticks melted butter and 1/4 cup sugar.

Spread pretzel mixture in 9×13 pan and bake @350 degrees for 10 minutes. Cool before adding the next layer. A clear glass pan works well to highlight the layers.

Mix Cream Cheese Layer

I recommend fresh whipped cream rather than Cool Whip for this recipe. We can all do without the chemicals in Cool Whip, and the taste of fresh-whipped cream is so much better! Don’t be afraid if you’ve never whipped cream before. It’s easy! Simply pour your heavy whipping cream (liquid) into a bowl and mix it until the cream has stiff peaks. Stiff peaks means the whipped cream stands up when you swoop through it with a spoon or spatula.

After your cream is whipped to stiff peaks, then add 2 tablespoons powdered sugar and mix in. Adding the sugar too soon can prevent the cream from whipping properly.

Now you will transfer out the whipped cream to a separate bowl to store until later.

Now add 8 ounces softened cream cheese, 3/4 cup powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 1/4 teaspoon salt to your mixing bowl, and mix until well blended.

Fold in slightly less than half of your whipped cream into your cream cheese mixture. Folding means to use a gentle lift and turn style of mixing. Cover and refrigerate the rest of your whipped cream to be used later for decorating the top of the dessert.

Spread the cream cheese mixture on top of the cooled pretzel crust.

Prepare Jell-O Layer

Boil 2 cups water. Add a 6-ounce package strawberry, raspberry, or cranberry Jell-O. Stir until dissolved. Remove from heat and add a 12-ounce package of frozen raspberries.

Your Jell-O mixture will be hot and watery, so refrigerate it until slightly set but still spreadable, about 45 minutes. If you accidentally refrigerate too long, don’t fret. Dump it on anyway. It will just be slightly more chunky.

Refrigerate again until Jell-O is set, another 45 minutes or up to overnight.

Decorate!

Spread the reserved whipped cream on top of Jell-O. Arrange raspberries and blueberries on top in a flag design. Two 6-ounce containers of raspberries are enough, but if they’re a good price, buy a third container so you can have more to choose from in picking out the best ones for decorating. An 8-ounce package of blueberries is adequate.

Refrigerate until ready to serve. Or if you can’t resist, pull out your festive-looking 4th of July Pretzel Dessert a little early to decorate your table. Enjoy!

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