You start by crushing the pretzels. I just put them in a freezer bag and crushed them with a rolling pin! You could use a food processor, but I think it's better to leave a few little pieces or else you end up with almost a pretzel flour. Mix the pretzels with sugar and melted butter...MMMmm..., press into pan and bake for 5-7 minutes. Let it cool.
Now you mix the cream cheese, sugar and cool whip. Then spread over the cooled crust and chill.
Dissolve the jello in the boiling water. Chill until partially set. Then stir in the frozen raspberries and spread over cream cheese. Refrigerate until set. You can do this a little bit ahead of time, but not really the night before. The raspberries thaw and get kind of soft. It's still good...but not as good as when it's fresh. I made the crust and cream cheese part the night before, and then added the jello/raspberries the next morning and it worked great.
The mixture of the tart raspberries, the sweet cream cheese, and the salty crust make for the perfect dessert! It's not too bad for breakfast the next day either ;-)
Raspberry Pretzel Dessert
1-1/2 cups pretzels, crushed
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
8-oz. pkg cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
8-oz. Cool Whip, thawed
6-oz. pkg raspberry jello mix
2 cups boiling water
2 10-oz. pkgs. frozen raspberries
Mix pretzels, sugar and butter; press into the bottom of an ungreased 9x13 pan to form a crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 5-7 minutes; let cool. Combine cream cheese, sugar and Cool Whip; spread over baked crust and chill. Combine jello and boiling water in a medium bowl; chill until partially set. Stir in frozen berries; spread over cream cheese layer. Refrigerate until serving time. Makes 12-15 servings.
