Raspberry pretzel dessert has been making the rounds lately. Funny thing is that my Mom has been making this dessert for 20 years, at least. So it’s old hat in my family. Even then it’s still a hit at dinner parties and my kids scream happily when they learn we are making it. My 9 yr. old wanted it for dessert for her birthday dinner. To say the least, its a popular dessert at our house. I have wanted to post this for a long time but every time I go try and take a picture, all of it’s gone. This time we had 2 pans of it so I made sure I got a good piece to take some shots.
I think people love this dessert because it has all the right components. The salty, sweet crunch of the pretzels. The creaminess of the cream cheese and cool whip. The tartness and sweetness of the Jello and raspberries. Its got it all.
Raspberry Pretzel Dessert
From my Mother
Ingredients
2 C. crushed tiny twists pretzels (pieces, not pulverized)
3/4 C. salted butter, melted
1/4 C. white sugar (for Pretzel Crust)
1 C. white sugar (for Cream Cheese/Cool Whip mixture)
8 oz. cream cheese softened
1 8 oz. Cool Whip
2 3 oz. Jello packages (Something fruity. I like to mix flavors)
2 C. boiling water
1 12 oz. package frozen raspberries
Directions
Heat oven to 400 degrees F.
Mix crushed pretzels, butter and 1/4 c. sugar. Pour into 9×13 in. baking dish and spread out evenly.
Bake crust for 8-10 min until bubbly. Cool crust completely
In a medium bowl mix 1 C. sugar, cream cheese, and cool whip until well combined. Spread over cooled crust making sure not to leave any holes or places where Jello could get through to make your crust soggy.
Evenly spread frozen raspberries over cream cheese mixture.
In another bowl mix jello and boiling water. When mixed thoroughly pour over raspberries.
I really like good cornbread. I have posted cornbread previously. That cornbread is really good. Now that said, these muffins are even better. I think the addition of sour cream to the mix gives it a little bit of tang as well as making it real moist. My girls loved them. I loved them. What more could you ask for. This recipe comes from Cooks Illustrated. If you don’t know about them, they have a huge “test” kitchen where they test recipes all day long every day. A chef will take a recipe as their assignment and work on coming up with the best recipe possible. Sometimes that takes up to a full year. Imagine that, a whole year devoted to cornbread muffins. Needless to say, their recipes are always spot on and these cornbread muffins are no exception. Hope you enjoy!
1 C. fine-ground, whole-grain yellow cornmeal (4 1/2 ounces)
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. table salt
2 large eggs
3/4 C. granulated sugar (5 1/4 ounces)
8 T. unsalted butter (1 stick), melted
3/4 C. sour cream
1/2 C. milk
Directions
Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Spray standard muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray.
Whisk flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl to combine; set aside. Whisk eggs in second medium bowl until well combined and light-colored, about 20 seconds. Add sugar to eggs; whisk vigorously until thick and homogenous, about 30 seconds; add melted butter in 3 additions, whisking to combine after each addition. Add half the sour cream and half the milk and whisk to combine; whisk in remaining sour cream and milk until combined. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients; mix gently with rubber spatula until batter is just combined and evenly moistened. Do not over-mix. Using an ice cream scoop or large spoon, divide batter evenly among muffin cups, dropping it to form mound. Do not level or flatten surface of mounds.
Bake until muffins are light golden brown and skewer inserted into center of muffins comes out clean, about 18 minutes, rotating muffin tin from front to back halfway through baking time. Cool muffins in tin 5 minutes; invert muffins onto wire rack, stand muffins upright, cool 5 minutes longer, and serve warm.
First off, I have to tell you that if you have ever wanted to make your own homemade hamburger buns, it’s well worth the effort. Homemade hamburger buns just make everything taste better. I swear! I have wanted to do it for the longest time and just hadn’t done it. That is until they had a sale on chuck roasts recently at our local supermarket. I know what do the two have to do with each other. Well its this, I have my own meat grinder and chuck roasts make really good, fresh ground hamburgers. As you can see here the fresh ground patties going into my ALL-TIME FAVORITE kitchen utensil, my cast-iron skillet (I seriously use it for everything, its not just for camping people! Buy one! Use it!).
