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A Taste of Home

We have friends coming over for dinner on Friday. I am off due to a holiday, so I thought it would be a good time to bust out something a little fancier and enjoy it with friends.

Yesterday, when I broached the subject to my Josh, he stated that he was thinking something "chicken-based". I thought that was the funniest way to word it, so I wrote it down in my shopping list notes 😂 Fast forward to today, I found the recipes for the dinner and side (steak and garlic potatoes), we're picking up salad "provisions" (another Josh term - which apparently evolved into a 3lb salad kit from Costco), and that left me with figuring out dessert. 

For some reason, I wanted to incorporate a sweet from one of our home states: two of us are from Maryland, one from New York City (which, I am told, is much different than being from New York State), and Josh and I hail from PA. I was lucky enough to find B. Dylan Hollis on TikTok a few years back, but somehow missed his first cookbook! I was able to see him speak and get a signed copy of his second cookbook Baking Across America. It's a favorite because he calls my hometown a "Culture Capital", which is not something Pittsburgh is often called, even if we have a lot of it meshed together!

In this book, Hollis organized recipes by regions of the United States, so off I flipped to the Mid-Atlantic which encompasses PA, NYC, and MD. The first recipe I came across was "Strawberry Pretzel Salad". This one holds a special place in my heart, but I looked through the selections of New York and Maryland too! I offered up one each from each of the three states to Josh and he picked (as I knew he would) "Strawberry Pretzel Salad", because a Yinzer (person from Pittsburgh) is a Yinzer forever. Now, the Midwest and a few southern states have tried to laid claim, but none of have been substantiated. Yes, yes that is important. This then led me to a secondary task: figure out how to put cream cheese and gelatin in the same dish and have it be Kosher. Down the rabbit hole I went! When I finally gave up and was considering changing dessert, I reached out to the group chat and was met with "I'm not that Kosher!" (forgive me for trying to save your soul! Kidding, I have no idea what happens when someone breaks Kosher) and "Cream cheese in a Jello recipe? That's wild!". Oh, I see the glory days of the 60s and 70s must have been long gone in your town by the time you were born, friend. Yinzer children are raised to know the names of the champions, many who lived and died before we were even thought of.

I digress. he's right though, cream cheese and gelatin? Wait until he finds out it's strawberry gelatin! with frozen strawberries! and pretzels! This was the dessert of summer growing up. I had a high school friend, Melissa, whose mom made an absolutely BOMB version of this dessert. I do not know what made it that much better than everyone else's I'd had up until that point, but holy moly! 

Picture this: it's summer. After running around the yard and swimming all day, you come in for lunch. A simple Isaly's chipped ham sandwich, Snyder of Berlin barbecue chips, and Turner's Iced Tea (I assure you, these are staples in the Pittsburgh community). Then, dessert arrives: Strawberry Pretzel Salad! Just thinking about it has me wishing for days done by. The crunchy pretzel crust, the smooth Cool Whip, and sweet strawberries in strawberry Jell-o? Heaven. Heaven on a plate.

So! How does one make the highest form of love? Great question! There are several "versions", but the variations are usually between margarine and butter, as opposed to varying ingredients. For our dessert, I'll be using gluten-free pretzels (yay Celiacs!), but other than that, here she is:

  • The Crust
    • 2 cups crushed pretzel crumbs (larger chunks are okay)
    • 3/4 C butter, melted
    • 3 T sugar (this is dependent on your cook/guests)
  • The Whip
    • 1 8oz package of cream cheese, softened
    • 1 9oz container of Cool Whip, thawed
    • 1 C sugar
  • The Berries
    • 2 C boiling water
    • 1 6oz package of strawberry Jello
    • 20 oz frozen sliced strawberries 
Mix the crushed pretzels, sugar, and melted butter together and press into a 9x13 pan. Bake at 400* for 8 minutes. Cool completely.
Combine cream cheese, Cool Whip, and sugar. Mix well. Spread on cooled crust.
Mix Jello with water, then add frozen berries. Stir until berries soften and Jello starts to thicken. Gently pour mixture on top of cream cheese/Cool Whip layer
Refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

(recipe taken from Pittsburgh City Paper article "Yinzer Yums of Yesteryear: Strawberry Pretzel Salad")


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