raspberry pretzel delight

This falls into the category of perfect desserts. It's creamy, crunchy, salty and sweet, fruity and cool... It has everything! Unless you are craving cake and/or frosting (many, many options on this blog), or something chocolaty, in which case, I recommend this dessert. But when you have a pan of this stuff in front of you, it's the perfect dessert. And it's in part why I made it in small tins... automatic portion control!

It's not a very challenging recipe. In fact, it's pretty easy. Especially when you already have crushed pretzels. I usually run an entire bag through the food processor, so when I need them for these, or these, or the aforementioned perfect chocolaty version of this dessert, there's one less step involved. I don't make this dessert very often mainly because it relies on boxes of stuff, and cans, and tubs... but I should, because everybody loves this!

In any case... A layer of crushed pretzels, butter and sugar, pressed in a pan, and baked, then cooled. Then, a creamy layer consisting of sweetened condensed milk, water, vanilla pudding mix, and whipped topping. And on top, canned pie filling, in this case, wildberry, because apparently, according to my husband, there's a shortage of raspberry pie filling in our area. They had everything but raspberry. Wildberry did just fine... It was delicious!

I have the recipe written down in a recipe journal, so no idea where it came from, but when I did a quick google search for it (because I was too lazy to find my copy of the recipe), I found it easily.

Raspberry Pretzel Delight

Crust:
1 1/2 cups crushed pretzels
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted

Filling:
1 (12 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup water
1 pk (3.4 oz) instant vanilla pudding
1 3/4 cup frozen whipped topping, thawed

Topping:
1 (21 oz) can raspberry pie filling

Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine all crust ingredients; mix well. Press into ungreased 13 x 9 inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes; cool.

In a large bowl, combine condensed milk and water; blend well. Add in the pudding mix and beat for 2 minutes. Refrigerate 5 minutes. Fold in whipped topping. Spread on cooled crust. Refrigerate until filling is firm, about 1 hour.

Spoon fruit topping over filling. Cover; refrigerate until serving time. Store in refrigerator.

I guess it would be a dessert more appropriate in the summer, but we had it new year's eve after a dinner from hell, probably the worse dinner in 2011. So glad that's over! Looking forward to a great 2012.