Layered Jello Salad

Is Jell-O a salad or a dessert?  I was raised that Jello was a salad.  Of course my mom never got very fancy with her Jell-O.   It was always a can of fruit in the Jell-O - use the fruit juice as the cold water in the mix.  I was awed when my sister in law put her Jell-O liquid into the blender and made a frothy top to her Jell-O salad.  I have a friend who insists that Jell-O is a dessert and it even says so on the box.  Perhaps if I treated Jell-O as a dessert instead of my Chocolate Cake or my Chocolate Brownie Trifle or even my Chocolate Chip Cheesecake I would be a little less jiggly (to reference Jell-O) ... But since you can see the theme of my desserts seems to be Chocolate you can see why

 Jell-O is not the first thing I think of when making dessert.  It is actually not even the first thing I think of when making Salad.  I make Jell-O rarely and it is eaten as a snack and it usually is plain with nothing in it.  I took the challenge to bring Jell-O to an event today and it was not bad.  I made a pretzel crust which I personally am not so sure I liked. Maybe I should have put Jell-O on the top and the bottom and skipped the crust...hummm...I might try this again!

 

Pretzel Crust

2 C. Crushed Pretzels

1/2 C. melted Butter or Margarine

3 T. Sugar

 

Crush your Pretzels in a zipper baggie

Mix them with the melted butter and sugar and

press into the bottom of a 9X13 pan

Bake @ 350* for 7 minutes

Set aside to cool and make the filling

 

Filling

1 (8 oz) pkg softened cream cheese

1 C. Powdered Sugar

1 8 oz. Container Cool Whip

 

Mix with your hand mixer and spread on the cooled crust

Place your pan in the fridge and let it cool while you do your Jell-O

 

Jell-O Top

1 (6oz) box Raspberry Jell-O

2 C. Boiling Water

1 (12 oz) bag Frozen Raspberries

 

You can use any flavor Jell-O and fruit that you want. 

 Mix the Jell-O and boiling water and whisk to dissolve the powder.

  Let it sit for about 5 minutes on the counter to cool down a little. 

 Add all the Raspberries.  Be sure they are straight out of the freezer so they cool the Jell-O down.

Pour over your filling layer

(I used a ladle to avoid splashing)

Put this in the fridge overnight or for several hours until set. 

Serve and enjoy!