Strawberry Icebox Pie with a Crisp Pretzel Crust
This isn’t your grocery store’s strawberry pie. No jello packets, no neon red goo, and nothing cloyingly sweet. Just real strawberries, a salty-crunchy homemade pretzel crust, and a creamy topping that’s good enough to eat by the spoonful.
Servings 8
Calories 497kcal
Ingredients
- 2 lbs frozen strawberries
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 tablespoon unflavored gelatin
- 1 cup sugar
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1 lb fresh strawberries hulled and sliced thinly about 4 cups
TOPPING
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 4 ounces cream cheese
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup heavy cream
PRETZEL CRUST
- 1 ¼ cups crushed pretzels 4 ounces, about 3 ½ cups of whole pretzels
- ¼ cup sugar
- ½ cup butter melted
Instructions
- CRUST: Combine pretzels and sugar in a food processor and process until fine crumbs. Add melted butter and process until coated. Place in a 9 inch glass pie pan and spread the crumbs to coat the bottom and sides of the pie pan including the rim. Once distributed, press down firmly and refrigerate or freeze until cold.
- Cook frozen strawberries in a large saucepan over medium-low heat until they begin to release their juice, about 3 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high and cook, stirring frequently, until mixture is thick and jam like and measures 2 cups, about 25 minutes. Make sure you have 2 cups, if not, continue to cook until it has reduced to 2 cups.
- Combine lemon juice and water in a small bowl. Sprinkle gelatin over lemon juice mixture and let sit until gelatin softens, about 5 minutes. Stir 1 cup sugar, salt, and gelatin mixture into the cooked strawberry mixture and return to simmer, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and let cool for 30 minutes.
- Fold fresh strawberries into filling and spread evenly in the cooled pretzel crust or cooled cooked regular pie shell. Cover pie with plastic and refrigerate until set, at least 4 hours or up to 24 hours.
- With a hand held mixer, beat the cream cheese, vanilla, and remaining 3 tablespoons sugar until smooth. Add cream and whip until stiff peaks form, about 2 minutes. Dollop individual slices of pie with topping and serve.
Notes
These pie crusts will also work for this pie:
