Strawberry Pretzel Pie

Ingredients

• 4 cups miniature pretzels

• 6 tablespoons butter, melted

• 1/4 cup sugar

• 3/4 cup boiling water

• 1 package (6 ounces) strawberry gelatin

• 1/4 cup lemon juice

• 1 pound fresh strawberries, hulled, divided

• 2 cups heavy whipping cream, divided

• 1 jar (7 ounces) marshmallow creme

• 2/3 cup whipped cream cheese

• 2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk

Instructions

1. Place pretzels in a food processor; pulse or use a manual chopper until chopped. Add butter and sugar; pulse or mix until combined. Reserve 1/3 cup pretzel mixture for topping. Press remaining mixture onto bottom of a greased 9-in. springform pan. Refrigerate 30 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, in a bowl, add boiling water to gelatin; stir 2 minutes or until completely dissolved. Stir in lemon juice. Refrigerate 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Chop half the strawberries; slice remaining berries and reserve for top-ping. In a large bowl, beat 1 cup heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Beat marshmallow creme, cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk in-to cooled gelatin mixture until blended. Gently fold in chopped strawberries and whipped cream. Pour into crust.

4. Refrigerate, covered, until firm, 4-6 hours. Beat remaining 1 cup heavy cream until stiff peaks form; spread over pie. Top with reserved strawberries and pretzel mixture.

At Compliments to the Chef, your Neighborhood Kitchen and Cutlery store located at 33 Railroad Place, we carry tools to help you with your strawberry creations. One item is the strawberry huller. A strawberry huller is a small kitchen tool used to remove leaves and the hull from the top of a strawberry. Lots of dishes call for it. The huller, which resembles a mini set of tongs with tips or you can get the one with teeth-like edges, allowing you to push the tips into the top of a strawberry (around the stem), grip, twist, pull, and you're done. The ad-vantage to using a huller is that you lose much less fruit than if you just cut the ends off of your berries. Yes, you could use a knife. However, the huller is much safer. Another item to have is a paring knife to help you slice up your strawberries. This spring, step into the strawberry fields with friends and family or stop by the Farmers' Market to pick up some strawberries. While you are creating your favorite strawberry dish, maybe even put on the Beatles and listen to “Strawberry Fields Forever” (oh! I am showing my age).

Remember my Foodie Friends: “Life Happens in the Kitchen.”