Lightened Strawberry Pretzel Dessert

This lightened strawberry pretzel dessert recipe has a sweet and salty crust, rich creamy filling, and fresh strawberry top. Some call it a salad, some call it a dessert, I just call it scrumptious.

Apr 23, 2024

I love strawberry pretzel dessert – there, I said it! Yes, I’m a registered dietitian who’s not ashamed to admit that this layered pretzel crust, cream cheese filling, strawberry Jello topped concoction ranks very high on my list of favorite things to eat. In fact, it’s not uncommon for my husband to make it for me on my birthday or for Mother’s Day.

I’ve been wanting to create a healthier version of this classic dessert and thought there’s no better time than strawberry season to start experimenting. If you’re as passionate about this Jello dish as I am, you need to try this yummy, slimmed down version. Let me explain how I lighten up each layer.

Layer #1 – The pretzel crust

Crushed pretzels, butter, and sugar make up the sweet and salty crust of this dessert. Creating a thinner crust by using fewer pretzels, and less butter and sugar means calories, total fat, saturated fat, sodium, and added sugar are reduced. For the butter, I like using a butter and oil blend (often called spreadable butter). As the name implies, it’s a mixture of butter and oil. Spreadable butter blends contain about half the saturated fat as regular stick butter. Land O’ Lakes and Challenge are two popular brands of spreadable butter.

Layer #2 – The cream filling

Most recipes for this dessert call for an 8-ounce container of whipped topping (think Cool Whip), 8 ounces of cream cheese, and one cup of granulated sugar. I used plain 2% Greek yogurt as a replacement for the whipped topping. Not only did this ingredient swap reduce calories, total fat, saturated fat, and added sugar, it added a little extra protein. I also used reduced-fat cream cheese in place of full-fat cream cheese. When it comes to taste and texture, I find the Philadelphia brand of reduced-fat cream cheese (labeled as 1/3 less fat) indistinguishable from full-fat cream cheese. One final calorie cutting and added sugar reducing tweak in this layer was using less sugar. And I used powdered sugar in place of granulated sugar because, cup for cup, it contains fewer calories and less added sugar.

Layer #3 – The strawberry topping

Putting together the final layer of this dessert typically involves stirring frozen sweetened sliced strawberries into a 6-ounce package of strawberry-flavored gelatin that’s been dissolved in boiling water. Using a smaller package (3 ounce) of strawberry gelatin and adding fresh strawberries instead of sweetened strawberries are two simple ways to cut calories and reduce added sugar in this layer.

So, what’s the nutritional impact of these adjustments? When compared to the original recipe, calories were reduced by 40%, total fat by 47%, saturated fat by 60%, added sugar by 48%, and sodium by 22%. Pretty impressive results according to this dietitian.

To your health,

Darlene

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LIGHTENED STRAWBERRY PRETZEL DESSERT

Yield: 12 servings

Serving Size: 1 slice

Prep: 25 minutes

Ready: about 4 hours

INGREDIENTS

Pretzel crust

1 1/2 cups (2 1/4 ounces) butter-flavored pretzels snaps (yields 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons crushed pretzel crumbs)
1/4 cup spreadable butter and oil blend (such as Land O Lakes Butter with Canola Oil)
2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Cream filling

1 package (8 ounces) reduced-fat cream cheese, softened
2/3 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup plain low-fat Greek yogurt (such as FAGE Total 2%)

Strawberry topping

1 package (3 ounces) strawberry-flavored gelatin (such as strawberry Jell-O)
1 cup boiling water
2 cups sliced fresh strawberries (about 8 ounces)

DIRECTIONS

For the crust, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Crush pretzels in a sealable zip-top bag with a rolling pin. In a medium-sized saucepan, melt butter and oil blend over low heat. Once melted, add granulated sugar and stir 1 minute. Remove from heat, add crushed pretzels to saucepan, and stir to combine. Press crumb mixture into bottom of an ungreased, 9-inch springform pan. Bake for 8 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.
For the cream filling, add cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla to a bowl and beat, using an electric hand mixer, until smooth. Add yogurt and continue to mix until combined. Cover and refrigerate cream filling until ready to assemble dessert.
For the strawberry topping, in a glass bowl stir together gelatin and boiling water (1 cup) until gelatin dissolves. Do not add additional cold water as the gelatin package instructs. Set aside, allowing gelatin to come to room temperature. Stir in sliced strawberries once gelatin has cooled to room temperature.
To assemble dessert, evenly spread cream filling over cooled crust, making sure to spread filling to the edges of the pan (this creates a seal that stops the gelatin layer from seeping to bottom of pan). Carefully spoon gelatin and strawberry mixture over cream filling. Cover pan and refrigerate until gelatin is firm, about 3 to 5 hours. Cut into slices and serve.

Nutrition Information per Serving

179 Calories, 8 g Total fat, 4 g Saturated fat, 0 g Trans fat, 21 mg Cholesterol, 179 mg Sodium, 22 g Total carbohydrate, 0 g Dietary fiber, 17 g Total sugars, 14 g Added sugars, 5 g Protein, 0 mcg (0%) Vitamin D, 40 mg (4%) Calcium, 0 mg (0%) Iron, 59 mg (2%) Potassium

Full disclosure: I did not receive payment or free product from any company mentioned in this article.