This Cranberry Cheesecake Pretzel Dessert is a perfect holiday treat. Easy to prepare and tasty, it's sure to impress your family and guests!

Also called Cranberry Pretzel Salad, this scrumptious dessert salad consists of three layers: a sweet and salty pretzel crust on the bottom, a creamy cheesecake filling in the middle, and a top layer of sweetened cranberries in Jell-O.

The cheesecake dessert on a plate and garnished with whipped topping and a small pretzel.

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This really is the best Cranberry Cheesecake Pretzel Dessert recipe ever for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or a holiday party. The prep is super easy and in truth, most of the time is chilling time for the dessert and you!

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About This Recipe
Ingredient Notes
Instructions
Pro-Tip
My Top Tips
Equipment
Substitutions & Variations
Make-Ahead & Storage
More Delicious Cranberry Recipes
📖 Recipe
💬 Comments

About This Recipe

When I created this recipe I was inspired by my mom's delicious Cranberry Jell-O Salad of the 1960s and the super popular Strawberry Pretzel Salad of today.

The flavor combination of the three layers, the salty crust, creamy filling, and a sweet-tart topping makes for both a great dessert and a great palate-cleansing salad.

Each layer is super simple to make, and for the best results, let all of the ingredients come to room temperature before beginning.

To make it loaded with whole cranberries, I make my own Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce, but you can also use Ocean Spray's whole-berry canned sauce.

Doesn't this sound delicious and easy? Great!

So, let's cook!

Ingredient Notes

The ingredients labeled, clockwise from top right: butter, whipped topping, white sugar, vanilla extract, lemon juice, whole berry cranberry sauce, raspberry Jell-O, cream cheese, and crushed pretzels.

Here's what you need to make this Cranberry Cheesecake Pretzel Dessert:

Pretzel Crust:

Crushed Pretzels - These are the hard pretzels found in the chip and snack aisle of the grocery store. To crush them, place pretzels in a plastic bag and crush them with a rolling pin or give them a whirl in a small food processor.
Butter - You can use either salted or unsalted butter for this recipe. Do not substitute margarine or butter spreads. Those products contain water and the crust will not properly set.
White Granulated Sugar - Adding sugar to crushed salty pretzels will make this crust extra tasty.

Cheesecake Layer:

Cream Cheese - This is what makes this layer taste like cheesecake and full-fat cream cheese is recommended.
White Granulated Sugar - Some additional sugar is needed to sweeten the cheesecake layer. White granulated sugar gives sweetness and texture.
Cool Whip - This whipped topping stabilizes and lightens the texture of this layer.
Vanilla Extract - Although Cool Whip has vanilla in it, more vanilla flavor is needed.
Lemon Juice - Just a touch of lemon lifts the flavors of this layer and makes it super delicious.

Cranberry Layer:

Raspberry Jell-O - I prefer the Jell-O brand of gelatin. It has a stronger flavor and beautiful color.
Boiling Water - The Jell-O gelatin will dissolve best if the water has come to a full rolling boil.
Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce - I prefer to make my own cranberry sauce so that I have lots of beautiful whole cranberries for this recipe. But you can substitute 1 can of whole berry cranberry sauce.

Please see the recipe card for the exact quantities.

Instructions

This Cranberry Cheesecake Pretzel Dessert has three layers; the pretzel crust, a cheesecake layer, and a cranberry gelatin layer. Each layer is super simple to make!

Make the Pretzel Crust:

Preheat the oven to 375°F/190°C. Using 1 tablespoon of butter, grease the bottom of a 13" x 9" baking dish.

Add the butter to a medium-sized microwave-safe bowl. Microwave the butter in 30-second increments until it is melted.

Add the crushed pretzels and sugar and mix well.

Press the pretzel mixture into the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Bake for 10 minutes and cool completely.

Pro-Tip

Use a flat bottomed measuring cup to press the pretzel crust into the baking dish.

Use a measuring cup to press and smooth the pretzel crust. The rounded corners and flat bottom of a measuring cup are perfect for this job!

Make the Cheesecake Layer:

In a medium bowl, beat together the cream cheese and sugar with a hand mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Then add the vanilla extract and lemon juice and continue to beat until all is mixed well.

Add the thawed Cool Whip to the cream cheese mixture and gently fold until no streaks of white remain.

This cheesecake layer needs to be mixed well to make sure the cranberry layer doesn't leak through it and make your dessert streaky.

Spread the cheesecake mixture evenly over the cooled crust and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Make the Cranberry Layer:

In a large mixing bowl combine the raspberry Jell-O and boiling water until the Jell-O is completely dissolved. Stir in the whole berry cranberry sauce until it is well combined with the Jell-O.

Refrigerate the cranberry and raspberry Jell-O until cooled and slightly set. This step is essential for clean layers. This prevents the gelatine from tinting the cheesecake layer pink, plus the cranberries will be well spaced throughout the gelatine layer.

Spoon the cranberry layer over the cheesecake layer.

Refrigerate until firmly set for at least 5 hours or overnight.

My Top Tips

♡ Although this is a simple recipe, each layer takes time to set. I prefer to make this very early in the morning or the day before serving.

♡ I like to take just a little extra time to even out and smooth every layer to make the most beautiful layers.

Equipment

Since the job is small, a hand-electric mixer makes mixing the cream cheese layer easier and the clean-up is super quick. But you can also use a stand mixer.

Substitutions & Variations

SUBSTITUTE Strawberry, Cherry, or Cranberry Jell-O. Instead of raspberry Jell-O you can use strawberry, cherry, or cranberry.
SUBSTITUTE Crushed Graham Crackers for all or part of the pretzels. You won't have that intense sweet and salty flavor, but graham crackers are a good substitution if you don't have pretzels.
ADD Mandarin Orange Segments and/or Crushed Pineapple. For an extra fruity version add one large can of drained mandarin orange segments and/or one 8-ounce can of drained crushed pineapple.

Special Note: Do not add fresh pineapple. The enzymes in fresh pineapple prevent gelatin from setting.

Make-Ahead & Storage

Make-Ahead: This cranberry pretzel dessert is best when made the day before serving it. This gives the dessert plenty of time to chill and be well set for slicing it.

Storage: It will keep in the refrigerator for up to a week if covered in cling wrap.

More Delicious Cranberry Recipes

♡ Did you love this Cranberry Cheesecake Pretzel Dessert? Please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how things went in the ✍ comments below. Thanks for visiting!

Cranberry Cheesecake Pretzel Dessert