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Sweet, buttery, salty, and oh so creamy, this Double Strawberry Pretzel Pie is not your average pie! The crust is a mix of salty pretzels, sweet maple, and a bit of butter. The cream filling is made with four base ingredients…cream cheese, heavy cream, vanilla, and a touch of sugar. The filling is spooned into the salty crust and topped with in-season strawberries infused with elderflower, lemon, and mint. Trust me, this strawberry pie is extra special. Every bite is sweet, salty, creamy, and bursting with fresh spring berries. The perfect spring and summer pie!
I love this time of year. Well, kind of, I love this time of year for the produce it brings and the anticipation of summertime. The weather can be kind of a mixed bag here in the mountains. We often move right from winter into summer. But this spring has actually been really nice, with plenty of sunshine and fairly warm temps too! It’s got me craving the warm summer days ahead.
Which is probably the reasoning behind this pie. It uses up those delicious spring strawberries, but it still feels summery, and I kind of like that.
The strawberries right now are as sweet as can be. So with a fridge full of fresh berries, edible flowers that just arrived, and herbs that are finally beginning to grow, I’ve been provided with plenty of inspiration. Enter this pie. I just wanted to use what I had, everything looked so pretty and smelled even better, so I made pretzel pie…
This double strawberry pretzel pie is infused with flavor, heavy on the strawberries, and made with a buttery, toasty and salty pretzel crust. It’s not your average pretzel pie.
crust after baking
pie before chilling
The process.
What I love about this pie is that it’s easy, no fuss, and anyone can make it.
The crust. It’s made with pretzels, maple syrup, and butter. Sooo, it’s salty, sweet, and buttery. It’s so easy to make and requires no rolling out or chilling of the dough. Just mix, press the dough into a pie plate, and blind bake it. The crust gets toasted until golden and lightly browned, giving it a bit of a nutty browned butter flavor. Meaning it is perfectly delicious.
If you have a food processor, this makes very quick work of mixing the crust. If not, no worries at all, just crush the pretzels in a bag (you can even just step on the bag). Then just mix the crust together in a mixing bowl. Do whatever option works best for you.
While the crust is baking, I like to make the filling, which is a little more traditional, but then it’s also not. I used cream cheese to keep things thick and creamy, but I wanted this strawberry pie to be a little looser than most. To do this, I added heavy cream to create more of a whipped cream texture. So there’s thickened cream on the edges, but while the pie sits on your plate, the center of the cream slowly softens into a bit more of a whipped cream texture.
I then stirred in a bit of strawberry jam. You guys, I love jam. More specifically, I love mixing jam with fresh berries, it’s the flavors and the texture. Jam is sweeter, jammier, and more concentrated. Berries are juicy and fresh. Both are good on their own, but so much better together.
And it is so DELICIOUS. You get the best of both worlds, thick and creamy edges, then a light and creamy center…with so many berries on top!
The berries!!
Oh the berries! The berries are so very special.
They’re tossed with St. Germain (which is elderflower liquor), lemony mint, and lemon. I ordered fresh elderflowers and petite mint lemon online and the minute I received them I was so excited to put the two together. Of course, I don’t expect you all to have these two ingredients, but if you have elderflower liquor and fresh mint, that works too!
PS. I do realize that I’m fully obsessed with edible flowers, petite microgreens, and herbs.
PSS. If you’ve never smelled fresh elderflower, you must order some just for that reason alone. It’s like spring in a flower. And no, I am not being paid to say this…I just love edible flowers!
Now, layer everything together and you’ll have the perfect double strawberry pretzel pie.
Notes…
Ok, now some notes because you need to know a few things.
Thing one: you need to allow time for the pie to chill. The cream needs time to set up and become firm enough for slicing, so be sure to plan ahead when making this.
Thing two: slicing this pie is messy. Yeah, messy, but in the best way possible. With the berries on top and the cream on the bottom, it’s just a messy pie to cut into. Do not let this scare you away. Sometimes you just need to embrace the mess. It’s usually a delicious thing. Ok, and thing two brings me to thing three.
Thing three: if you want a cleaner cut, freeze your pie, which is what I did for these photos. Freezing the pie makes creating clean slices super easy. By the time you’ve sliced the pie, it’s pretty thawed out and perfect for eating. That said, the frozen pie will not be quite as creamy as the non-frozen pie. Which is why I’m providing you with BOTH variations. Use the one you’ll love best.
Weekend plans…
Strawberry pretzel pie making on Saturday…just in time for Mother’s Day brunch on Sunday. Perfect timing, I know, I know.
See ya tomorrow for another new cocktail.
Lastly, if you make this double strawberry pretzel pie, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Double Strawberry Pretzel Pie.
Servings: 8
Calories Per Serving: 565 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
Pretzel Crust
- 4 cups mini salted pretzels
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 stick (8 tablespoons) cold salted butter, melted
Cream Filling and strawberries
- 12 ounces cream cheese
- 1/4-1/2 cup powdered sugar using more or less to your taste
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons strawberry jam or preserves
- 1 pound (4 cups sliced) fresh strawberries, sliced horizontally
- 3-4 tablespoons St. Germain (elderflower liquor) (optional)
- 1 tablespoon fresh mint leaves, roughly torn, plus more for serving
- zest of 1 lemon
Instructions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8 or 9 inch tart pan with a removable bottom or use a standard pie plate. 2. To make the crust. In a food processor, pulse together the pretzels, butter, and maple until the pretzels are fine crumbs. Press the mix into the prepared pie plate. Bake 8 minutes, until golden. Let cool. 3. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and powdered sugar on high speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl until very smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Slowly add the heavy cream, 1/4 cup at a time until incorporated. Add the vanilla and whip on high spread until light and fluffy, about 1-2 minutes. Using a spatula, swirl in 2 tablespoons jam. Spoon the cream into the pretzel crust. Cover and chill 3 hours or up to 4 days.4. Toss together the strawberries, St. Germain (if using), mint, and lemon zest in a bowl. If you prefer a sweeter berry, add 1-2 tablespoon of sugar. Let the fruit sit for 10-15 to release some of its juices. 5. To serve, spoon the berries over the cream. Drizzle over the remaining 1 tablespoon jam. Slice and serve immediately, topped with additional mint and elderflowers, if desired.
Notes
To make a frozen pie. Complete the recipe through step 3. Freeze until firm, 3-4 hours or overnight. To serve, remove the pie 10 minutes before slicing. Slice and serve as directed above. The pie can be frozen for up to 2 weeks.
To make ahead: if you'd like to make the pie ahead time, just keep the strawberries off the pie until serving (unless you're making the frozen pie). You can keep the pie in the fridge for up to 3 days before you are ready to serve.
This is so good and so easy! I made it a couple of weeks ago and we are still talking about it! The pretzels give it that little salty kick and I used strawberry/rhubarb jam which made it a little more tart. Definitely making it again ♥️
Wow that is so amazing to hear! I am really glad you enjoyed this recipe, Linda! Thank you for trying it! xTieghan
Did you steal this recipe from Jerrelle Guy? It looks incredibly similar to the below link. I am questioning this because of the blatant cultural appropriated Cobbler recipe you posted a couple of weeks ago.
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020323-strawberry-pretzel-pie?campaign_id=58&em_pos=medium&emc=edit_ck_20200619&instance_id=19525&nl=cooking&nl_art=1&ref=headline®i_id=79603670&segment_id=31355&te=1&user_id=6a76761b84c9f54150deb16330f7f82a
Hi Rebecca,
If you were to take a look at the two recipes, you would clearly see they are in no way the same. With so many people in the world cooking and baking, it’s almost impossible not to have similar recipes. If credit would have been needed here, I would have happily given it, but I did not copy this NYT recipe in anyway. This recipe was inspired simply by my love of the combination of pretzels and strawberries. And again, if you take a look at the two recipes, the only similarities are pretzels, strawberries, and cream, which are very common ingredients to pair together. Hoping this clears everything up for you.
Have a wondering week and thanks so much for reaching out!
xTieghan
Hi Tieghan! I finally had a chance to make this for my family last night. It was delicious! A great summer dessert that I will be making again very soon. I am already dreaming of variations with different types of berries. The pretzel crust is amazing and so easy to make. Thanks for another great recipe!
That is so amazing!! I am really glad you all enjoyed this recipe, Tamara!! xTieghan
Hi,
Looks delish and I would like to make it however, my food processor is very small. do you think I could use a blender?
Thanks!
Hi Lisa,
I have not tried this with a blender, I would just use your food processor and put in a little at a time. I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
Made this today and OMG so good! I added the liquor into the cream mixture for extra flavor because I know the kids will get into the berries and juice when I’m not looking! Still delicious and the st Germain flavor is great in the cream.
That is so amazing to hear!! Thank you so much Alex! xTieghan
I made the crust with gluten free pretzels and used blueberries/blueberry jam instead and it was all delicious!!
Love that! Thank you for trying this Kaela! xTieghan
So easy and sooooo good!! Didn’t have strawberry jam so used raspberry jam and a mix of berries on top!
I am so glad this turned out so well for you, Katie! Thank you so much! xTieghan
I made this last week and it turned out just as amazing as I thought it would!
I had to tweak it slightly, I didn’t have enough cream cheese so I added mascarpone as well,
it came out beautifully! It was light and tasty!
Thank you so much Tovah! xTieghan
Hi, I made the pie and loved it! I live in germany and was curious wheter it will work with german ingredients or not, but it did work out quit nice. Too bad that I can’t add a picture in the comment. The cake looks very cute.
Love, Michelle
Hi Michelle! I am really glad this turned out so well for you! Thank you so much for trying it! xTieghan
Oh my heavens! I made this for my coworkers. Literally had one of them follow me from my car to the building. It was gone in 30 minutes flat. It’s so gorgeous and tasty. Thanks so much for the perfect receipt!
Thank you Megan! I am really glad this recipe turned out so well for you! xTieghan
AMAZING! Loved it frozen!!
Thank you so much Kaitlyn! xTieghan
My friend made this tonight. SO GOOD
Thank you Reagan!! xTieghan
My filling was very thin/liquid-y. I Didn`t have heavy cream available so I used half & half but otherwise followed the recipe. I`m not sure what went wrong? Does the cream cheese need to be softened or kept cold?
Hi Brittany,
So sorry about that! I like the cream cheese to be soft, but not yet room temp. I think the half and half probably didn’t give you the same consistency as you would have gotten with the heavy cream. Please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
Hi there! Just tried this recipe and it tasted amazing! Just a question – the strawberry topping over the pie came out too liquidy. Is there a way to help that set so it is easier to slice?
Hi,
Thanks for trying the recipe, yes as stated in the notes section, you can freeze the pie to make it easier to slice. I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions. xTieghan
This was solid! Left out the elderflower and it still tasted great.
Thank you so much Alex! xTieghan