Pretzel Salad

What's the 4th of July without pretzel salad? Well I did without it the first 22 years of my life. But it always makes me think of July 4th because Aaron's sister brought it to a July 4th picnic while we were engaged. I always tease Aaron because he swears it's a salad, and I say it's a dessert. Really, anything that has cream cheese sugar and whipped topping is a dessert! But if he calls it a salad and that means I can have dessert too, by all means call it a salad!
This is the recipe that I use, although I've seen many variations on it. You can do raspberry gelatin and frozen raspberries, or use fresh berries. Yesterday I used 12 oz. of mixed berries -strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries.
I have had a hard time getting the layering right. You have to have a good seal with the cream cheese layer or the gelatin will seep down into the bottom. You also have to make sure the gelatin is starting to congeal, but not too much, or it will be lumpy. I still haven't gotten it perfect yet!

• 2 cups crushed pretzels
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 3 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
• 1 (6 ounce) packages strawberry flavored gelatin
• 2 cups boiling water
• 1 (10 ounce) package frozen strawberries

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. Stir together crushed pretzels, melted butter and 3 tablespoons sugar; mix well and press mixture into the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish.
3. Bake 6 to 8 minutes, until set. Set aside to cool.
4. In a large mixing bowl cream together cream cheese and 1 cup sugar. Fold in whipped topping. Spread mixture onto cooled crust.
5. Dissolve gelatin in boiling water. Stir in still frozen strawberries until partially set. Pour and spread over cream cheese layer. Refrigerate until set about 3-4 hours.