Apple Cinnamon Pretzel Salad
A sweet and salty dessert featuring a buttery pretzel crust, creamy cheesecake filling, and a cozy cinnamon-apple topping.
Servings: 12 servings
Calories: 374kcal
Ingredients
For the Crust
- 2 cups crushed pretzels divided
- ¼ cup sugar
- ½ cup butter melted
For the Apple Cinnamon Topping
- 1½ cups water
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 4 Granny Smith apples peeled, diced into small pieces
For the Filling
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 8 ounces whipped topping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF.
For the Crust
- To prepare crust, in a medium mixing bowl, combine 1 cup of the crushed pretzels, sugar, and butter. Press mixture into a greased 9x13-inch baking dish.
- Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and allow crust to cool completely.
For the Apple Cinnamon Topping
- To make apple mixture, add water, cornstarch, sugar, cinnamon, and lemon juice to a medium saucepan. Bring contents to a boil over low/medium heat. Be sure to stir often.
- After mixture comes to a boil, continue cooking and stirring for 3-4 minutes until the sauce thickens.
- Add your diced apples. Stir everything together and allow mixture to simmer for about 10 minutes, or until the apples have softened.
- Remove pan from heat and set aside.
For the Filling
- To make the filling, beat cream cheese, vanilla, and powered sugar in a large mixing bowl until smooth and fluffy.
- Add the whipped topping and mix just until combined.
- Spread cream cheese mixture over cooled pretzel crust.
- Carefully spread apple mixture over top of cream cheese layer.
- Sprinkle remaining pretzel topping on apple mixture.
- Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 4 hours before serving.
Notes
- Crush Pretzels Finely: The smaller the pretzel crumbs, the better your crust will stay together. A few bigger pretzel chunks are fine, but too many big pieces can make the crust more crumbly and prone to breaking.
- Dice Apples into Small Pieces: Smaller, even pieces of apple help create that smooth, apple-pie-style topping everyone loves.
- Soften Cream Cheese Quickly: If you don’t want to wait for your cream cheese to soften, place the wrapped block in a bowl of warm water for about 15 minutes.
- Cool the Crust Completely: Make sure the pretzel crust is fully cooled before adding the cream cheese layer—this keeps it from melting or turning soggy.
- Fold the Cool Whip Gently: Once you add the Cool Whip, fold it in slowly to keep the filling light, fluffy, and airy.
- Chill for Clean Slices: Give the dessert the full chill time (at least four hours) so the layers set and slice neatly.
Nutrition
Calories: 374kcal | Carbohydrates: 54g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 0.3g | Cholesterol: 40mg | Sodium: 302mg | Potassium: 144mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 38g | Vitamin A: 537IU | Vitamin C: 4mg | Calcium: 44mg | Iron: 1mg