Layered Strawberry Pecan Delight

Hello folks and welcome back to the All Things Southern kitchen.  Strawberries are abundant in Louisiana in the spring which suits us just fine. Me and mine can’t get enough of ’em! Today, I’m combining them with another of our favorite crops– pecans– to stir up my Layered Strawberry Pecan Delight.  Just gaze at the butter pecan base in the pic and try not to drool! Are you with me? I thought so. Let me show you how to stir this treat up for your loved ones!

“Layered Strawberry Pecan Delight”

Crust:

2 cups pecans
2 teaspoons butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon water

Congealed Salad:

1 8 ounce cream cheese, softened
1 recipe of whipped topping using 2 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar, 1 cup heavy cream, 1 teaspoon vanilla (option: 8 ounce carton of store bought Cool Whip)
1 six ounce package strawberry gelatin
2 cups fresh strawberries, cleaned, sliced, and frozen

I washed and sliced a pint of strawberries last night and placed them in the freezer. Right now, I’m preparing our crust. I processed two cups of pecans until they were fine. Then I added a couple teaspoons of melted butter, 3 tablespoons of brown sugar, 2 teaspoons of vanilla, and a tablespoon of water. I pulsed this until the mixture was crumbly and then I pressed it into a 9×13 baking dish. We’re going to bake this at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Meanwhile, we’ll prepare our second layer by combining softened cream cheese and a cup of sugar. We’ll fold in whipped topping and spread this over our pie crust once it has been baked and cooled. Folks, you can easily make homemade whipped cream by adding 2 Tablespoons of confectioner’s sugar to a cup of heavy cream, and a teaspoon of vanilla in a chilled mixing bowl and beat until peaks form! (Or, you can use store bought Cool Whip? Yes, you can.)

For our third and final layer we’ll dissolve a package of strawberry gelatin in two cups of boiling water. Then we’ll add the sliced and frozen strawberries. We’ll refrigerate the crust and cream cheese layer separately from this gelatin mixture until the gelatin becomes syrupy. It will only take a few minutes. Don’t let it set up! Once it’s syrupy, we’ll pour it over our cream cheese layer and return the whole thing to the fridge to chill for three to four hours. It’s worth the wait, folks. Tomboy honor! I hope you’ll try my Layered Strawberry Pecan Delight! It’s good eating from the All Things Southern kitchen to yours~

Hugs,
Shellie