Happy summer my dear readers! June 21st marked the first ‘official’ day of summer on the calender, but we’ve been going full summer down here in DC for a few weeks. Sundresses!
I’ve been wanting to make an icebox-style dessert since I first read about it in Southern Living magazine (I believe). So, when I was asked to bring a dessert to a friend’s BBQ this past weekend, I made this tangy, sweet, citrusy and chilly little number.
It could not be easier to whip this up either. Cool Whip, lemonade mix and sweetened condensed milk are the key ingredients. Plus- the crust! Oh the crust.
I crushed pretzels and mixed them with butter and sugar to make this sweet ‘n’ salty crust– amazeballs!
My tip for this recipe is to make sure you have enough time to fully freeze the bars. I had only refrigerated the bars for a couple hours before initially serving them at the party and the texture was not right- it was almost pudding-like and didn’t hold shape. However, once fully frozen, the texture became smooth and silky, and held a perfect bar shape once cut.
Pink Lemonade Icebox Bars
- 1 8 oz carton Cool Whip, thawed
- 1 12 oz can Minute Maid pink lemonade mix (from concentrate), thawed
- 1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 oz block cream cheese, softened
- 5 drops pink food coloring
- 1 stick butter, melted
- 2 cups well crushed pretzels
- 3 tablespoons white sugar
For the crust: Preheat oven to 375°. Crush pretzels in a food processor until mainly crumbs with some a few small pieces. Toss in a large bowl with white sugar. Melt butter and drizzle over the crumbs, toss to coat. Press into the bottom of a greased 9×13 baking pan and bake for 10 minutes, just until set. Remove from oven and let cool.
For the bars: With an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk until creamy and well combined. Mix in the pink lemonade mix and the food coloring, beat until combined. Gently fold in the Cool Whip and mix until incorporated fully. Pour into the cooled crust, cover and freeze until set, at minimum 2 hours. (I did mine overnight).
Enjoy!
– Erin
Want more lemonade goodness? Check out my Strawberry Lemonade Cookie Bars!
Reblogged this on The ObamaCrat.Com™ and commented:
Ms. Erin, I think I love you….I KNOW I love this recipe. Thank you.
Thanks 🙂 You flatter me!
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Yum! Looks delish!
Thanks 🙂
I love this recipe – What a cool refreshing dessert, especially for summer
Thanks! It was my first time making it but I love it and will definitely try it again with new flavor combos.
I’m in Baltimore and was down in DC on Sunday. It is HOT AS BALLS. But this recipe does look cool and refreshing. I feel better just looking at the pics.
Today is miserably hot. The horrid humidity is back, which makes the heat so much worse. Sigh.
I love this! Especially the pretzelly crust. Tangy/sweet/salty is the perfect combo, especially in the summer. I feel for ya in that DC heat!
Ohhh girl– pretzel crust. Pinned! I totally love this 🙂