Cherry Pretzel Pie

I have a signature pie. It is likely the most requested thing I make, and funnily enough, the easiest! The recipe is my mom's, I have no idea where she got it from. This pie is so good, it can stop police in their tracks. You read that right, and  yes, the story will follow. Without further ado, Cherry Pretzel Pie.  

Warning: Although this sounds utterly weird and possibly disgusting, it is the best pie you will ever eat in your life. It is addicting. Don't say I didn't warn you.

3 cups smashed pretzels (that's about half a bag, I throw them in the food processor)
3/4 cups icing sugar
1 cup melted butter
- Mix all these together and set aside.

1 cup icing sugar
1 package of cream cheese (I use light cream cheese), softened
500 mL Cool Whip (that's half a container, I use the non-fat kind)
- Cream together the icing sugar and the cream cheese. Fold in the Cool Whip.

Press half the pretzel mixture in the bottom of a pie plate or 9x9 pan. Next layer on half the Cool Whip/cream cheese mixture, then a can of cherry pie filling. Now put on the remaining Cool Whip/cream cheese mixture, and top with the rest of the pretzel mixture. Wrap in plastic wrap and freeze!

This also works out well put into individual ramekins, but don't ever think you'll have better portion control if you do this, you'll just eat them all one after the other. 

And now, the story. We live on a river, it's lovely here. When we bought the house, we met our neighbours a few doors up who introduced us to their dock, which they attach a motor to and drive up and down the river. Dan was inspired. That summer, he and a few of his friends built us a 10'x12' dock/river raft. 

We weren't entirely sure of the legalities involved of said dock, but our neighbours have had one for years, so we figured we'd be fine. One beautiful summer evening, we took the dock down the river to watch the Sam Roberts concert at our local park. We had our emergency kit, life jackets for everyone, no alcohol, and of course, cherry pretzel pie. We got close to the concert and were stopped by another boater who said not to go closer, the marine police were there handing out tickets for various offenses. Not knowing exactly how legal our raft was, we stayed put and listened to the music that was drifting over. We could see the police on the other side of a very low bridge pointing flashlights at us, trying to check us out and see what we were up to (we also had tiki torches lit around the perimeter of the raft, we're a bit of a spectacle), but their boat wouldn't fit under the bridge. After about half an hour, they gave up and left, we felt relieved and decided not to tempt fate and head home. About half way back, we drifted to a stop near a reed island and were sitting and chatting. Out of nowhere, this low riding black boat with 4 marine police officers pulls up beside us (they were totally silent! It was creepy!), and an officer dressed in what looked like SWAT gear boards our raft. They were so determined to get our raft that they went back to their station and changed boats!

Minor heart attack anyone?! The officer asks "Who's responsible for this vessel?" and no one says anything. Thanks guys. So finally I peep up "I am" figuring I had dated a police officer for three years previously and if anyone was going to get out of trouble due to this, it would be me. We show him our life jackets, our emergency kit, and he checks around to make sure there's no alcohol on-board. He was very sorely disappointed and proclaimed us "The lamest party boat EVER"!!!! At this point, I start offering pie. At first, they all politely decline. However, like I said, I dated an officer for many years, I know how to charm police. I have skills. I manage to get the oldest officer to accept some pie, and as soon as he does, all the others agree to have some.

Soon enough they're  telling us how sure they were about how many tickets they were going to be able to give us, etc. We hung out with them for about half an hour chatting and laughing. The oldest marine officer asked if I was married and if not, would I marry him? I have to say, I was tempted, he had a seriously sexy Richard Gere in uniform type thing going on.... After the pie, we asked if we could go under the bridge to watch the concert and the officers all agreed that technically, there was no reason why not.

We have dubbed the raft the S.S. Barely Legal. 

Happy girls!

Okay not such a great photo, but this is the concert!

Tiki torch and a low bridge, we're nearly there!