Heavenly Strawberry Dessert

My parents came down for a visit so I decided to bust out one of Mr. Mayhem's favorite dessert recipes for the occasion. It is a little bit of work to make this bad boy, but soooooo worth it in the end. Especially this time of year when fresh strawberries are so good (and cheap)!

Crust:
2 C crushed butter pretzels
1 1/2 sticks butter, softened
1/2 C sugar
1/3 C chopped pecans

Filling:
1(8oz) package cream cheese, softened
1 C sugar
1 C frozen nondairy whipped topping

Topping:
3/4 C sugar
2 TBSP cornstarch
1 1/2 C water
2 (10 oz) packages frozen strawberries, thawed and drained or 20 oz. fresh strawberries, stemmed and sliced.

Final Topping:
1 C. frozen nondairy whipped topping

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. For crust, combine pretzels, butter, sugar, and pecans. Press mixture into the bottom of a 9x13" baking dish. Bake 10 min. Cool. Beat cream cheese, sugar, and whipped topping until smooth. Spread filling over crust and refrigerate. Combine sugar, cornstarch, and water in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat until clear. While still hot, add berries. Pour over filling. Spread reserved non dairy topping over strawberries. Serves 12.

Here is a photographical run down of the layers:

The delicious crust. This, for me, is what makes this dessert special. I'm a sucker for the sweet/salty combo!

 The creamy filling. Ohhhlala!

And the delicious strawberry topping. 

Since I am a bad blogger there are no pictures of the final topping or the final product. I guess I was too busy stuffing my ever growing pregnant belly to snap a photo. I guess I'll just have to make it again to update this post with proper "after" shots. Anybody wanna come over for dessert?