National Pretzel Day
April 26th is National Pretzel Day! I am going to be sharing a soft pretzel and chocolate covered pretzel rod recipe. Let's get started!
I am going to start with the soft pretzel. This recipe is definitely the harder of the two but it is 100% worth it! My family loved them and you will too!
INGREDIENTS:
dough-
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast (1 standard packet)
1 cup warm water
1 tbs butter, melted
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
3 cups all-purpose flour
bath-
2 cups water
4 tbs baking soda
toppings-
coarse salt- for topping
6 tbs salted butter, melted
cinnamon sugar
Begin by putting the yeast, warm water and sugar into a mixer with the hook attachment. Mix until mixture is frothy. After mixture is frothy add melted butter and salt. Mix again. Now add the flour one cup at a time.
Once dough is completely mixed, knead dough for five minutes. This is very important to a good pretzel. After kneading the dough, place it in the bowl and let it rest for 15 minutes.
While your dough is resting make your baking soda bath. Begin by adding the water and baking soda to a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Set aside and wait for temperature to cool to warm. Pour into a 9x13 pan.
By now your 15 minutes should be up. Flatten your ball of dough and cut like a pizza into eight pieces. Roll each piece and twist like a pretzel. Set them into the bath and let them soak for 2 minutes. Scoop them out of the bath with the help of a fork and place onto a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. You may need to reshape them. For the last two sections I cut mine into bite sized pieces. If you are making salted pretzels add the coarse salt now.
Place them into the oven at 475 degrees Fahrenheit for 7 minutes or until golden brown. Right when they come out of the oven cover them in melted butter. (The more the better!!) If you are doing cinnamon sugar poor that on while the butter is wet.
They are the yummiest straight from the oven when the butter is still melted but if you want to save them you can keep them in an air tight container at room temperature for up to 2 days. You can also put them in the microwave for a few seconds to warm them up again!
My family absolutely loved these! I hope you will too!
(Recipe slightly adapted from Sprinkle Some Sugar)
The next pretzel treat is chocolate covered pretzel rods
You will need:
Pretzel Rods- I got mine at Smiths but you can find them at any grocery store
Chocolate- I just used semi-sweet chocolate chips
Fun decorations- I used these fun candy melts by Wilton. I found mine at Walmart in the baking isle. Some other ideas are candies, marshmallows, or sprinkles!
To begin I melted some chocolate in a bowl over a pot of boiling water. (careful to not touch the bowl to the water) I covered the pretzels by dipping them in the chocolate and using a spoon to coat it higher. I set them in the fridge on a pan lined with parchment paper to harden.
Next I melted the vanilla flavored candy melts in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring in between until smooth. Once the chocolate on the pretzels hardened I pulled them out and covered them with candy melts. I dipped my fork into the candy and drizzled it across the pretzel. The colors i used were blue, pink and a mix of the blue and dark green to create a teal color.
These pretzels are so yummy for stirring in hot chocolate to add an extra chocolate flavor or to just munch on as they are!
Don't forget to try one of these pretzel treats on April 26th to celebrate National Pretzel Day!
xoxo, Tylie Sue