Soft Pretzels At Home!

Yeah, been a while since I posted a recipe or much of anything but here we are. Things are still hectic but did these for the kids today and figured I would share the yummy goodness! This recipe was not originally mine but has been tweaked a little to better fit my personal tastes. It is a very simple recipe and now you can create those wonderful large soft pretzels you get at the mall or the fair at home anytime you want! I hope you enjoy them as much as my family does!

Recipe:

• 6 Teaspoon Yeast (or 3 squares. I prefer quick rising to cut down on time.)
• 15 Ounces Warm Water (110-120 F)
• 1 1/2 Teaspoon Granulated Sugar
• 6-8 Cups All Purpose Flour
• 3/4 Cup Granulated Sugar
• 2 1/4 Teaspoon Salt
• 1 1/2 Tablespoon Oil
• Crisco
• 1/2 Cup Baking Soda
• 4 Cups Hot Water
• Kosher Salt

Directions:

1. In a bowl combine your yeast, 1 1/2 teaspoon sugar and water. Mix until everything is dissolved and let stand 10 minutes or until bubbly and creamy. 
2. In a large mixing bowl sift together the remaining sugar, the salt and 4 cups of the flour. 
3. Create a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the yeast mix and oil. 
4. Mix until well combined, adding more flour as needed until it pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
5. Turn out onto a lightly floured counter and kneed until smooth and "elasticy". This will take 7-10 minutes. If you are using a dough hook on your mixer it will take probably 5. Form into a ball. 
6. Take a large bowl and grease down with crisco.
7. Place dough ball in the bowl, flip over and make sure it is fully coated.
8. Cover and let rise until double in size. 
9. Preheat over to 450F.
10. Dissolve the baking soda into the hot water and set aside. 
11. Divide up dough into 24 equal pieces and roll out into long "strings" around 2-3 feet long. 
12. Twist into a pretzel shape.
13. Dip into the baking soda wash. (This is a step NOT to skip, it is a must!)
14. Place on a cookie sheet that has been lined with parchment. 
15. Sprinkle with Kosher Salt.
16. Bake for 7-8 Minutes.
17. Remove and cool for a few minutes.
18. Serve and Enjoy!!!!!!

Cinnamon Bites

Chocolate Chip With Icing

Now, if you would like a twist here are a couple!

1. Instead of spending all the time making pretzel shapes just cut up the dough and make pretzel sticks or pretzel bites. 

2. Omit the salt and sprinkle with a cinnamon-sugar mix before tossing into the oven for a sweet treat.

3. After the dough has risen, fold into chocolate chips. After baking drizzle with icing!

4. Wrap precooked hot dogs in the dough and bake! Awesome on the go meal!

5. This dough works great for Deep Dish Pizza or even making Calzones!

Read More

Winter Has Arrived

Finally, the fall has drawn to a close and now my favorite season is upon us, Winter. Why is it my favorite? Well for one I do adore Christmas. The lights, the festivities, wrapping paper and not to mention the cooking! It is my time to shine! Baking galore starts the day after Thanksgiving and continues until Christmas Day in this house.

Let us add that since I come from a very diverse background, both religiously and via heritage, so all the major holidays are approaching. Friends and family will be celebrating Hanukkah, the Winter Solstice and so many others. I am rather lucky to be able to be apart of all these equally. I don't get left out of any of it, which in all honesty is probably one of the greatest gifts I could have.

And to top it all off now my favorite color is one of THE colors of the season, Ice Blue. YAY! Granted yes, it gets over shadowed by Red and Green. Oh well, what can a girl do? Just keep baking! So here I am with my first batch of cookies for the Winter Season.

Spritz! Why these and not something else? Because this is what I was raised on! It is part of my heritage, along with nine million other heritages in my family line, lol. Scandinavia is where my heart and these cookies are that part of the world through and through.

I cannot remember a winter season where we did not have hundreds of these in cookie tins all over the house. I remember my mother hand pressing these out of a copper press year after year. Thank god I have an electric one because I think my husband would kill me if I didn't make them at Christmas time. (Funny, he's Irish, lol.)

I wish I had more pictures but my camera died and it was a pain just to get a couple pictures. Anywho! See you soon with more holiday cookies and if you have suggestions let me know! I hope to cover all the major religious holidays in my cookies this fall.

Read More