The Best Pretzel Bites

Hello again foodies!! 😊 We are back again with another Cooking with Quinnie adventure! This time we decided to go more savory as we do a lot of sweets as ye ole' birth giver over here does not have much of a sweet tooth any more. So, we decided on one of Quinns favorite shopping foods. How can you not stop at the pretzel shop in the local mall? She loves those little bites of goodness and will eat a whole serving of them to herself. Why not try to master one of her favorite snacks that has few ingredients?! I had most of the ingredients in my kitchen already, we just needed the coarse sea salt. With only a few things needed this one was super easy and very fun to make with Quinn. She was more than happy to help with rolling the dough and putting the salt on the pieces before they went into the oven.

Lets get right into this recipe as it does take a few hours due to the dough having to rise. 

You will need:

4 1/2 cups flour

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon yeast

6 tablespoons melted butter

1 1/2 cups warm water

2 1/2 teaspoons salt

3/4 cup baking soda

12 cups water

1 egg beaten

coarse sea salt or pretzel salt.

Pour 1 1/2 cups water, melted butter, brown sugar and yeast to stand mixer. *or bowl if you are using a hand mixer and your hands to knead the dough)

Mix together on low for about 30-40 seconds.

Let sit for about 5 minutes allowing the yeast to start to bubble.

Add salt and 2 cups of the flour. Start to mix on low and add remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time while mixer is doing its job. *I dont know how I would have made this recipe without Ruby to do all the hard work for me*

This is Ruby :)

-If you are not using a stand mixer this is about the time that you will want to start using your hands to knead the dough-

You know you have enough flour when the dough pulls from the sides of the bowl and leaves them clean.

Turn you mixer to medium speed and let it do the hard work for 5 minutes. 

-If you are using your hands, continuously knead the dough for 5 minutes.-

Remove bowl from stand mixer and cover with plastic wrap. Let it for 1 hour or until dough doubles in size. 

Once dough has sat for an hour, grease your counter with cooking spray or melted butter. Cut dough into 8 equal pieces and let rest for 5 minutes. PLEASE let it rest!! You will not be disappointed. 

While dough is resting, grab your stock pot and bring 12 cups of water to a boil.

Add 3/4 cup of baking soda. If the water/soda is too bubbly, turn it down a smidge. 

Roll your dough into a long rope shape and cut into 2-3 inch pieces.

Place 15-20 little dough pieces into the boiling water for about one minute. 

Using a slotted spoon or a metal strainer take the dough pieces out of the water and let the excess water drain back into the pot.

Place on a greased cookie sheet. 

Brush beaten egg over pieces and sprinkle with sea salt.

Bake at 425 for 12-18 minutes or until golden brown.

I had some velveeta cheese in the cupboard so I melted some of that in a pot with a little bit of milk for a dipping sauce.

These were a huge hit with almost everyone in our home. The Bubby, Cody, didn't want to try them. Hes a picky eater so its okay. But everyone else loved them. I am pretty sure that Quinn ate over half of them within 20 minutes of them coming out of the oven. This recipe was really quick and really easy. It made about 50 or 60 little pretzel bites. We have plans on making more to freeze so they can be thawed out for little snacks for Quinnie Doo during the day.

From our kitchen to yours,

Lets eat! :)