30 Minute Soft Pretzels

I know, I know. 3 posts in one day. Can you tell I'm a little excited about this? I'm sure I'll stop posting 3x a day when the excitement from how FUN this is wears off! Or maybe I won't....

Griffinn and I wanted to try something a little different for lunch today, so I thought we'd try these pretzels. Griff LOVES the ones from the mall so I knew it would be something my picky little eater would like.
 I found this recipe on Pinterest but it was originally pinned from this blog.

This really was pretty simple! I have never made homemade pretzels, and it's probably because every recipe I ever found seemed difficult and time consuming; this one is not! Also, if you have a little 4 year old who likes to help Momma cook like I do, this recipe is even better!


  This recipe calls for sea salt; and I didn't have any in my cupboard so instead I brushed the cooked pretzels with melted butter and sprinkled with regular table salt. It wasn't perfect but sufficed for the salty flavor we were searching for. You can make a cheese dipping sauce for these yummy pretzels, dip them in pizza sauce, or dip them in mustard....whatever you fancy :-) You can also try different variations of the actual pretzel, for example: Parmesan, garlic, cheese, etc. Play with the recipe until you find something you love!

Yields: 8-10 Pretzels

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups luke warm water
1 packet of highly active yeast (I used Red Star Instant Yeast)
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
4 cups all purpose flour
1 large egg
course sea salt

Directions

-  Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
-  In a large bowl, pour in the warm water and yeast, stir with a spoon until the yeast is dissolved, about 1 minute. Add in the salt and sugar and stir until incorporated.
-  Slowly add in the flour about 1 cup at a time, mix with a wooden spoon until it gets sticky, continue to add in all your flour and at this point is when I started to use my hands to finish mixing the dough. The dough should no longer be sticky.
-  Knead the dough for about 5 minutes on a lightly floured surface, once kneaded, shape into a ball, with a knife or your hands separate the dough into about 1/3 cup sections, or use smaller or bigger sections depending on how large you want your pretzels.

AND for those of you with a sweet tooth:

 If this is wrong then I don't wanna be right. I left a couple of my pretzels un-buttered and un-salted and turned it into a little dessert by slathering it in this cinnamon/sugar buttery spread.....YUM!! can't say for sure but this might be better than the salted version!