Cinnamon Sugar Soft Pretzels

I’ve just finished vacuuming after my daughter’s Play Doh session. She is now nicely tucked on the couch watching her new favourite show Peppa Pig. The start of this week has been fairly busy. We’ve been to a friend’s wedding in the city on Sunday. And we are still recovering from it. They had a nice brownie with peanut butter ice cream and safron floss. As soon as my husband and I saw it on the menu we knew we had to go for it. Unfortunately we didn’t get to enjoy the dessert. Shortly after the main was served, my daughter started feeling unwell and we had to pack up and go home. Luckily she is better now. Must have been all the dancing and jumping and lollies she had at the party.

But that meant that I had a grumpy husband who spent most of Monday texting me asking if I could make the same brownie dessert. Obviously it was more elaborate at the wedding venue and it would have taken a while to have everything organised. So I didn’t see that happening but how to break the news to Joel? Instead I offered to bake something different, preferably easy but tasty. I’ve been following this blogger Debbie from One Little Project for a while and thought I could learn a thing or two on baking from her. I came across an interesting Pretzels recipe. I took a screenshot and messaged it over to my husband. “How about this,?” I asked. “Looks good.. yum,!” was the answer. And I quickly got on to it and even managed to put my little one to sleep (for her nap) while the dough was proofing.

 

By the time she woke up the dough was ready to start working with. And as all good mummy I got her onto the Play Doh to imitate what I was doing with the dough. I was quite fun to twist the dough into the pretzel shape. And it was even nicer to see what Lorelai was doing on her little white table with her colourful Play Doh. Let’s just say that I had a lot of cleaning to do by the time the Pretzels were baked. And I’m not even referring to cleaning after myself but rather after my little one. By the time I was done I was even cleaning her little oven where “she was doing like mummy!” It was a real good afternoon. And it was even better when I got to finally taste the soft pretzels with that cinnamon sugar toppings. What a delight!

I hope you enjoy it too!

Bon appétit!

And good luck to everyone.

 

INGREDIENTS

For the Pretzels

• 2 cups warm milk
• 1½ tbs yeast
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• 4 tbs butter, melted
• 2 tsps salt
• 4½ cups flour, more or less as needed

For the topping

• ⅓ cup baking soda
• 3 cups warm water
• 4 tbs butter, melted
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 tsps cinnamon

METHOD

1. In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, dissolve the yeast in the warm milk. When the mixture is bubbly, mix in the brown sugar, butter, one cup flour, and salt, and mix until combined. Add the remaining flour, one cup at a time, and mix until a smooth and slightly sticky dough forms. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise about one hour, until doubled in size.
 
2. After the dough has risen, preheat the oven to 230 degrees Celsius. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. Divide the dough into twelve equal sized pieces, and roll each piece into a long skinny rope. Twist into a pretzel shape.
       
3. In a medium bowl, mix together the warm water and baking soda until dissolved. Dip each pretzel into the baking soda mixture and place on the prepared baking sheets. Bake 7 to 11 minutes, or until golden brown.
     
4. In a shallow dish, whisk together the sugar and cinnamon. Brush the pretzels with melted butter, then dip them in the cinnamon sugar mixture.