Pretzel Bites

I knew this would happen; at least once throughout the month of July, there would come a time where a recipe would not even make it into the freezer. Well folks, these are it. I guess I'll be making a double batch some day soon so we can actually have some stashed away for snacks.

I've always thought homemade pretzels would be somewhat complicated to make, but I was really pleasantly surprised at how easy these were. I let the dough come together with the help of my bread machine, that way I was able to get breakfast ready for everyone yesterday morning. We then had plans to go to the pool early so I refrigerated the dough while we were gone and prepared them later in the afternoon.

You can make these into regular shaped pretzels if you want but I like these bite sized snacks much better. They're perfect for little hands and they're just fun in general. Oh and they taste just like the ones you buy from the mall food court!

I'm already having fun brainstorming different toppings {butter and Parmesan cheese for sure!} for these little guys. For now I settled with brushing melted butter on each bite and then sprinkling some with coarse salt and the others with a cinnamon-sugar mixture. I think everyone liked both flavors as we could not stop popping them into our mouths.

We were left with about half of our batch so I figured it was no use in freezing. They'll be eaten up soon enough in our house.

I'm sure many of you are on the go this summer with sports activities and such. By having some homemade snacks like these in your freezer, you can eliminate some of the unnecessary spending at the concession stands. Plus you'll feel much better knowing exactly what's in your food!


Pretzel Bites

Ingredients:
1-1/8 cups warm water
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 tbsp brown sugar
1-1/2 tsp yeast
2 quarts water
1/2 cup baking soda
3 tbsp melted butter
coarse salt and/or cinnamon-sugar mixture, for topping

Directions:
Into the bread machine, pour in water, flour, brown sugar and yeast in that order. Close lid and set to dough setting.

*If you do not have bread machine, no worries! In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix together water, flour, brown sugar and yeast until dough comes together. Then switch to the dough hook and knead for at least 6 minutes. Then remove dough and put into a large, oiled bowl, cover and let rise for about 45-50 minutes. Dough should be doubled in size.

After dough has risen, lightly flour your work surface. Roll dough out just a bit, not very much at all. Taking a sharp knife, cut dough into long strips. Start taking small bits and forming them into balls. Set aside.

In the meantime, combine the 2 quarts of water and 1/2 cup of baking soda. Let mixture come to a boil. Drop 4 pieces of dough into pan at a time, let boil for 15 seconds and then remove from pan and transfer to a cookie sheet lined with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. The bits of dough will instantly rise to the top of the saucepan. They'll look like this before you bake:

Bake pretzel bites at 400 degrees for 8-9 minutes. Bites should be browned on top and bottom and baked through at this point. Remove from oven. Brush each pretzel with melted butter and sprinkle desired toppings on.

Makes about 4 dozen bites.

To freeze: You'll want to transfer pretzels to a cookie sheet once they are completely cooled. Flash freeze for about an hour. Then transfer to either a freezer bag or a tupperware style container. Make sure to label and date with contents. Place in freezer until ready to enjoy. When ready to eat, remove desired pretzels and let come to room temp.

Source: Dine and Dish