Soft Pretzels

What to do? Oh what to do? On a rainy Sunday afternoon, I know I told Ariel let’s bake those pretzel that I have been promising you. This was the first time that I made homemade pretzels, I have been thinking about making them for years, but just never did. We had such a fun time making them together. I couldn’t get the hang of doing the pretzel twist so I left that part up to Ariel. She was flipping and twisting the dough just like they do in the mall; she says she can now work at the pretzel place in Modesto. When they were finally finished baking; we quickly ate two apiece. We will have to make them again soon. You can find this recipe and many more great recipes on the Pillsbury web-site.

I’m posting this recipe today because my daughter Brandy (who happens to also have a blog)says that today is National Pretzel Day and that I needed to save this recipe to post for the holiday so that is what I did. It is also happens to be National Pumpkin Day, and I don’t do more than one post a day so you will need to come back tomorrow to find out what I will be posting for that holiday!

Soft Pretzels
3 to 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 (1/4 oz.) pkg. active dry yeast
1 cup water
1 tablespoon shortening
6 cups water
¼ cup baking soda
12 tablespoons butter, melted
Pretzel salt, sesame or poppy seeds

COMBINE 1 cup flour, sugar, salt and yeast in medium bowl. Blend well. Heat 1 cup water and shortening in small saucepan to 100° to 110°F. Add liquid to flour mixture. Blend at low speed of an electric mixer until moistened. Beat 3 minutes at medium speed. Stir in by hand an additional 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups flour or until dough pulls cleanly away from sides of bowl. Knead in 1/2 to 3/4 cup flour on floured surface, until dough is smooth and elastic. Place dough in greased bowl. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and cloth towel. Let rise in a warm place (80° to 85°F) until light and doubled in size, about 45 minutes.

SPRAY 2 cookie sheets with no-stick cooking spray. Punch down dough. Divide into 12 pieces. Roll each piece into a 16-inch rope. Form into pretzel shape. Place on prepared cookie sheets. Cover. Let rise in warm place about 15 to 20 minutes. Adjust oven rack to top position. Heat oven to 400°F. Combine 6 cups water and baking soda in a shallow sided saucepan. Bring to a gentle boil. Slowly drop pretzels into water, one at a time, cooking 15 seconds on each side. Remove from water with slotted spoon. Return to cookie sheet. Sprinkle with pretzel salt, sesame or poppy seeds

BAKE 8 minutes. Brush with melted butter. Bake 2 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheet. Brush generously with remaining butter. Serve warm.Pin It

Sweet & Salty Party Mix

I adapted this recipe from the new fall/winter 2010 Pampered Chef catalog. My only confusion was the size of the package of popcorn, I was a little confused about the size of popcorn bag, I used the mini bag of popcorn that was all I had, I threw away the box so I didn’t know the ounces of the package so after popping I measured out the popcorn and it did come out to 5 cups like the recipe called for. I made this party mix for a party I am having tomorrow night I might need to make another batch, because when Richard gets a hold of this one there won’t be any left for my guest!

Sweet & Salty Party Mix

1 package mini-size (3-3.5 oz) microwave popcorn (about 5 cups)
3 cups miniature pretzel twists
2 cups dry-roasted salted peanuts
2 cups oven-toasted rice cereal squares
1 cup butter (2sticks)
1 cup packed brown sugar
½ cup corn syrup
1 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 300⁰F. Prepare popcorn according to package directions. In large mixing bowl, combine popcorn, pretzels, peanuts and cereal; set aside. Combine butter, brown sugar and corn syrup in a medium size saucepan. Cook and stir with spoon over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil. Continue to cook without stirring for 3 minutes. Remove from heat; carefully stir in baking soda.
Pour caramel sauce over popcorn mixture; stir until evenly coated. Spoon onto large baking pan; bake 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from oven.
Transfer popcorn mixture to a large piece of parchment paper. Cool completely, breaking mixture into clusters as it cools. Store mix in an airtight container for up to three days.
Yield: 12 cups
Pecans, walnuts or macadamia nuts can be substituted for the peanuts, if desired.Pin It

Rosemary Nuts

Last Saturday I was invited to a Garden Party /Fund Raiser by my friend Susan, we had a lot of fun. At every table there was a small bowl of mixed nuts; my first nibble I thought Oh? These nuts have a little kick, and then I had to have some more and some more, they are so addicting. I was so glad to find out that they gave us all the recipes for the dishes that they served that day.
This morning before I went to work I was telling Richard about the nuts again, I told him I was going to make them when I got home today. But I was not going to use mix nuts because I didn’t have any that I was going to use the bag of almonds that I had in the freezer. I bought the bag from Costco a few months ago and there was almost 2 pound left, I just doubled all the ingredients and they turned out great. Be careful when you try these nuts you might not be able to stop yourself once you get started.

Rosemary Nuts
1 pound mixed nuts (walnuts pecans, cashews, or almonds) or any combination that you would like
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons fresh rosemary
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon butter, melted

Spread nuts out onto baking sheet and roast at 350⁰F for 10 minutes; stirring after first 5 minutes. Mix together in a small bowl cayenne pepper, salt, and brown sugar; set aside. After roasting, pour nuts into a large mixing bowl. Toss with melted butter coating all the nuts; then toss with cayenne pepper mixture stirring to coat all the nuts. Spread back onto the baking sheet to cool. Store in air tight container.Pin It

Peanut Butter & Marshmallow Treats

This was a special treat that my stepmom Gen would make for me when I was young. When my girls were growing up they loved it when I made them. They now make them for themselves and for their friends. You will love the sweet and salty combo.

Peanut Butter & Marshmallow Treats

Ritz Crackers
Peanut butter
Mini marshmallows

Spread peanut butter onto Ritz crackers; top with marshmallows. Place on to cookie sheet and place under the broiler for 3 to 5 minutes or until the marshmallows are a golden brown. Cool for a few minutes, before eating.Pin It

Bagel Chips

One of the benefits of working in a dentist office is sometimes our patients will bring us goodies. Today I brought home oranges and bagels. No one wanted to take home the bagels, not that they don’t like bagels; it’s just that this patients brings us a big bag of bagels almost every week. She gets them from our local bagel shop; she says that they were going to throw them out at the end of the day, so she takes them home with her. Will today Dr. M asked me if I had ever made bagel chips, I told her that I haven’t but I would like to give it a try. This is what I came up with; you could use plain or flavored bagels, I used onion and everything bagels today. Richard says and I do agree with him they are very addicting.

Bagel Chips
Bagels
Olive oil
Salt to taste
Garlic powder to taste

Preheat oven to 350⁰F. Spray cookie sheets with cooking spray.
Carefully slice bagels into ¼ inch slices using a serrated bread knife.

 Place on prepared cookie sheets. Brush sliced bagels with olive oil

 and sprinkle with salt and garlic powder to your taste.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Let bagels cool on baking sheets, this will help them become crisper.Pin It