Oh my gosh you guys. I cannot even begin to tell you how IN LOVE I am with these AMAZING pretzels!! Oh. My. Word. They’re soft, they’re chewy, they’re buttery. They’re perfect little pillowy pretzel bites covered with a fabulously crunchy cinnamon sugar crust and finally — the pièce de résistance — they’re dipped in THE most heavenly salted caramel sauce ever. Seriously. I ate this caramel sauce right out of the jar with a spoon. Maria had to wrestle the jar away from me. We had words. I tried to sneak it home with me. The combo of these two together is 100% perfection. If you want the BEST mini appetizer-dessert-snack EVER… This is it. So insanely good. I am jealous of past-Amanda for getting to eat these, since present-Amanda currently doesn’t have any. I kind of hate her. Let’s make these right away before I get too bitter. You have, have, have to make these. ASAP. They are so good! :)
Okay, let’s get started. :) I always love getting together with bloggy friends, but I especially love it when we can get together and bake!! :) I had so much fun baking with Maria and Josh in the Two Peas and Their Pod Kitchen. Maria asked what I wanted to make, and I knew it had to be their famous homemade soft pretzels! They were so easy and fun to make. I am definitely making these at home ASAP!! :) Here’s what all you’ll need — just a few basic ingredients. Nothing too complicated. We used bread flour, but you can easily use all-purpose flour as well.
Here’s the kind of yeast we used.
To start, combine warm water from the tap, yeast, sugar, and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer.
Mix for about 30 seconds until just combined.
And let sit for about five minutes until the yeast “blooms” and it looks like this.
Next add the flour and salt and mix on low speed until just combined.
Like so.
Switch to the dough hook and knead on medium speed for 3-4 minutes until the dough is smooth and begins to pull away from the side of the bowl.
Perfect! Remove the dough from the bowl and knead into a ball.
Coat a bowl with a little vegetable oil, add the dough, and turn to coat the dough with oil. Cover with a clean towel or foil and place in a warm spot until the dough doubles in size, about an hour. You can use the bread proofing setting on your oven, or just set it in a regular oven turned off. The oven is a great place for dough to rise because it’s generally free from drafts.
Meanwhile, we’ll make the salted caramel sauce. Yay! Salted caramel party time! All you need is sugar, butter, cream, and salt for the most perfect, most pure, most delicious caramel sauce ever. Be sure to measure your ingredients out ahead of time so you have them ready while you’re making the sauce (it goes quickly), and it helps if the butter and cream are at room temperature.
To begin, heat 2 cups of sugar over medium to medium-high heat in a heavy 2-3 quart saucepan.
Whisk constantly. The sugar will start to melt and clump up as it transforms, just keep whisking.
It’s starting to melt! Keep whisking. :) This is the most heavenly fragrance in the entire world. You know the saying warm vanilla sugar? This is so much better than that.
Keep whisking, keep whisking… :)
Once the sugar is completely smooth and melted, add 12 tablespoons of butter, piece by piece. Three Land O’ Lakes half-sticks are exactly 12 tablespoons.
Whisk after each addition until fully incorporated.
When the butter is fully incorporated into the sugar, remove the pan from the heat.
Slowly pour in one cup of heavy cream.
Whisk until the cream is fully incorporated and the caramel is smooth.
And finally, whisk in one tablespoon fine sea salt.
That’s it!! See how easy that was?? :) Pour the sauce into a jar and cool to room temperature. You’re going to need to taste-test SEVERAL times with a spoon though. Several. See? That jar was full before I got to it. ;)
I seriously need to have this on hand at ALL times. It’s so good on everything!! :)
Meanwhile, our dough has doubled in size! It’s pretzel time, baby!
First, bring 3 quarts of water to a boil, and preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Once the water comes to a boil, add 2/3 cup baking soda.
While you’re waiting on the water to boil, divide the dough into 8 equal pieces.
Here’s where Maria and Josh took over. They are the perfect, cutest little team in the kitchen! Yes, we were all very comfy in our PJs this fine Saturday morning, lol! Roll each piece into a rope about two feet long.
Cut the dough into one inch pieces to make the pretzel bites.
Boil the pretzel bites in batches, about 15 at a time, for 30 seconds. Remove with a large slotted spoon.
Place pretzel bites on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Make sure they are not touching.
Here’s where I forgot to take a picture! I must’ve been sneaking caramel out of the jar while Maria wasn’t looking. ;)
Bake the pretzel bites at 425 for 8 minutes, then remove from the oven and immediately place the pretzel bites on a cooling rack. You could also use a sheet of wax paper or foil if you do not have a cooling rack. Brush with the egg wash and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. You want to do this over a cooling rack and not on the pan you bake the pretzel bites on or else the sugar will stick to the bottom of the pan and burn. Then put the pretzel bites back on the first pan and continue baking for an additional 8-10 minutes until golden and cooked through.
Tada! The sweet, cinnamony, crunchy shell combined with the soft, pillowy, salty pretzel is absolute perfection.
But then you’re gonna wanna do this.
And this.
And this.
And basically just keep doing that over, and over, and over. And over.
The end.
OMG. You guys will NOT believe what Maria did with her pretzel bites!!! They are stuffed with peanut butter AND dipped in chocolate!! Swoon! Visit TwoPeasandTheirPod.com and get the recipe for these Peanut Butter Filled Pretzel Bites! :)
Cinnamon Sugar Pretzel Bites
Recipe courtesy TwoPeasandTheirPod.com
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1 package active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
6 tablespoons (3 oz) unsalted butter, melted
2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
4 1/2 to 5 cups all-purpose flour
Vegetable oil
3 quarts water
2/3 cup baking soda
1 whole egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon cold water (egg wash)
2 tablespoons sugar mixed with 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Combine the water, sugar, yeast, and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix with the dough hook until combined. Let sit for 5 minutes.
Add the salt and flour and mix on low speed until combined. Increase the speed to medium and continue kneading until the dough is smooth and begins to pull away from the side of the bowl, about 3 to 4 minutes. If the dough appears too wet, add additional flour, 1 tablespoon at a time. Remove the dough from the bowl, place on a flat surface and knead into a ball with your hands.
Coat a bowl with vegetable oil, add the dough and turn to coat with the oil. Cover with a clean towel or foil and place in a warm , draft-free spot until the dough doubles in size, about one hour.
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Bring the water to a boil and add the baking soda.
Remove the dough from the bowl and place on a floured surface. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces, and roll each piece into a rope about 22″ long. Cut the dough into one inch pieces to make pretzel bites. Boil the pretzel bites in the water solution in batches, about 15 at a time, for 30 seconds. Remove with a large slotted spoon. Place pretzel bites on a well-greased baking sheet.
Bake the pretzel bites at 425 for 8 minutes, then remove from the oven and immediately place the pretzel bites on a cooling rack. Brush with the egg wash and sprinkle the tops generously with cinnamon sugar. You want to do this over a cooling rack and not on the pan you bake the pretzel bites on or else the sugar will stick to the bottom of the pan and burn. Then put the pretzel bites back on the first pan and continue baking for an additional 8-10 mins until golden and cooked through.
Serve with Salted Caramel Sauce, recipe on TwoPeasandTheirPod.com.
Make for: Appetizers, Dessert, Snacks
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45 Comments
Amanda this is a beautiful, amazing, wonderful post! The detail you provided, all the pics, there is nothing left to the imagination. Well, except for how they taste but I can almost taste them now, and wow, how good they must be!!
Cinnamon-and-sugar AND peanut butter are two favorites of mine. And caramel. You pretty much hit everything, all at once. You ladies were baking and cooking machines and it’s appreciated. These are the kind of posts,when you write food posts like this, that just make me so excited to get in my own kitchen and cook :) So inspiring!
Thank you Averie!! :) xoxo
When I first saw this caramel sauce Maria and Josh posted earlier this week…I seriously haven’t stopped thinking about it! And now…this! I need to take immediate action and make these TODAY for the kids’ after school snack. I loved ALL of your pictures…absolutely perfect!
These look so fabulous!! I’m in total love!!
My mouth is watering, I must try out this recipe. I wonder how you stay thin with all the yummy recipes you share here, surely you can’t resist.
Well, you’ve fully convinced me I need to make them!!
You are both killing me with your pretzel recipes today. Looks amazing
Such a fun day! We need round 2! I am craving pretzels again:) xo
Those look yummy and easy! Could you use the same basic pretzel dough recipe and use different toppings at the point you put on the cinnamon sugar? (kosher salt, cheese, etc).
Cooking with yeast always intimidates me but this looks so easy I’m going to try it.
Definitely! This is a great basic pretzel recipe that you could have loads of fun experimenting with :) Maria stuffed hers with peanut butter, but you could also stuff them with cheese and pepperoni for pizza pretzel bites!! :)
This is such a fun post. Pretzels in PJ’s on a Saturday morning sounds perfect to me!
The dunking clip is awesome. And I’m completely obsessed with this variety. Can’t wait to try it!
I would like a hot tub full of the caramel sauce and I’ll just eat my way out. I guess that’s not the greatest ideas if I want to keep the weight off so I’ll settle for the mason jar. Hmmph!! ;-)
Jon David and I LOOOVE getting cinnamon sugar pretzel bites and caramel sauce when we go to the mall. It’s our FAVORITE, so I think this recipe is just for me ;) Definitely trying this soon — with baby here, we don’t get out to the mall as often lately!!
What a fun life you enjoy. I am so happy when I find an email from you in the morning, makes my day. Thanks Amanda.
Love the dunking clip on here! You are awesome!
oh wow! what a fun recipe to make with friends too!! love all the pictures Amanda!
Love cinnamon sugar pretzels! Great idea to create a caramel sauce to go with them!
OMG….I’m sitting here sipping my coffee wishing I had one of these to go with it. What lavendar color and brand of fingernail polish does the person have on who was putting in the teaspoon of sea salt to the recipe ? It’s quite lovely. I have been hunting for a subtle lavendar polish color and can’t seem to find the right one but this one looks right on the money. Thanks…. ;) Becky
This is totally swoonworthy!!! I wanna go out and make this right now! Question: how long will the pretzel bites keep for? Can you make them a few days ahead? Thanks heaps!
That last pic is FOOD PORN!!!
These look downright dangerous! Hanging out in the kitchen with a friend to make these would be so fun! And having a partner in crime to eat them with sounds totally necessary.
that recipe looks absolutely delicious!
Omg, you`re driving me crazy by looking at all the pictures!! :D I love cinnamon sugar pretzels!
I made these today and while I was scrambling with the rolling, boiling, and baking, these were really good! My kids definitely were impressed. Oh, the kids insisted on a powdered sugar glaze over the caramel.
I just made the caramel sauce, or tried to. It never got very thick, and I burned the sugar a bit. But even so, I tasted about five tablespoons or so – took that long to taste if I really did burn the sugar, you see. I did. But it stills tastes REALLY good. I can’t wait to try it when I don’t screw it up!
These look so fun and addicting! The picture of you dunking a little bite over and over again made me want to reach through the screen and dunk one myself. Yum!
love this recipe and all of the photos! I can’t wait to make that Salted Caramel Sauce as well!
I made beaver tales like this once, incredibly hard to make, but ohh so good! Beautiful pictures.
FrozenFairytale
STOP. IT. RIGHT. NOW.
But first, feed me?
thankxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx yummmy
HOMYGOSH! Yum!!
This is one of those desperately want to make but afraid to make because I will eat them all kind of recipes.
Best. Gif. Ever.
Amanda, I am dying over these! What a fantastic treat. Cinnamon and caramel go together so well.
Love the gif!
And isn’t it fun to bake with other food bloggers?! So much better than other people you can’t gossip with. ;)
And these pretzels! Pretzels are dangerous around me as is. But with caramel… that sounds even more heavenly.
Wow. I cannot get over how absolutely amazing those look. And they didn’t seem too hard to make either! This summer, me and my boyfriend started compiling a list of recipes to make when were hungry and I am definitely adding this to the list. The pictures are definitely a bonus (can you believe some blogs don’t post any?) because now I know what it’s supposed to look like when I make the pretzel bites! Thanks again for the recipe. I am dying to try it out.
Thanks,
Madeline Kruger
Dear lord this looks amazing and your step by step is perfect. I will admit that I completely suck at anything that requires yeast and proofing but I will try it again because I WANT to eat these pretzel bites:)
Oh yummmm! Those seriously look amazing! How long would the pretzels keep? Could I make the day before my daughter’s party and they’d still taste great or would they turn into hockey pucks?
Hi Jessica! You could make the dough a day ahead. (Do not cut it yet.) Make sure it is well oiled and covered tightly in plastic wrap. Store it in the fridge overnight. The next day take it out of the fridge, let it warm to room temperature, cut, boil, and bake. Hope this helps! :)
I made just the caramel sauce. I followed directions exactly and it looked fine, but when I tasted it, it was horrible! My only conclusion was that I burned the sugar or butter, and that my heat settings on my stove are hotter than on yours.
ok i must be having a super blonde moment or was just so excited to make these with the kiddos, but i am missing where/when you add the baking soda?? i would assume with the original dough mixture but it only says flour and salt :(
You add the baking soda to the water you boil the pretzels in. Hope this helps! :)
Oh my! These look amazing!! I definitely want to try them sometime. I found your blog from the Hello Cupcake group on Facebook and the cookie dough cupcake recipe. You have so many great recipes on here. New follower!
FYI, thought you might like to know that the main photo and this entire recipe has been posted over on Recipes I Need ( http://recipesineed.com/homemade-cinnamon-sugar-soft-pretzel-bites-with-salted-caramel-dipping-sauce/ ). That kind of behavior gets me feisty.