Have you ever tried Auntie Anne’s soft pretzels? Mr. Handsome is a huge fan. They have different flavors, but his favorites are the plain pretzels dipped in cheese sauce and the cinnamon sugar pretzels. With Super Bowl coming up in just a few days, I know that folks will be looking for tasty snacks to serve at their Super Bowl parties. If you’re searching for something delicious and unique that isn’t loaded with sugar, give these soft pretzels a try. Mr. Handsome thinks they taste similar to Auntie Anne’s. Below are my recipes for pretzels and cheese sauce.
I also want to announce that I now have an Instagram page! Follow me @anashvillewife.com.
Soft Pretzels
Ingredients
- 2 cups milk
- 2 packages active dry yeast
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar, not packed
- 2 cups all-purpose flour I use King Arthur's
- 4 Tbsp butter, melted
- 1.5 tsp regular table salt
- 2.5 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups warm water
- 2 Tbsp baking soda
- coarse salt
Instructions
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In a heat-proof bowl, warm milk in microwave until approximately 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43 Celsius). I use my instant read digital meat thermometer to check the temperature.
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Evenly sprinkle yeast over hot milk. Let stand 5 minutes, and add sugar and 2 cups flour. Mix in melted butter.
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Stir in salt and 2.5 cups flour. Knead dough by hand or use an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook. Kneading is done when dough feels slightly sticky but no longer sticks to the bowl. Add additional flour if necessary.
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Grease bowl, and form dough into a ball. Place dough ball in bowl, cover bowl with plastic wrap, and let it rise in a warm oven until doubled in size.
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When dough has finished rising, punch it down to remove air pockets. Use your hands to roll out 12 dough "snakes." Form into pretzels.
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Place warm water into a clean bowl. Stir in baking soda until dissolved.
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Dip pretzels one by one into baking soda water. Allow excess water to drip off before arranging pretzels on greased cookie sheets.
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Sprinkle coarse salt over pretzels.
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Bake at 450 Fahrenheit for approximately 11 minutes (until pretzels begin to turn golden brown).
Cheese Sauce
Delicious with homemade soft pretzels
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 2 Tbsp flour
- 1 cup milk, 2%
- 6 oz sharp cheddar cheese
- 1/8 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
Instructions
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Melt butter in a saucepan over low-medium heat. Add flour, and whisk for 15 seconds.
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Add milk, whisking constantly on low heat until smooth and starting to thicken (approximately 3 minutes).
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Add cheese, shredded or in small chunks. Stir until cheese is completely melted. Stir in paprika and garlic powder.
Your cheese sauce looks good. I use the same recipe to make different sauces as well as a cheese sauce but my cheese sauce never thickens like yours. I wonder why? My family loves it on chicken. And my Mac and cheese recipe makes the sauce like this but without adding the cheese until it’s ready to go in the oven.
You can try adding more cheese. And if it still doesn’t thicken, you can always add a tiny bit of flour. I’ll have to try it on chicken.
Ellie
I guess I didn’t know if adding more flour a little later would mess it up. I normally just throw my own measurements in, and that could be my problem.
I often just throw stuff in, too. (That makes it especially challenging when I’m trying to type up my recipes, LOL.) I would recommend giving this exact recipe a try and seeing how you like it. If you want it thicker, you can add more cheese at the end. And you can add a little extra flour the next time you make it, but you would want to add it when you add the other flour, not at the end, and you’ll also need to increase the butter by the same amount.
Ellie
I’ll have to try that whenever I can. Thanks.
Many thanks for your recipe , I shall try it this weekend , I love Auntie Annie’s , always have one when on holiday in USA ,
I find football unbearably boring. The whole idea of catering to a bunch of rowdy people hyped up over that boring game makes me sick. I agree with your thoughtfulness and hospitality, you are good at planning and preparing no matter what for. Its sad though that this is going to go on all of the time at your house. My sister divorced her husband for this exact reason. She was a football, hockey, baseball fan ‘s wife and did the catering for the guys and hung out with the other wives and girlfriends. She decided if that was her life and her future she did not want it. They had no children before the split. She married someone else and now has a family and a good life.
Ellie didn’t write that she has to constantly cater sporting events. She simply provided a recipe for those who do like sports and want to try a soft pretzel recipe.
I’m sorry your sister wasn’t compatible with her husband. It’s unfortunate she didn’t know that he was such a sports fan prior to getting married.
I probably would have done the same thing as your sister.
So the only thing I like about the game is the food lol. For me personally, I don’t think I could be with someone who was a huge sports fan, good thing I didn’t marry one. But Ellies seems to like cooking and watching the game and yes, you can do that with a little baby. (She didn’t mention if they were hosting a party btw)
I agree. The food…and the commercials. Some years the commercials are better than others. Hoping this will be a good year! We’re not hosting a party because we’re still keeping Baby away from crowds.
Ellie
Ellie, you are very good at taking the high road and leaving things alone that just shouldn’t be answered. 😊
Thank you. 🙂
Pasting on a smile and saying I’m fine might be good sometimes, like at the bank teller. But if a person wants to really deal with their demons they are going to get down on their knees and get up. PS the half time shows can be satanic.
Anon. 8:50p.m. What a ugly comment. I think your comment shouldn’t of been answered… Jane
I wanted to add another comment to this thread. I’m not a big sports fan, but part of having a happy marriage is showing interest in the other person’s hobbies. For that reason, I go fishing with Mr. Handsome and encourage him to watch some football (sometimes I watch, sometimes I don’t). I have actually come to enjoy fishing. Sometimes I fish, and other times I just keep him company and enjoy the fresh air. On the flip side, he helps me blog, goes hiking with me, and shows an interest in my hobbies. 🙂
Ellie
Sounds like you are both mature and selfless adults… with a long, happy marriage to come, Lord willing. What a great testimony are two people who each put the another before self! That’s the way to lasting happiness together. 😊
Thank you for your recipies. I am going to try this. From my recipie diy, I make baking powder biscuits.
I put 1 tbsp of $1 bag Italian herb blend in the dry ingredients. That’s an inexpensive way to make something quick easy and yet kind of nice to go with cheese, sliced meats, eggs, and some veg.
Sounds tasty!
Congratulations in your sweet little baby boy, Ellie. I am pregnant with our third. My first birth was almost exactly like yours. Let me tell you: the second one was as different as night and day from the first one. It kind of “healed” me from the first experience.
Anyhow, I am looking forward to July. Being pregnant is NOT my cup of tea.
This recipe sound amazingly delicious. Totally going to try it out soon.
I hope you are feeling well recovered and rested (as much as you could a couple weeks after birth…). God bless you. I love your blog 🙂 Greetings from Germany
Thank you, Anna. That’s really good to hear. Hoping for an easier birth next time. Congratulations on your third baby! Will you find out the gender?
I’m blessed to have you as a reader from Germany. 🙂
Ellie
We want to be suprised this time. We have a boy and a girl already. So, I’ll just pack two outfits when we go to the hospital.
Have a wonderful and calm weekend 🙂
That’s exciting! I’m sure you’re counting down the days. Hope you have a wonderful weekend too. 🙂
Ellie
Growing up in Brooklyn we had a soft pretzel factory right around the corner. We would go to the cellar entrance and call “mister can I buy a pretzel”. The man would come up and we would give him the nickel. Our friend’s father worked in that factory. Now we buy the frozen ones but they are not the same.
Joan Marion and Marilyn
How neat! I bet those pretzels were still delicious. I wonder if the factory is still around.
Ellie
Can’t wait to try your soft Pretzels and your cheese sauce. If they have a super bowl game with the weather like it is it depends on if they can get to were the game is being held .
My hubby likes soft pretzels, he buys the frozens ones. I like Auntie Anne’s almond soft pretzel at our Mall. Will make both recipes Sunday. We watch the Super Bowl, only football game that we watch. But what I enjoy more is the Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet. Thank you for the recipes Ellie!!! Jane
I haven’t tried them. There’s a Wetzel Pretzel about an hour and a half fro here in Phoenix. I love soft pretzels and I would love to make them from scratch. Thank you for the recipe.
Haven’t heard of Wetzel Pretzels. Clever name!
I have never baked Brezeln before but I wanted to try your recipe. Yours look better but it smells delicious in our kitchen now. We haven’t tasted yet. The hardest part was converting the recipe to swedish measurements.
Congratulation to your beautiful baby boy! I am so happy for you and Mr Handsome.
I’m glad to hear that, Sophie! Do you use an app or anything to convert it, or do you just do it by hand? Let me know how you like them. 🙂
Ellie
I found a website with information on how to convert cups and ounces into swedish measurement. I also found a good website explaining how many grams an package of active dry yeast contains and how to convert this to fresh yeast, which was what I used. 😁
The Pretzels tasted wonderful! Our youngest loved them. Next time we will bake them together.
I’m glad to hear you enjoyed the pretzels, Sophie!
Hey Ellie,
My 12 year old daughter and I love to cook and just tried the soft pretzels. They turned out so good! We made some salted and some cinnamon/sugar and even made a little icing to dip them in🤗. Thank you for sharing your recipe! And congratulations on your sweet baby boy. We have a new baby girl and enjoying her immensely!
I’m glad to hear that, Marina! And what a great way to spend quality time with your daughter while teaching her a valuable skill. I’m looking forward to having my little guy help in the kitchen when he is old enough. Congratulations on your baby girl! How many months is she?
Ellie
She’s 6 months old already! Time sure does fly!
I’ve heard that’s a very fun age!