SOFT PRETZELS

Thursday afternoons is Lissy's speech therapy and that puts us home later than needed to get a good meal on the table. The kids, especially Kian, do best eating early. Easy in the winter. Hard in the summer when we just want to play outside till dark. Anyways, I didn't feel like cooking. I felt like cooking only if it was something fun the kids could get in on. They help me a lot with muffins but I can't really just feed them muffins for dinner. Then I remembered these pretzels my wonderful friends and I used to make back in Jr. High after school.  I called Zac, who was at home, and guided him to where the recipe was buried and ran to the market with the kids for the ingredients. At home they helped me roll out the dough balls into shapes.  Logan liked making "dragons" and letters while Lissy liked making "round rounds" (circles).  We all enjoyed the yummy pretzels for dinner with all the dips we could find in our fridge.  Logan liked them with salsa, Lissy with ranch, Zac saltless (he's crazy) with mustard, Kian plain with cheese on the side, and me, first dipped in mustard and then dabbed in shredded asiago. We ate them with apple slices topped with cheddar cheese. Such a great family dinner/cooking night. Zac and I said we should make it our Sunday ritual. I'm just ashamed it took me 5 years to introduce a childhood favorite to my kids. Better late than never though I guess.  Here's the recipe if you want to give them a try with your kids too.

Soft Pretzels


Ingredients;
Non stick spray
1 1/3 cup warm water
1 pkg (1Tbsp.) active dry yeast
1 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. table salt
3 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 egg
1 Tbsp. water
coarse salt

Directions;
Preheat oven to 425
Spray 2 cookie sheets with non stick spray.
Pour warm water into mixing bowl.
Sprinkle the yeast over the water and let stand for 5 minutes.
Stir with a wooden spoon until blended.
Add the sugar, table salt, and 1 cup flour. Stir until blended.
Add 2 more cups of flour 1/2 cup at a time, stirring to blend after each addition.
The dough should be well blended.
Sprinkle a little flour over a clean kitchen surface.
Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic. Sprinkle with flour if sticky.
Separate dough into 12 equal pieces.
Roll 1 piece into a rope about 15 inches long - then shape.
Mix one egg and 1 Tbsp. water with whisk.
Brush on pretzels and sprinkle coarse salt over them.
Bake 15 - 20 min. They should be golden brown. Cool on a rack.