Easy Homemade Soft Pretzels

Who would have thought you can make quick soft pretzels at home, no venturing to a crowded and loud mall required. You're probably thinking right now, yeah right making pretzels at home is sooo time consuming, what with making the dough, kneading the dough, the rising of the dough, the boiling of the dough, etc.  That's what I thought too! But due to some good fortune I stumbled across a blog that promised pretzel making would be simple and done in 30 minutes...."pshh, I gotta try this for myself", I thought. nom nom nom...excuse me, sorry im in the middle of finishing my 3rd preztel, and trying to type at the same time. 

Oh man, Sally's baking addiction wasn't kidding! These were some awesome and quick pretzels.  They were not only super fast to make, but there is no dough rising, no boiling, and barely any kneading involved. They were uber soft and I could barely contain myself when these bad boys came out of the oven. I wanted to stuff my face before I could even take photos, but then I snapped to it soon enough to realize if I ate all the pretzels immediately, then there would be none left to take pictures of... phew, close call. Once I took the pictures I then proceeded to stuff my face :)

 I hope you try these preztels for yourself, I was always a little intimidated with pretzel making but this recipe replaced all my fears and I cannot wait to try all sorts of different variations of pretzel flavors, like cinnamon and sugar, jalapeno, chocolate....the list goes on and on. 

30 Minute Homemade Soft Pretzels
Adapted from Sally's baking Addiction

Yields: 8-10 Pretzels

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups luke warm water
1 packet of highly active yeast (I used Fleischmann's)
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
4 cups all purpose flour
1 large egg
course sea salt

Directions

-  Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
-  In a large bowl, pour in the warm water and yeast, stir with a spoon until the yeast is dissolved, about 1 minute. Add in the salt and sugar and stir until incorporated.
-  Slowly add in the flour about 1 cup at a time, mix with a wooden spoon until it gets sticky, continue to add in all your flour and at this point is when I started to use my hands to finish mixing the dough. The dough should no longer be sticky.
-  Knead the dough for about 5 minutes on a lightly floured surface, once kneaded, shape into a ball, with a knife or your hands separate the dough into about 1/3 cup sections, or use smaller or bigger sections depending on how large you want your pretzels.

Divide your dough into sections

-  Roll the dough into a long rope about 20 inches long and form the pretzel shape and place on your parchment paper.

-  In a shallow bowl beat your egg and dip the pretzel (both sides) into the egg wash and place back onto your parchment paper and sprinkle with sea salt.

Dipped in egg wash

-  Bake for 10 minutes at 425 degrees, and turn the oven to broil for the last 3-4 minutes until the tops of the pretzel are golden brown, be careful to keep an eye on the pretzels once you switch it to broil because it might take only a couple of minutes for your pretzels to brown depending on your oven.

This was left in 4 minutes once switched to broil

This was left in for 3 minutes once switched to broil

I link up to these awesome parties! including the newest addition Our Growing Edge over at Bunny Eats Design.  

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

You know how many times I came close to stabbing myself when craving pumpkins.... ALOT.  Thats because I have no regard for my own safety sometimes when I become obsessed with trying to extract the gold from inside my pumpkin.   I don't crave my pumpkin for the decorative appeal, thats just an added bonus. I like to crave my pumpkin for its seeds.  There is nothing healthier, tastier and easier than making delicious roasted pumpkin seeds.  and there is nothing better than chowing down on them during a recent hiking trip through Towada Lake.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds with Garlic Salt

Ingredients

Seeds from your craved pumpkin
1/2 tablespoon Olive Oil
1-2 teaspoons Garlic Salt

Directions

- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
- Scoop out your seeds from inside your pumpkin and place in a small bowl, try to separate the seeds from the fiber/string of the pumpkin as best as you can aka the guts.
- Transfer your seeds to a colander and wash under cold water for 2-3 minutes, to remove any leftover fibers or guts of the pumpkin
- Pat the seeds dry on paper towels add to a medium bowl with the olive oil and mix well.
- Using a cookie sheet spread the seeds out evenly and sprinkle the seeds with your garlic salt
- Bake for 35 minutes or until golden brown, stirring occasionally (I would occasionally check on the crunchiness of my seeds by periodically opening the oven during and stealing a seed to try it doneness.)

Artichoke, Kale and Cheddar Hot Pockets for 2

I love hot pockets but its hard to find vegetarian ones at the grocery store.  Most of the time everything has chicken or pepperoni in it.
      So what do vegetarians do when we want a traditional meaty comfort food?  We come up with a homemade version :)  It was a lot of fun coming up with different flavor combinations when making these homemade hot pockets.  I finally decided on white sauce, kale and artichoke that baked beautifully and was quite tasty! What flavor combo would you try?

Artichoke, Kale and Cheddar Hot Pockets for 2
Oishii Treats Original
Yields: 2

Time:
Prep 20 Min
Cook 20 min

Ingredients

1 can Pillsbury seamless dough sheet
1 cup Kale (washed and chopped roughly)
4 Artichoke Hearts (I bought canned artichoke, drained them of their water and chopped them)
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 cup half/half
1 cup shredded white cheddar cheese
dash of pepper
dash of garlic salt
1 egg white

Directions

- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
- Place a small saute pan on medium high heat and spray with cooking spray
- Add you chopped artichokes and kale to the pan and saute for about 5-6 minutes or until kale is wilted sprinkle with a little garlic salt. Set aside
- In a small sauce pan on medium high heat melt your butter and add the flour, stir until completly combined.
- Pour in your half/half and whisk until thicken about 4 minutes.  add 1/2 cup of your shredded cheese, whisk until completely melted and combined.  You should have a nice thick white sauce.
- Roll out your dough sheet on too parchment paper- I had to re roll mine due to the packaging ripping the dough
- Evenly divide the dough into 4 equal rectangles

- Add about 3 tablespoons of the white sauce to the middle of 2 rectangles (keep the filling in the middle away from the edges so it can seal well), add 2-3 tablespoons of your artichoke and kale mixture, top with some extra cheddar cheese.

- Take your other rectangle half and do a light egg white wash on the seams of the dough, cover your filling and sealing the sides by using a fork to crimp down the edges. do a light egg white wash on the top of the dough and sprinkle with some garlic salt. transfer the parchment paper with your pockets onto a cookie sheet and Bake for 20 minutes .