Sometimes you have the best of intentions. You intend to make healthy vegetable based meals, but instead you just want something that has no nutritional value, feels like summer, and will make your taste buds sing. And sometimes, your husband is really happy and excited when you make said unhealthy meal that you just can’t help yourself. So you do it, you make pretzel dogs and eat that instead of the huge amounts of produce that just got delivered from Waitrose. Oops. 

This is a wonderful weekend treat though. The work to make this isn’t all that difficult but it is time consuming, which means it’s not a weeknight dinner. Although, it does make a pretty indulgent and happiness inducing workplace lunch.

The first time I made pretzel dogs was for lunch on my 30th birthday. The end product was delicious but making them was extraordinarily frustrating. I could not get the dough to come together. It stayed sticky until I added almost a cup more flour than listed in the recipe. And once it was dough, it was hard to handle and roll it out to wrap the hot dogs.

But, since pretzel dogs taste so good Ryan and I wanted to make them again. We’ve been missing baseball a lot this summer, and pretzel dogs remind us of the ballpark. I love getting a pretzel dog, with some cheese dipping sauce, and sitting out in the sun, sweating and cheering on the Nats.

For this recipe, I combined what I’ve done before with soft pretzels with some general research, and a recipe from Buns in My Oven. Her recipes uses Auntie Anne’s pretzels from any mall in America as her inspiration. Both those mall pretzels and ball park food are junk foods that you know lack nutritional value, but you just have to have them. Seriously, I just gotta eat pretzels when I smell ’em. They are staples for those places and it’s not a proper outing to the mall, or the ballpark, without a pretzel. This time to ensure successful dough I mixed everything by hand instead of with the stand mixer. Kitchen gadgets are my favorite, but sometimes doing it manually is a safer bet. You’re just unlikely to overwork dough when you do it by hand. Your (ok, my) arms are going to give out before the dough does. And I think that was part of the problem in my first attempt. I used the dough hook attachment in my mixer and I think it overworked the gluten in the flour, which ultimately made everything tough and dense.

This time I used a wooden spoon to bring together the liquid and dry ingredients together. Once they formed a messy dough that could be handled I kneaded it for 4 minutes until it came together as a smooth ball. It’s pretty easy. I think when you’re a dough/bread novice (like me) it’s best to start out using your hands to get a feel of what well done dough looks and feels like. Unsure how to knead? Check out the step by step photo tutorial on Wikihow.

This dough makes enough to cover 10 hot dogs. Originally though I only cut 8 pieces of dough because I didn’t realize how many dogs were in my pack. Oops. This recipe works for 10, but then the pretzel layer is a bit thin. I think 6-8 hot dogs is the sweet spot for this recipe. That way you have a thick enough layer of pretzel so you can really enjoy its flavors, but not so much that you lose the hot dog and feel like you’re just eating bread.

I know the pretzel dogs might sound like a crazy recipe you might never actually make, but I encourage you to think about trying it out. It’s delicious and I think it would please any member of your family – especially children. It’s fun and it’s a different way to eat a classic summertime barbecue food. Also did I mention?  It’s delicious!

Finally, if you can go to a baseball game this summer, please have a pretzel dog for me.

Messy level: I badly want to say this is an easy mess free recipe, but it’s really not. You need to make the dough, then roll it on the counter, then boil the dogs quickly, then bake them. It’s a lot of steps. None of them difficult, but it requires a lot of dishes. And also, drops of baking soda water leave white marks on dark surfaces so you definitely have to wipe down the stove afterwards.

Pretzel Dogs

 

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Prep time

90 mins

Cook time

15 mins

Total time

1 hour 45 mins

 

Serves: 8-10 pretzel dogs

Ingredients

• ¾ cup warm beer, or water (about 110°F/43°C)
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1½ teaspoons active dry yeast
• 2¼ cups flour
• 1 tablespoon/14g butter, melted
• Vegetable oil
• 10 cups water
• ⅔ cup baking soda
• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoon water
• Coarse salt for topping
• 6-10 hot dogs

Instructions

1. To heat the beer or water microwave it in 15 second bursts. Use a thermometer if you have one to check its temperature. Otherwise, if it feels warm to your finger but not scalding hot, then it's probably fine.
2. Once the beer is warm stir in the sugar and yeast. Let stand for 5 minutes. In this time the yeast will get foamy and smell like bread.
3. In a large bowl, mix together the salt and flour. Create a well in the center of the flour mixture.
4. Pour the beer mixture and the melted butter into the well of the flour mixture. Using a wooden spoon (or a dough hook on low) mix together the liquid and flour mixtures. Mix until you have a shaggy ball.
5. Knead the dough for 4-5 minutes or until it forms a smooth ball. I recommend doing this by hand, but you can use the mixer.
6. Lightly oil a medium bowl with vegetable oil. Put the prepared dough in the bowl and roll it around a bit so it's lightly coated in oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit for 1 hour or until it's doubled in size.
7. Towards the end of that 1 hour, preheat the oven to 450°F/230°C.
8. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and grease the parchment.
9. In a large pot combine the water and baking soda. Bring to a boil.
10. Now that the dough is ready, divide it into the same number of pieces as the number of hot dogs you have.
11. Using a rolling pin or your hand flatten the dough so it's about ¼"-1/2" in thickness. Put the hot dog in the middle and wrap the dough around it. Depending on what look you prefer you can cover the hot dog entirely or let the ends stick out. Pinch the edges of the dough together to form a seal so that the dough won't unravel.
12. Once all the hot dogs are covered, in batches of 3-4, drop the hot dogs into the boiling water. Let them boil for 30 seconds them remove with a slotted spoon.
13. Place the pretzel dogs on the prepared baking sheet. Leave at least 1" in between the pretzel dogs.
14. In a small bowl beat together the egg and 1 tablespoon of water.
15. Brush the egg over the tops of the pretzel dogs. Sprinkle each dog with some coarse salt.
16. Bake for 15 minutes, or until nicely browned all over.
17. Let cool just slightly.
18. Serve with ketchup, mustard, or cheese sauce and a beer.

3.3.3077

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Back in March, before I went back to DC for my friend Mala’s wedding, I asked Mala if she would get me the largest jar of peanut butter she could find. I asked her in part because my friend Sarah had been impressed by the size of the peanut butter in my cupboard and I told her it was nothing compared to what I could get in the US. Also I asked because Ryan and I wanted some US peanut butter. You know, tastes like home and childhood. 

Mala went to Costco to get me the peanut butter, but in classic oversize American warehouse style she couldn’t just get one jar – she got a two pack. Look how big and gigantic those American jars are compared to what I bought at Tesco?! It’s astounding and overwhelming. I was worried they wouldn’t fit in my suitcase, although thankfully both made it back to London. Now it’s June and we’ve gone through one of those jars. Whether that’s impressive in a good way or a bad way I don’t know, but it’s the truth.

Since March, we’ve been generously eating peanut butter. We’ve had lots of pb&j sandwiches, we’ve put it on apples, and spread it on crepes with Nutella. Then the other day at work I had a craving for the flourless peanut butter cookies I wrote about when we first moved here. It was a controversial choice since it requires one cup of peanut butter – and since we’re on to the second jar it would put a significant dent in our inventory.

However, I kept day dreaming about those cookies. I had to make them. And then day dreaming turned to innovation. I thought, “you know what I love with peanut butter? Pretzels!” Pretzels with peanut butter. It’s probably my favorite snack to have after work. Sometimes right after work and before dinner gets started Ryan and I are famished and need a snack. Pretzels and peanut butter is perfect because it’s filling and the perfect combination of smooth and crunchy.

Then I my day dreaming got even better and I got extra snacky. What makes everything better? And what’s delicious with pretzels? Chocolate! There it was – the trifecta – peanut butter pretzel chocolate cookies. It might be my perfect sweet snack food. The pretzels had crunch and some salt, the dark chocolate is sweet and slightly bitter, and peanut butter is perfection. Most importantly, even with those addition this recipe is crazy easy because you need hardly any other ingredients. I just adapted the flourless cookie recipe to incorporate these add-ins.

I decide to use dark chocolate from a bar because I like the randomness in sizes and it melts really well. I’ve done it with chocolate chips and they work just fine. However, chocolate chips have more stabilizers in them, so even when baked the chips hold their shape. Chocolate cut roughly from the bar creates melty gooey-ness when the cookies come straight from the oven. Use whichever you like, either will be delicious.

Messy level: Everything is made in one bowl! It’s the cleanest recipe and so easy to make. Yes, peanut butter is sticky but it stays in the bowl. And flourless means that the flour doesn’t spill on the floor or fly in the air. So clean people! One tip though, grease your measuring cup with cooking spray before measuring the peanut butter. Do that, and the peanut butter will slide out easily.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Pretzel Cookies

 

Print

Prep time

5 mins

Cook time

13 mins

Total time

18 mins

 

Serves: 2 dozen

Ingredients

• 1 cup smooth peanut butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• ¼-1/3 cup crushed hard pretzels
• ¼ cup dark chocolate chips or chunks

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C.
2. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
3. In a medium bowl mix together the peanut butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla extract until smooth and combined.
4. Stir in the crushed pretzels and dark chocolate until mix throughout
5. Take about 1-2 tablespoons of dough and form into a ball. Put the ball on the prepared baking sheet. Then, flatten the ball slightly.
6. Bake in the oven for 10-13 minutes or until just slightly darker on the edge.
7. Let cool. Then serve, preferably with milk.

3.3.3077

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People, get ready for a little bit of bragging. Last weekend, Ryan and I went to Munich. Ya know, we just popped over to Germany for the weekend as people do. Sound fancy right? But seriously, my Titi Pascale and Uncle Willie were doing a holiday in Europe and asked Ryan and me if we wanted to meet them for part of it. My aunt told me about the Christmas markets and I was all,”we’ll be there.”

In booking the trip, I did have some travel craziness where I felt guilty about spending money on a two day trip. But, Ryan and I moved to London so we could easily travel around Europe, and we were going to see family so it was totally worth it. And let me tell you, Germany was just lovely. Below is a picture of the view as the plane was landing. In the background are mountains (although a bit hazy and hard to see), and then in the foreground perfectly manicured fields and villages. It was so beautiful!

Once we met up with my uncle and aunt, we hit the markets to do some eating. We ate with abandon. We had potato fritters with apple sauce and Titi Pascale had them with some delicious garlic sour cream. We had cookies. We had bratwurst sandwiches. We had beers. We had roasted almonds with Nutella – which were so good we bought a second pack to take with us on the train to the airport. They were so good I’m going to have to look up a recipe. We also had giant pretzels which were soft on the inside and crunchy on the outside. Those were so good we took one on the plane and ate it on our layover in Copenhagen. And every single thing we ate was delicious. Even when we ate at the stand by the tourist-y ice rink, the food was perfection.

One of my favorite markets was Medieval themed. At this market I had a gargantuan glass of wine punch. I don’t totally know everything that was in it, but they poured wine out of the big jug, then splashed rum around on top, added a sugar cube, and then set the whole thing on fire. It was a huge cup and no one wanted to drink it with me (probably because it was so boozy), so I got a little tipsy given that I’d had the giant beer shortly before. I was a little shocked because the wine cost 15€ and I was all, “whoa… but I really want to try it.” But, when I returned the cup I got 10€ back, so then I was really please because I’d pay £5 for a regular glass of wine at a pub. All in all, felt like a good deal.

The city itself was really nice. We saw a man yodeling and we walked through a park and saw a beautiful waterfall and sunset. The whole weekend we had really nice weather. It was a perfect winter day with a nice crisp chill, but we could still have jackets open and hats off.

But what of the things I love most about Christmas time are the decorations. I love Christmas lights – and there were everywhere. They were on lamp posts, on windows, on buildings. The whole city felt really nice and festive. There was a store display window that was decorated in a woodland scene with lots of moving stuffed toys. It was pretty elaborate and cheery.

On Sunday we took the tram to Nymphenburg Palace. Side note, we found German people to be so nice. Someone helped us figure out the tram tickets, and earlier someone else gave us directions – both times unbidden. Anyway, Nymphenburg Palace was really beautiful. In front there is a lake with loads of ducks and swans. They swans were astounding! Really large, plush looking, with perfectly white feathers. We saw a women petting and feeding them. We were just waiting for her to get bitten – but it didn’t happen. The palace itself is an enormous complex.

Inside, was even more astounding. The main room where we entered was two stories tall, with gorgeous chandeliers, and an amazing painted ceiling. Throughout the whole place the ceilings had really detailed and elaborate paintings of mythological figures. Words can’t express how beautiful those paintings are. One, which I didn’t take a picture of, had such incredible perspective that it looked like the figure was standing on a cloud right above you, and that you were underneath her feet. We all stopped to look at one painting  that had a deer hunt (middle in photo below). This painting was huge, maybe 15 feet tall, but at the very bottom center is a large pack of dogs swimming after a fleeing deer. It was a cool painting showing a village and a hunt, but I thought it was curious that the main action was in such a tiny portion of the whole.

After we toured the palace, we checked out the carriages and sleighs exhibit. I didn’t have huge expectations, but I left blown away. The carriages were more ornate and beautiful than I have the ability to convey with words. There were nymphs holding torchs, there were geese squawking, there were gods blowing horns, and there we suns on hubcaps. Every since surface glittered and shone.

Some of the sleighs had built in ermine blankets and thick slippers for foot holds. These were truly amazing ways to show off the wealth and power of the monarchs. I felt bad for the poor horses who would have had to carry all this weight. One of the coolest sleighs (above) was of Hercules killing the Hydra. The hydra itself was made from one single hollowed out tree!

I left Munich glowing. I was well fed, I had seen some beautiful things, and I had spent some wonderful time with my family, and I was filled with the Christmas spirit. Sounds cheesy, I know, but it was true. I was sad to leave. I had so much fun with my family, and it was nice to be with people that I felt so comfortable with it. It was such a pleasure to just have some food and hang out. It made me more excited for when Ryan and I go back to the US next week! Anyway, Munich was delightful and now I want to drink a beer and make some soft pretzels, even though it won’t be the same, so I can hold on to this weekend feeling a little bit longer.

The post Tourist Tuesday: Munich appeared first on Cooking is Messy.

Think of this recipe as something to add to your football snack spread. You’re going to shovel handfuls of this like you might for popcorn or Chex Mix. What’s we will be doing with this recipe is coating and baking-on delicious ingredients on to crushed pretzels. It’s salty, crunch, sweet, and buttery. Really buttery. Uncomfortably butter. So buttery that you shouldn’t think about how much butter is in the recipe. But it’s the holidays, so everything has butter. Why fight it?

Now, this is not as incredibly easy as reindeer noses, but it is a really easy recipe. So, buy a bag of pretzels and use half for reindeer noses and half for this crunch. It’s delicious and people will thank you.

Ingredients:

2 cups mini pretzels

1/4 cup brown sugar, packed

2 tbsp sugar

1/4 milk powder

1 tbsp barley malt powder (this is the unusual ingredient that I had to buy but makes me made I use so little)

7 tbsp melted butter (sometimes I use 6 because the one less tbsp makes me feel better)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 275°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. In a large bowl, use your hands to crunch up the pretzels. You want small pieces – not dust – just small pieces. You want it to look like what’s left on the bottom of a bag of pretzels.

3. Add the brown sugar, granulated sugar, milk powder, and malt powder to the pretzels. Stir to coat all the pretzels. You will have some powder left on the bottom of the bowl.

4. Pour in the melted butter. Stir to coat everything. The butter will make a clumpy paste with the powder – that’s what you want even though it’s not that pretty to look at. Stir until everything has been moistened.

5. Pour out your pretzel mix onto the baking sheet. Spread it out in an even layer across the sheet (it likely won’t cover the whole thing).

6. Bake for 20 minutes. It will smell buttery and toasty and be a little golden brown.

7. Let cool, then break up into bite size chunks.

8. Put it in a bowl and pretend you’re going to share with others.

Messy Level: This is two spoons, and the reason being that milk powder is messy! I find it just like flour because it puffs up and gets all over my hands and clothes. Also, at the end when you break the pretzel mix into chunks you’ll end up with a lot of crumbs. It’s not terribly messy, I’m just warning you for clean up time.

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I’ll be honest with you, I got this idea and name from Pinterest about 3 years ago and I’ve loved it ever since. It’s my favorite thing to make during the holidays. This time of year, I want to give presents and contribute to parties but it can get really time consuming and expensive. I love this recipe because it’s quick, inexpensive, and always a crowd-pleaser. In grad school I used to make huge batches of these for my doormen and after the holidays they were always asking for more. The recipe is also great for parties because they are crunchy-sweet-salty bite that you just pop in your mouth. It’s easy to make and eat a ton.

I also love this recipe because there is so much room for variety. You need three ingredients: pretzels, Hershey’s kisses, and m&m’s. But, you can use whatever kiss you like as long as there isn’t something solid in the middle. I’ve only used dark or milk chocolate kisses, but I think you could use hugs, or even the caramel kisses. And the best place for variety is the m&m. I’ve used regular, dark chocolate, coconut, and mint (which is what I used this time). You could also forgo the m&m and use a nut or a candy corn. So simple, yet so many options.

As for choosing pretzels, a circle shapes look the best and gives you the “nose” part of reindeer nose. However, I have only found circle pretzels once. If you find them, that’s awesome. If not, don’t worry this shape is  just not worth the quest. The second best option is the square pretzels, which you’ll see here. And of course, if you can’t find anything else, use the mini regular shaped pretzels. In the end, it’s mostly about taste and less about looks.

Anyway, as you prepare for all your parties and and presents, definitely consider this recipe. Or just make it as a snack for yourself. It’s that yummy and quick.

Ingredients

1 lb bag of pretzels (you won’t use all of it)

1 12 oz bag of Hershey kisses (or get the bigger family bag if you want more)

1 10 oz bag of m&m’s (you want the large bag, not the regular or king size snack bags)

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to the lowest setting. On my oven that’s 200°.

2. Dump a bunch of pretzels on a large cookie sheet. Arrange them all so they are in a single layer.

3. Unwrap as many Hershey’s kisses as you have pretzels on your cookie sheet. Look at your huge pile of candy wraps and feel a little guilty about packaging waste.

4. Place the Hershey kisses on top of the pretzels.

5. Place the cookie sheet in the oven for 4-6 minutes. The chocolate should glisten when you take it out.

6. Remove the cookie sheet from the oven, press the m&m on top of the chocolate. The chocolate is perfectly melted if the m&m meets no resistance and gets nestled in a bed of chocolate. The Hershey kisses needs to be melted more if the m&m can’t press all the way down and your chocolate looks kind of wonky. Look at the picture below. The one on the left (green) isn’t melted enough and the one on the right (white) is perfectly done.

7. Cool in the fridge until the chocolate is hardened. It’s about 30 minutes. You can also eat them while they are a little gooey and warm.

8. Serve and snack!

Messy level: Just one spoon! The only mess I ever make is if I accidentally stick my finger in a melted kiss. The other mess which always makes me feel guilty is the Hershey kiss wrappers. It just looks like a big mess all piled up on the counter.

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