Kid-Friendly (easy) SCRUMPTIOUS Soft Pretzels

Making these pretzels was a blast for our kids and a delicious piece of edible art in the end. You can watch the steps in our video above and can read about them in the following steps. We found the recipe at foodnetwork.com but have added our own spin on it here and there. You can see the original recipe link here.

Tools

• 1 cup measurer
• 1/4th cup measurer
• 1/3rd cup measurer
• tablespoon measurer
• teaspoon measurer
• 2 cookie sheets
• wire cooling rack
• a cooking pot
• medium sized mixing bowl
• mixing spoon
• shallow baking dish
• shallow bowl or dish

Supplies

• 1 cup milk
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 3 tablespoons packed light brown sugar (WE ONLY HAD DARK BROWN, BUT IT STILL TASTED GOOD)
• 2 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour plus more for kneading
• 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for greasing
• 1 teaspoon fine salt
• 1/3 cup baking soda
• 2 tablespoons coarse salt (WE ONLY HAD FINE SALT. PROBABLY WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER WITH COARSE, BUT WE STILL LIKED IT.)

Again, I want to make clear that this recipe is from foodnetwork.com. What I am presenting here is our own take on their very delicious recipe. Thanks for joining us in the journey! Now, let's start cooking...

Warm the milk in a small saucepan until it’s about 110 degrees. While the milk is heating up go the to next step.

Chop up 2 tablespoons butter and let it soften in a warm place. We have found that on top of the refrigerator is handy for this.

Pour the now warm milk into a medium bowl and then sprinkle in the yeast. If you do not have yeast in an individual packet you can simply use a tablespoon of yeast. Let the yeast start propagating and growing for about 3 minutes. Once the yeast has had a chance to get going mix in the brown sugar and 1 cup of flour.

Next add the softened butter that you prepped and then slowly mix in the remaining 1 1/4 cups flour and the fine salt to make a sticky dough.

Prep a clean place to knead the dough and lightly dust the surface with flour. Knead while adding more flour if needed until it is smooth but still slightly tacky. This should take about 5 minutes.

Next, shape the dough into a ball and place it in a lightly greased bowl and cover it with plastic wrap.

Finally let it rise in a warm spot (AGAIN, THE TOP OF THE FRIDGE IS USUALLY A GOOD SPOT). Give it a about an hour to rise; it should doubled in size.

Once the dough has risen you will want to "punch" it. This is exactly what it sounds like. You just punch it to deflate it some. Next preheat your oven to 450 degrees fahrenheit and then grease the cookie sheets where you will later place your finished pretzel creations. Get ready to get your hands on some dough!

Pretzel dough is a pretty easy medium to work with. If you have ever made anything with play-dough you should be well-equipped to let your imagination run wild. Our kids had a lot of fun getting creative with their creations. You can stick to more traditional shapes or go completely crazy and make everything from a butterfly to a baby like my kids did.

This is the secret ingredient that makes these pretzels taste so yummy and chewy. Don't skip it!

You are going to want to dissolve the baking soda in 3 cups of warm water in a shallow baking dish. Gently dip each pretzel in the soda solution, then arrange them on the prepared cookie sheet.

Finally, sprinkle them with the coarse salt before putting them in the oven. (WE USED FINE SALT AND IT WAS JUST FINE BUT WE WANT TO TRY IT WITH COURSE SALT NEXT TIME.)

Place the pretzels in the preheated oven and bake until golden for 10 to 12 minutes. Then melt the remaining 8 tablespoons of butter in a shallow bowl or dish. Dip the hot pretzels in the butter or use a basting brush. Be sure to coat the entire pretzel before placing them on a wire cooling rack to let excess butter drip off.

Serve warm and enjoy! These were truly delicious and turned out really well. I hope you enjoy them as much as we did!

Again, if you want to see these steps in action or just get some inspiration from our journey take a quick look at the video above.

If you want to see the original foodnetwork.com recipe you can find it here.

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Thanks for joining us in this adventure! If you enjoy spending time with your kids and would appreciate fresh inspiration and instructions weekly, consider subscribing to my youtube channel where I do a weekly project with my own kids. I would love to have you join our family in the making!

Blessings, Caleb