I had been missing the usual outdoor markets that happen this time of year where I would get a giant soft pretzel so decided that this needed to happen in my kitchen. While cinnamon sugar soft soft pretzels might look kind of scary to make, they are actually really easy! And make it taste even sweeter with a cream cheese dip.
Tips & Tricks
The secret to getting that pretzel taste and brown colour? Something called the Maillard Reaction, which is a reaction between sugars and amino acids. To get this reaction, you’ll want to soak your pretzel in a lye solution.
Because lye can be a bit tricky (and dangerous!) at home, instead you can use baked baking soda! I saw this trick on Cloudy Kitchen’s blog. While you can use just a regular baking soda solution, Erin recommends baking your baking soda to make it slightly more alkaline – giving you an even more pretzel taste.
Each pretzel only needs about 30 seconds in the baking soda bath! Then you can take them out and place them on a parchment lined baking tray and bake them.
Once they’re still warm from the oven, you can brush each pretzel with melted butter before rolling them in cinnamon sugar.
Other Recipes To Try:
Cinnamon Sugar Soft Pretzels
Ingredients
Pretzels
- 565 grams flour
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 28 grams light brown sugar
- 7 grams yeast
- 120 grams warm water
- 28 grams butter
- 240 grams whole milk, lukewarm
- 1 egg yolk, for egg wash
Baking Soda Bath
- 60 grams baking soda
- 8 cups water
Cream Cheese Dip
- 110 grams cream cheese, room temperature
- 28 grams unsalted butter, room temperature
- 120 grams icing sugar
- 1 tablespoon milk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Cinnamon Sugar
- 200 grams granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
Pretzels
- Place the lukewarm milk, 1 tablespoon of the sugar, and the yeast in a medium sized bowl, and stir to combine. Leave for 10-15 minutes, until it becomes foamy.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment, place the rest of the sugar, flour, salt, and butter, and mix briefly to combine.
- Add warm milk mixture and the warm water to flour mixture, and beat at medium speed until combined.
- Beat at low speed with dough hook attachment until you have a soft and sticky dough, about 5 minutes. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and shape into a smooth ball.
- Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and let it rise for 1 hour.
- Divide the dough into 12 portions (81 grams each). Roll each portion into a 20 inch rope. Shape each rope into a U shape, Twist the ends twice, fold down and pinch to seal. Place on a parchment lined tray and cover, letting it rise for 20-30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 375°F/190°C. Line 2 trays with parchment paper
- In a large saucepan, bring 8 cups of water and ¼ cup baked baking soda to boil
- Carefully drop the pretzels in, one at a time, for 20 seconds on each side. Use a strainer or spatula to take them out and place on the tray.
- In a small bowl, whisk 1 egg yolk and 1 tablespoon of water together as your egg wash. Brush egg wash on dough.
- Bake for 12-14 minutes, until golden brown. Let cool slightly, just 5 minutes.
- In a large bowl combine sugar and cinnamon
- Brush 28g melted butter on to pretzels. Place 1 pretzel at a time in cinnamon sugar bowl and toss.
Cream Cheese Dip
- Whip cream cheese and softened butter for 2 minutes with an electric whisk. Add powdered sugar, milk and vanilla extract, mixing until combined.
Laurence Lapierre
These were so much fun to make and a whole lot easier than I thought! You can’t go wrong with the sugar cinnamon combo, these were so soft and so tasty! I have some leftover baked baking soda and will definitely try these again (and hopefully get better at my pretzel shaping skills). Another awesome recipe!!
Clara
Wow i love cinnamon! I grew up in germany and this recipe made me homesick! Amazing!