Pretzel Tots

Thank goodness it is finally fall.  By the end of August (or truthfully, June), I am already tired of blazing-hot days and equally scorching nights.  Fall is my favorite season, with it’s beautiful colors and changing weather.  Gone are the days of shorts and swimsuits.  It is officially jeans, all the time.  And not to mention the best part of autumn, pulling out my numerous cardigans.  I have noticed the season as we drive down the highway.  Trees that line the road are now a menagerie of red, brown, and orange, and are beginning to form windows through the branches where the leaves have fallen and left a bare opening, in preparation for winter.

Sweaters and leaves aren’t the only great things about fall.  It also comes with a new harvest of fruits and vegetables, and new culinary creations to fit the season.  I can’t wait to start pulling out soup recipes.  Recently there has been a lot of Saturday snack-making for football game munchies.

Yesterday, I decided to bake up some homemade pretzels.  I have never made pretzels before, but they seemed like the perfect thing for a chilly afternoon.  I found the recipe a few weeks ago, while perusing a cooking website, A Cozy Kitchen.  I fell in love with the simple and comforting recipes, complimented by magnificent photos that make me want to make every single recipe that very day.  Her recipe for Pretzel Tots seemed like a good beginner pretzel recipe without all the twisting.

The pretzels turned out amazingly well.  Dark on the outside with a pillowy-soft interior.  Plus, I discovered the secret for that salty-pretzel crust:  boiling the dough in a mixture of water and baking soda.

I had a little bit of trouble removing the tots from my sheet pan.  Although, it was mostly my fault because I used waxed paper rather than parchment, which the recipe called for.  It ended up being okay, we just had to cut them off of the pan.

I will definitely be making this recipe again.  Pretzels that were easy to make, delicious, and barely took any time at all.  I think next time I may experiment with baking them without salt and instead rolling them in a little cinnamon-sugar.  Happy fall, everyone!

Here is the recipe, ready for printing.