PRETZEL BITES

Anyone who remotely knows me, would wonder, Bhavna and Pretzels? No way! For me anything “Maida”, has to be traced back to US of A . But surprisingly not. Pretzels are from Germany and the story goes that German immigrants carried them to USA somewhere in the late 1700’s. See there is a connection after all.

There is the soft version which is all too doughy (in fact only dough) and is sold in push carts. Then there are the hard variety sold as packed snacks. Well those are the ones I desire. Thankfully all my covert sinful desires revolved around food😈. The thing is I’m terribly scared biting into them for the fear of loosing a tooth. So what I have attempted here (100% my experiment & patent) is a version between the two- hard and soft…its a mix and is best eaten fresh actually. And it has a healthy twist.

They can be stored in a container for upto 2 days. But the dough can be stored for upto 3 months in a freezer. They are yeast free and less cumbersome.

Serve them as appetisers in your next party!!

Ingredients: Servings: 50-60

2 CUPS APF

3tsp Baking Powder

1.5tsp salt

1 Big Potato (Boiled and mashed really fine)

Cheese Slices: 4

Oregano/Pepper/Red chill: According to taste

4 tbsp butter

STEPS

Mash the potatoes along with butter really really well. You don’t want your guests figuring out the secret ingredient!!😛

Once mixed, add the dry ingredients-: flour, BP, salt and knead well till they come together.

Now finally add the cheese slices and all other seasonings.

Take small balls of the dough and roll them over like long cylindrical pipes. Cut them with a knife into neat tiny rectangular squares. (If that makes sense)

Take a big saucepan with water and dip these pieces and bring to a boil. It should not take more than 5 minutes. (TIP: make sure the pan is big sized or take two pans as we don’t want the pretzels sticking to each other pulling of each other’s skins, they need ample space to float around.)

Strain the water then pat dry these teeny weenies.

Pre heat your oven to 180. C. Line your baking sheets with parchment paper. Place the pretzels on them a little apart.

Brush generously with egg wash.

Pop in the oven for a cool 30-35 minutes.

Actually the really soft ones are done in 20 minutes.

I do them for 30 minutes, so the exterior is hard and interior is pretty soft.

Serve them hot with cream cheese dip.

CREAM CHEESE DIP

Mix 2 TBS Cream Cheese with 1tsp butter, 2tsp milk, a pinch of salt/pepper/chill

Enjoy!!

TIPS: for those of you who prefer slightly harder pretzels, you could omit the potato & bake . There is a recipe with yeast for the pretzels. Ping me incase you need that. Until my next…have fun baking.😍