Ma Whats For Dinner?» pretzels

Cupid’s Arrows

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 11:00:42 +0000

Happy Valetine’s Day!

Here’s a sweet treat for your honey today.

These are perfect for you Valentine’s party!

Serves: 12 Prep time: 20 minutes Cook time: 20 minutes

WHAT YOU NEED:

24 pretzel rods

2 11 oz white chocolate chips

24 caramel candy squares

1 T vegetable oil

red colored sugar sprinkles

WHAT TO DO:

Pour white chocolate chips and oil into a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 2 minutes stirring once halfway through, set aside.

Using the heat from your hands roll a candy square between them until it is pliable. Once easily workable wrap the caramel around the top of the pretzel rod and wind around leaving a 2 inch space at the bottom. Dip the caramel covered part of the pretzel and roll in the white chocolate to coat. Then sprinkle with red sugar sprinkles. Place on a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet to set. Cool in fridge for 20 minutes. Repeat with remaining pretzels.

While those arrows are cooling, head over to Fitness Magazine to see Alex’s Cupid’s Arrows featured as a great Valentine’s Day treat, as well as Alex’s advice for working off all of those Valentine’s calories.

Apple Cinnamon Pretzels

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 11:00:59 +0000

You know those yummy delicious pretzels that you see in the mall?

The ones whose delicious scents waft their way down the breezeways and make you crave their buttery goodness?

Well these are them…

Only with an apple cinnamony crust that fills your kitchen with that wonderful aroma.

Oh and the kids had a blast making them…

WHAT YOU NEED:

1 1/2 cups warm Apple Cider (110 degrees F)

2 t salt

2 T sugar

1 t cinnamon

1 package active dry yeast

4 1/2 cups all purpose flour

4 T melted butter

1/2 cup applesauce

oil

12 cups water

2/3 cup baking soda

FOR TOPPING:

1 egg, beaten

4 T sugar

1 T cinnamon

pinch of salt

WHAT TO DO:

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the first 5 ingredients. Let the mixture sit until the yeast makes it begin to foam. Add in your flour, butter and applesauce. Mix on low speed with your dough attachment until combined. Bring speed up to medium and knead for 5 minutes. Remove dough and move to an oiled bowl and allow to rise for 90 minutes in a warm spot in your kitchen.

Once the dough has risen preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Turn the dough out onto an oiled counter (it’s sticky!) and divide it into 8 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a long rope, then twist into a pretzel shape. The kids will have a blast with this. It won’t be perfect. But it will be fun.

In a large pot heat up water with baking soda. In a bowl combine your remaining sugar, cinnamon, and a pinch of salt. Once boiling drop each pretzel individually into the water for 20 seconds. Remove to a lined baking sheet. Repeat until each pretzel has been boiled. Brush each pretzel with your egg wash. Sprinkle with your cinnamon mixture and bake for 12 minutes or until golden brown.

No need to drive to the mall for this goody!

Magic Wands

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 17:30:12 +0000

Fairy Wands

Serves: 12 Prep time: 20 minutes Cook time: 20 minutes

24 pretzel rods

2 11 oz white chocolate chips

24 caramel candy squares

1 T vegetable oil

colored sugar sprinkles

chopped nuts

mini chocolate chips

Pour white chocolate chips and oil into a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 2 minutes stirring once halfway through, set aside.

Using the heat from your hands roll a candy square between them until it is pliable. Once easily workable wrap the caramel around the top of the pretzel rod and wind around leaving a 2 inch space at the bottom. Dip the caramel covered part of the pretzel and roll in the white chocolate to coat. Then sprinkle with sugar sprinkles, chopped nuts or mini chocolate chips. Place on a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet to set. Cool in fridge for 20 minutes. Repeat with remaining pretzels.

Tasty Tidbit: Decorate these with green and red sprinkles or blue sprinkles for Christmas and Hanukkah, or the pink, green and yellow you see here for easter. Or you can make them in your kid’s soccer team colors. Everyone will ask you to bring this one to parties for years to come!

Meaty Morsel: They also make a great gift wrapped up in cellophane and a ribbon! Or they’d be a best seller at your next bake sale!

This recipe is always a huge hit. My sister in law got this idea from her sister in law and around holiday time none of us can go a party without the hostess asking us to whip up a batch of “THE pretzels.” You’ve been warned, be careful who you make them for because they’ll be asking for them all the time too.

Snyder’s of Hanover Taste Test

Alex aka Ma, What's For Dinner — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:00:21 +0000

Well first off I’d like to thank the nice folks at Snyder\’s of Hanoverfor sending us not one…

not two…

but three yummy pretzel treats to try.

Some how in my world chocolate isn’t quite as bad for you if accompanied by the healthy snack alternative, pretzels. Even when it’s sandwiching some peanut butter and dipped in yummy milk and white chocolate goodness!

So the boys got up from their naps and I told them they had a special treat to try.

We started out with the basics…chocolate covered pretzel nibblers. Man these things are great. Small little crunchy chocolate bites. The boys gobbled them up….

Next we moved on to what I was really excited about. It’s a little sad, I admit, but I couldn’t wait to try these next ones.

Ohhh, these are the best! They may not look like much, but inside that Hershey chocolate goodness is 2 pretzels sandwiching a delicious dollop of peanut butter love. These are like girl scout cookies on crack!

And the boys were quite thrilled too…

Brady gives the pretzels a big thumbs up….

Keegan was a fan too….

Cooper and I liked the white chocolate dipped ones as well but to be honest, we’re a dark chocolate household. That’s just how we roll, but I still managed to polish off the bag.

So go and check out these yummy treats. You can find all sorts of pretzel treats and cool recipes on the Snyder’s website.

Pretzel Recipes

We’re going to try some as soon as we get settled in our new kitchen. Stay tuned to see what we come up with.

Chocolate Chip Pancakes