Homemade soft pretzels

This is the first item on our "To make" list that we've actually made!  D and I had planned on making these before starting the Revolution back at the beginning of January.  Somehow, we ran out of time.. The first weekend after the Revolution was over we decided to tackle these homemade pretzels.  It also happened to be Super Bowl weekend.  They turned out to be much easier then I imagined.  It takes a little bit of time because of the rising and boiling.  The boiling process also made a mess, but it was well worth it!  We will definitely be making these again!!

Homemade Soft Pretzel Bites (As found on Two Peas and their Pod)

Adapted from Bobby Flay

Soft Pretzels:
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1 package active dry yeast
3 ounces unsalted butter, melted
2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
4 1/2 to 5 cups all-purpose flour
Vegetable oil
3 quarts water
3/4 cup baking soda
1 whole egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon cold water
Coarse sea salt

For the Pretzels: Combine the water, sugar, yeast, and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix with the dough hook until combined. Let sit for 5 minutes.

Add the salt and flour and mix on low speed until combined. Increase the speed to medium and continue kneading until the dough is smooth and begins to pull away from the side of the bowl, about 3 to 4 minutes. If the dough appears too wet, add additional flour, 1 tablespoon at a time. Remove the dough from the bowl, place on a flat surface and knead into a ball with your hands.

Oil a bowl with vegetable oil, add the dough and turn to coat with the oil. Cover with a clean towel or plastic wrap and place in a warm spot until the dough doubles in size, about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Bring the water to a boil in a small roasting pan over high heat and add the baking soda.

Remove the dough from the bowl and place on a flat surface. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces, about 4 1/4 to 4 1/2 ounces each. Roll each piece into a long rope measuring 22 inches and shape. Cut the dough into one inch pieces to make the pretzel bites. Boil the pretzel bites in the water solution in batches. We did about 15 bites at a time. Boil for about 30 seconds. Remove with a large slotted spoon. Place pretzel bites on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Make sure they are not touching.  Brush the tops with the egg wash and season liberally with the salt. Place into the oven and bake for 15 to 18 minutes until golden brown.

NOTES:

• The recipe said if you wanted cinnamon sugar pretzels, to sprinkle it onto the pretzels after the eggwash.  I don't recommend it... the sugar started to burn and the pretzels weren't done yet!

Cumin Curried Hummus.

We love hummus.  We served this at Thanksgiving at our house and everyone loved hummus.  I mean come on chickpeas (or as D keeps reminding me, our package said Garbanzo beans.. SAME THING!), garlic, cumin, curry powder.  What is there to not love about Hummus and who knew it was so easy to make at home!  This hummus below in the picture is slightly too thick.  We used slighty more chick peas than we should have and forgot to adjust the water. 

We had made it through the grocery store and completely forgot chick peas.  We had known we wanted hummus, and there in the produce aisles D found Quick cooking Garbanzo Beans!  Way better than canned because lower sodium and guess what our store doesn't even carry dried Chick Peas, so this was as close as we were going to get!  OH and they were marked down!!

Before we could start making our hummus we had to finish cooking our beans.  While those were in the pot we started the seasoning oil for the hummus.  First heat the oil and add the spices.. Allow them to cook a little bit until you can smell them.  Don't go overboard here or they will burn!

Then, we allowed the beans to cool slightly.  Added them to food processor with the spiced oil and blend!  That is it!

Cumin Curried Hummus (from Cooking Light)

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 garlic cloves, chopped (This time we used the jar kind and we love garlic so we use more!)

1 tablespoon curry powder  (Again we end up adding more once its in the food processor)

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds (We use cumin powder and end up adding more)

1/2 cup water

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (You may want to play around with this amount as well.  The first time we made it we thought it was very noticable, but it did mellow after being in the fridge.)

3/4 teaspoon salt (We leave this one out…)

2 (15 1/2-ounce) cans chickpeas (garbanzo beans), rinsed and drained (or dried ones.. or the kind that are slightly pre-cooked, found in the produce dept)

Preparation

Heat oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Add garlic; cook 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Add curry and cumin; cook 30 seconds or until fragrant, stirring constantly. Place garlic mixture, water, and remaining ingredients in a food processor; process until smooth.

This also freezes really well.  We put half the batch in the fridge and froze the rest.