That was probably the longest cliff hanger yet! I’m such a tease, making these, posting them on instagram, then not sharing the recipe with you until now. Oye…I guess I owe you all a cookie or a pretzel if that’s your cup of tea!

First of all, let’s talk soft pretzels.

My favorite memories of soft pretzels were all of the trips to the mall with my mom and 3 sisters. We’d do oodles of shopping and always manage to stop at the pretzel store and get a fresh out-of-the-oven pretzel and somehow still take a turn and end up at the Great American cookie store to get a cookie of our choosing. Yes, the chocoholic in me always got the m&m cookie. If you’ve never gotten one, you need to try it. You basically can’t see the cookie because there are so many m&m’s on it.

The best.

Anyway. With these pretzels, we decided to give them a little variety and do them half salty and half cinnamon sugar. You can bet which one’s went first…

Yep, the cinnamon sugar.

Well, the picture below is one where we dipped the pretzel in the cinnamon sugar before baking. It basically melded the cinnamon sugar onto the pretzel for everlasting sweetness. But, I didn’t think they looked very pretty, so we brushed them with a little butter and dipped them in more cinnamon sugar. That’s where you get the picture above here, coated with cinnamon sugar.

Like I said, the pretzels didn’t last long. I ate the cinnamon sugar ones for breakfast with my grapefruit. Perfection, if I do say so myself!

What would you reach for first: Salty or Sweet?

Homemade Whole Wheat Soft Pretzels

adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups warm water, should feel like a warm bath
• 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups white whole wheat flour
• 1.5-2 cups whole wheat flour
• (egg wash) 1 egg + 1 teaspoon water
• (toppings) sea salt or cinnamon sugar

How-To

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F. Set aside two baking sheets covered in parchment paper or a silpat mat.
2. In a large bowl, combine the warm water and yeast. Stir and let sit for 1 minute.
3. Stir in the sugar and salt.
4. With a wooden spoon, slowly stir in the white whole wheat flour.
5. Continue to combine and stir in just enough whole wheat flour until the dough comes together and it’s too sticky anymore.
6. Knead in the same bowl with a little more flour for 5 minutes until you have a nice looking ball.
7. Cut the ball with a knife into 3 equal parts. Then, cut those three parts into three parts. Then cut each of those in half, to make 18 pretzels. But, feel free to cut them into any amount you wish for smaller or larger pretzels.
8. Roll each piece into a long snake, about 15″ long.
9. Roll into the pretzel shape.
10. In a bowl, beat the egg and teaspoon of water to make an egg wash.
11. Dip each entire pretzel into the egg wash.
12. (Salted Pretzel) Lay the egg washed pretzels on the baking sheet and sprinkle with sea salt.
13. (Cinnamon Sugar Pretzel) Dip the egg washed pretzel into the cinnamon sugar to coat. Then, lay on the baking sheet.
14. Bake for 10 minutes, then broil on high for just a few seconds until golden brown.
15. Enjoy them warm or wait until cooled.
16. (Cinnamon Sugar second coating) Melt some unsalted butter. Using a pastry brush, paint the butter onto the pretzels. Sprinkle with more cinnamon sugar. Shake off excess cinnamon sugar.
17. Enjoy!