Homemade Soft Pretzels

Do you like the pretzels in the mall or at Sam's club? If so, here is a recipe you might enjoy. My children love to help me make this recipe that my daughter brought home after making it in her Home Ec. class. It is a fun family activity! My children have a blast making the snakes, buttering with the brush, and thinking up pretzel toppings instead of only salt. Their favorite is cinnamon sugar. These are best made in a small batch and eaten hot & fresh right from the oven. I'll rewrite the ingredients below and the method is shown above. It's a fairly standard method for commonly used for making breads or rolls. If I need to type out more information then what I have please let me know in the comments & I'll update it. Let us know how it turns out if you'd like. I hope it is fun and simple!

Ingredients

1 package active dry yeast

1 1/3 cups warm water (105 - 115 degrees F)

1 Tbs sugar

1/2 tsp salt

3 1/2 - 4 cups unsifted, all-purpose flour

1 egg

1 Tbs water

2 Tbs course ground salt

Basic Instructions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Grease 2 large baking sheets.

In a large bowl, sprinkle yeast over warm water; dissolve.

Gradually add in sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, and about 3 1/2 cups flour until the dough is soft and sticky.

Turn dough onto a floured surface; Knead about 5-7 min. Add up to 1/2 cup flour as needed. Dough should be smooth now and not stick to board.

Cut dough in half and then into 6 pieces. Flour your hands and roll dough into snakes. Place snake on baking sheet. Fold to form a pretzel shape.

In small bowl, mix egg and Tbs water; brush on pretzels. Sprinkle with salt. Other sprinkle ideas include cinnamon sugar, lemon or orange zest or herbs like Italian blend, garlic or dill weed.

Bake 15-20 min. until lightly golden brown. Warm is best! Makes about 12.

A Nice Mistake Cookies

Description:
I was aiming to make regular old chocolate chip cookies that my children had requested but these wonderful cookies were discovered when we ran out of flour. Then even after trying to borrow some from a neighbor, apparently they were running out too, we still didn't have enough so after brainstorming in the pantry, Hopie suggested that we added oats. To our luck, it was delicious and my kids really loved them. They wanted me to post them so we could remember our nice mistake as they called it.

Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 Tbs. & 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups oats
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 Tbs. and 1/2 tsp. hot water
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Cream sugars and butter. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat well. Mix in flour, oats, baking soda, hot water, and salt. Mix together and then add the chocolate chips.
Bake in a 375 degree oven for 8 - 9 min.
Pretty nice mistake! Oh, I did give some to my neighbor's and I do have flour again for now. Yippee!