MY CURRENT OBSESSION...PRETZELS

Who doesn't love those Auntie Anne's, buttery, salty, huge, only found in the mall, oh-so-lovely soft pretzels?!  I SURE DO!  If you don't, you should.  Recently I have had a longing, a deep-seeded need to attempt making such pretzels.  That way I can have them whenever I want!  I don't have to wait until I go to a mall or craft fair!  I can make them in the comfort and versatility of my own home (or, in my current life context, my sister's home)!

*sigh, love of pretzels overwhelms me*

ANYWAY!  My sister came home one day announcing her discovery of an entire cookbook dedicated solely to the wonderful pretzel.  In my excitement, I ran out and bought said cookbook:

Sure, you could probably just look up pretzel recipes online and don't really need an entire cookbook for pretzels, BUT it's neat, has tons of recipes I would never have thought of, and was only $5.

For the 4th of July, as well as my dad's and grandma's birthdays, we had a family celebratory dinner.  I decided this was the perfect opportunity to make my first batch of soft pretzels.  Here is my first pretzel journey (pictures taken on a phone, thus the tad bit of graininess):

Making the dough and letting it set over night.  Even in a bowl covered in plastic wrap, it's beautiful.

The next day, forming the dough into 4ish-inch "sticks".  Brooke & I decided to make pretzel sticks instead of the braids for portion-control reasons, as they were meant to be appetizers to our grand meal.

Those "sticks" rose, I baked them, and here they are all brown and wonderful.  Sure they turned out to be more like pretzel loaves than sticks but this occasion is all about taste not presentation.

They were a huge hit!  My grandma (Meme, as we affectionately call her) and I enjoyed the tastey goodness of our first at-home pretzel baking adventure.  We heated up three different types of dipping cheeses to compliment the perfectly salty (all hail to Brooke, the sprinkler of the perfect saltiness) pretzel loaves.  Simply delicious.

Next pretzel baking adventure = Sweet pretzels!  Then off to stuffed pretzels!  THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS!!!   With 168 pages in The Pretzel Cookbook, I guess technically there is an end.  But still.  My excitement will not be squelched!