chocolate covered pretzels

long ago in our boston days, kris and i loved the chocolate covered pretzels from the faneuil hall food court. they were a special treat and any time we found ourselves in the area those pretzels made up for having to deal with the annoying crowds of tourists. we still pick up a chocolate covered pretzel here and there but kris has been asking me to make them forever and i...just never did. until recently. and now i feel like such a meanie for not doing this sooner because, duh!, it's the easiest treat to make ever. and it makes my kris so happy.

all you need is a box of pretzels (i recommend fat ones. i used snyder's brand), a bag of chocolate chips (semi-sweet here) and something to thin the chocolate out a bit (i used a bit of margarine and some splashes of almond milk). melt the chocolate chips over a double boiler and add margarine/milk to thin as needed. when you have a nice dip-able consistency start dunking! place chocolatey pretzels on a baking sheet and put in the fridge for a few hours until the chocolate is nice and hardened. you might have more chocolate than pretzels and that's ok! just peek around your fridge/pantry for items in need of chocolate coating. i found dried apricots.

-d

pretzel dogs

pretzel dogs. how much more do i really need to say? i started out with a freshly made vegan italian sausages (from the recipe in vegan brunch) and wrapped it up in pretzely goodness. after a quick boil and 13 minutes in the oven these puppies were perfectly golden brown, soft and chewy. when they went into the oven i was a little concerned that they wouldn't turn out like a pretzel but rather as an oversized pig-in-a-blanket, but nope! these were pretzel dogs all the way!

serve with dipping the sauces of your choice, i alternated between horseradish ketchup and grainy mustard.

the recipe below will make enough dough for 8 dogs and can easily be halved. my rising time was at least 30 minutes longer than the recipe says but i was also a little short on yeast, i don't think these two factors are unrelated.

pretzel dogs
ingredients:
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 1/4 teaspoons (or one packet) yeast
4 1/2 cups flour
4 tablespoons margarine, melted
water and baking soda, for boiling

combine water, sugar and salt in a bowl and sprinkle yeast on top. allow to sit for about 5 minutes, until foamy.

add flour and melted margarine and mix until combined. knead (by hand or in a mixer with a dough hook) about 7 minutes until a smooth dough forms. place in an oiled bowl to rise for about an hour or until doubled in size.

preheat oven to 450. and lightly grease a baking sheet. bring a pot of water with a hefty pour of baking soda mixed in to a boil. while you're waiting for the water you can wrap your dogs!

cut the dough into 4 pieces and roll each out into a long rectangle about 1/4 inch thick. cut each rectangle in half so you have 8 long strips of dough. starting at one end of the dog, wrap the dough tightly around, covering the whole doggie.

boil each pretzel dough for 30 seconds, place on the prepared baking sheet and sprinkle with coarse salt. bake for 12-14 minutes, until golden brown.

-d