Soft Pretzels

Forget movie theater pretzels!  The sweet dough of these pretzels will leave you wanting more. The delicious aroma of baking pretzels alone will help make your movie nights even more worthwhile.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup milk
• 2-1/4 teaspoons yeast
• 3 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
• 2-1/4 cups flour
• 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon fine salt
• 1/3 cup baking soda
• 1/2 cup sugar, combined with 2 tablespoons cinnamon

Instructions:

In a medium bowl, microwave the milk until it is warm, about 1 minute.  Sprinkle in the yeast.  Let the yeast rest in the milk for about 2-3 minutes.

Stir in the brown sugar and 1 cup of flour with a wooden spoon.  Stir in 2 tablespoons of butter, then add the remaining 1-1/4 cups of flour and salt.  Stir until combined.  Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until it is smooth, about 4-5 minutes.  Shape into a ball, place in a greased bowl, and cover with plastic wrap.  Let the dough rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees.  Grease a baking sheet, and set it aside. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, punch it down, and flatten it with your hands.  Cut the dough into 6 pieces using a pizza cutter.  Roll and stretch each piece of dough with your palms until it measures a little bit more than the longest side of your baking sheet.  Form each long piece into a pretzel shape, or cut it into six small pretzel sticks.

In a shallow baking dish, dissolve the baking soda in 3 cups warm water.  Dip each pretzel into the water, then place on the baking sheet.  Bake for 10 minutes, until the pretzels are golden.

While the pretzels are in the oven, melt the remaining 10 tablespoons of butter in a clean shallow baking dish.  Immediately after the pretzels come out of the oven, coat them with the butter.  Sprinkle on the cinnamon-sugar mixture, and lay on the cooling wrap until they have cooled slightly. Serve warm.

Makes 6 large pretzels, or 36 pretzel sticks.