Salted Caramel Pretzels

Salty and sweet is one of the most irresistible flavor combinations to me. Melty caramel turns into the perfect coating when baked to allow the caramel time to harden around the pretzels. 

These caramel coated pretzels combine two of my favorite foods: pretzels and caramel. Although normally I coat my pretzels in peanut butter or chocolate, I was definitely excited to take on these Salted Caramel Pretzels! 

Caramel is a finicky ingredient, and I would highly recommend not making it on a rainy day. Sometimes the humidity has made my caramel somewhat grainy. And let's be real. No one wants grainy caramel. The clear, sunny day today the perfect day to make the caramel pretzels! After a nice outdoor adventure, I settled into the kitchen to prep the pretzels. With a few simple steps you can toss together some salted caramel pretzels for a fun treat!

A few simple steps gives you pure gold ready to eat. Yum. Salty and sweet goodness right there.

Start with some  pretzels of your choice (I prefer Rold Gold as they are a bit crunchy), light corn syrup, light brown sugar, salted butter, baking powder, and salt. 

 Start by melting your butter in a heavy medium saucepan. A heavy saucepan is important so the caramel cooks evenly and not too quickly!

Add in the brown sugar, corn syrup, and salt. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil for about 2 minutes, or until around 240F. Once the mixture starts boiling, DO NOT STIR. You'll have a mess on your hands. Trust me. I've made that mistake before. It wasn't pretty.

Remove from heat and add vanilla extract. Stir lightly while adding the vanilla to minimize splattering. Beware of splatters!! Add in baking powder and stir until smooth.

Pour caramel sauce over pretzels. This step gets to be the least precise of them all! The caramel will spread over pretzels when you stir while baking.

Bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.

Remove from oven and spread pretzels on parchment paper. Be sure to separate clumps while it's still hot otherwise you'll have to break apart your beautiful pretzels!

Let cool then enjoy and share with others!! They won't last long!

Recipe:

Feeds: Makes about 4 cups of coated pretzels ~ Prep: 10 mins (inc. caramel) ~ Cook time: 1 hr

Ingredients:

• 4 cups pretzels (I prefer Rold Gold as they are thin and crunchy)
• 1 cup salted butter
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1/2 t. vanilla extract
• 1/2 t. baking powder

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 250F
2. Melt butter in medium saucepan 
3. Add brown sugar, corn syrup, and salt
4. Stir to combine
5. Once caramel starts boiling, set timer for 2 minutes
6. While the caramel is boiling, spread pretzels in a baking pan (9x13 is a good size)
7. Remove caramel from heat
8. Add vanilla and baking powder
9. Stir rapidly for a few strokes until combined
10. Spread caramel over pretzels
11. Bake for 1 hour, stirring lightly every 15 minutes
12. Remove from oven and spread around parchment paper
13. Break up clumps before the pretzels cool
14. Let cool then enjoy!

Happy Snacking :)

Pesto Pizza Twists

Pizza:  crust, sauce, and cheese. Does it get much better than that? Probably not. So that's where we're beginning our journey.

These pizza twists are a remake of typical cinnamon-sugar twists. Starting with pre-made dough and sauce makes these a quick recipe to toss together for dinner on a week night or a lazy weekend as well!

All I can say was yum. These were delicious, and the garlic powder on top added just the right amount of flavoring to complement the pesto.

Start with pre-made pizza crust, mozzarella, Parmesan, sun dried tomatoes, and pesto spread. The pre-made dough makes this recipe so quick!

Roll out the dough and slice into two long equal sized pieces. It doesn't matter if it's perfect, as you can stretch the dough around to match edges later.

Spread the glorious pesto spread all over one piece of the dough. Make sure to spread it all over, as that gives the cheese something to stick to!

Spread your sliced sun dried tomatoes around. I prefer to arrange them so I won't slice through the tomatoes when slicing the dough into pieces later.

Sprinkle the mozzarella then Parmesan all over. It's starting to look like a pizza coming together!

Fold the empty dough piece over the loaded, and seal your edges. Slice into about 1" slices. The thicker the slice, the easier the twisting part. The slices puff up somewhat when you bake them, so make sure not to slice too thickly. 

Pick up a slice, twist it, then place onto a pizza stone. Sprinkle with garlic powder, or spices of your choice.

Don't worry if cheese oozes out and starts melting- you can break it off later if it bothers you! I think it adds some nice crispy pieces though :)

Bake for 8-10 minutes at 450F, then remove from oven. Don't these look delicious? And it's so easy to toss together!

Yum. Up close and personal with a pesto pizza twist. Look at that cheese and pesto deliciousness.

An alternative to the twist is to roll the 1" slices into pinwheels then baking. This gives you a nice melty center if you like that! These won't last long when put on the table! They can easily be modified with red pizza sauce and the toppings of your choice. 

Recipe

Feeds: 4 (About 12 twists) ~ Prep time: 5 mins ~ Cook time: 10 mins ~ Total time: 15 mins

Ingredients

• 1 pre-packaged pizza crust (I used the Pillsbury Thin Crust pizza dough so they wouldn't be as bready)
• 1/4 cup pesto spread
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup sliced sun dried tomatoes
• Garlic powder (to taste)

Instructions

1. Place pizza stone in cold oven (If you don't have a pizza stone, a regular baking sheet will be just fine but bump the temperature down to 425F so the twists don't brown on the bottom)
2. Preheat oven to 450F
3. Unroll pizza crust onto pastry sheet or other working surface
4. Slice pizza crust into two long equal sized pieces (cut down middle on the short side so you get two long pieces, or "hot dog style")
5. Spread pesto all over one piece of the dough
6. Disperse sun dried tomatoes equally on top of pesto
7. Sprinkle mozzarella then Parmesan cheese over pesto
8. Flip empty dough piece on top of loaded dough piece to form an envelop around the filling
9. Press to seal edges
10. Slice approximately 1" slices, then twist and transfer to pizza stone (they can also be rolled into pinwheels if so desired!)
11. Sprinkle with garlic powder to taste
12. Bake 8-10 minutes, or until golden brown
13. Remove from oven and place on cooling rack

Happy Snacking :)

Snackage and Sweets: Pilot Edition

Baking has always been a passion and side hobby of mine. From leaning in my Nana's kitchen with her delicious southern recipes scratched on an old church pamphlet to trying out a new recipe clipped out of a publication, I've always loved experimenting and putting my personal twist on recipes. Now, I have been known for a "Pinstrosity" or two along the way, but it's never stopped me from trying to fix the problem the next go round with a few tweaks (or just ditch the recipe if deemed totally disastrous). I hope you'll find something delicious to try, or get inspiration for your own recipe!

Happy Snacking :)

Rebecca