Monday, July 26, 2010

Pretzels and Smoothies!

Oh how I love to bake. NOT! and the last attempt at baking was interesting. Two loaves, same recipe, same oven, same time. One was somewhat perfect. The other inedible. and so goes the history of my baking. Hit or miss. Mostly miss. But when my daughter, Miss Picky, went with me to Crate and Barrel and said let's buy this pretzel mix, we can do it together. Who could resist?

So off we went with our packages, me with lots of fun gadgets for the kitchen and Miss Picky, who stopped at a few, or what seemed liked hundreds, of clothing stores all along the way! When we got home, I put the package of pretzel mix way in the back of the pantry, hoping she'd forget! I was so wrong. She didn't forget and today on a beautiful, sunny morning, Miss Picky said, let's bake the pretzels together. and so we did. And we lived happily ever after.
The end.




Actually Miss Picky turned out to be a very good, and very patient baker. Unlike her mother :) The pretzels came out really good. Better than good. They were fantastic. The mix was good, just pre-measured flour with salt and sugar, yeast and pretzel salt! I could probably measure it out myself. Maybe. We just added melted butter and water! Miss Picky kneaded it by hand. and we rolled them out.  Pain in the neck. That dough is elastic and no matter how much we rolled, they shrunk went back to being small! So we dropped them in the boiling water anyway and then baked them! For 12 minutes and they ended up being the best pretzels we've had! A very big hit. So I looked for a recipe online for next time, because these were so good, there has to be a next time. and I found this one by Alton Brown. It looks extremely close to the mix we used!



We started with fruit smoothies. Frozen strawberries, bananas and some strawberry sorbet! A little cup of berry yogurt, a fresh apricot and some granola. A little bit of apple juice to thin it out. Whizzed in the blender, it's really good with a side of pretzel!



It took a couple of tries, but we finally got the hang of rolling out the dough!



Some ended up as pretzel sticks!



Not too bad. A little crusty crunchy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside. They were great, better than the ones from the mall!


This is our finished product!

15 comments:

  1. Sounds like you two make a great team :) The pretzels do look awfully good, your photos of them are wonderful. I've never heard of putting granola in a smoothie - that's a complete breakfast.

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  2. Wow those do look perfect! Good Job to missy girl and to her mother for letting her do it :-) Smoothie sounds good right about now.

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  3. Isnt this coincidence, my son was asking me what a pretzel was, after seeing it on one of the kids tv shows, I told him I will find a recipe for us to try , so thanks :) for the link

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  4. Those look like such fun to make! Will check out the link now....

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  5. Cute story. I remember those days of endless shopping when my two daughters were teenagers. Back to school was back to...well, you know.

    I am thinking that these could make wonderful rolls like the pretzel buns I buy at the store! They sound wonderful and really turned out great, Carol! I'm checking out Alton's recipe!

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  6. Susan, I just asked the same question on Carol's GB post. I saw your buns. They reminded me of a cross between a lobster tail and a pretzel. ;)

    Carol, how impressive that Miss Picky is showing an interest in cooking!

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  7. No endless shopping trips with a son! Although there are plenty of women who do not like to shop, I know several...strange huh!
    Pretzels look great! And yes you could measure!
    They are charging you 50 dollars an hour to measure for you! :)

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  8. I so enjoy your posts and your humor... the happily ever after made me chuckle.

    I have made soft pretzels and have the recipe out on the counter for when the grandchildren come over. Now I am thinking I should try Alton Browns. He one of my favorites on food tv.

    Great stopping by!

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  9. That two together makes a great breakfast!

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  10. Pretzels are great to snack on and the smoothie looks great to cool off the summer heat!

    Yummy!

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  11. Oooh! looks yummy! My grandson would love this combo! I hope you are having a great week!...hugs...Debbie

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  12. Carol I love soft hot pretzels smeared with mustard! I would eat that whole platter..yum!

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  13. I have never made pretzels before! My kids would LOVE it! These are awesome, thanks!!

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  14. Mmm now i am craving pretzels...

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  15. You're so adventurous!! Pretzels look professional...compared to waht I could make at least!!
    Can't believe I was so far behind in commenting - going to take me weeks to catch up!

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