I love Auntie Anne’s Pretzels that they have at the mall. I hadn’t however had one in a really, REALLY long time.  I had this sudden inexplicable craving for them one night but by that time the mall was naturally closed.  I decided then to try my hand at making my own.  The results tasted JUST LIKE Auntie Anne’s (with maybe a little less butter).  Now I don’t need to go to the mall to get my pretzel fix.

- 4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tbsp yeast (you can find in packets at the grocery store)
- 1 1/4 cup water
- 1 1/2 tbsp jalapeno chopped
- 1 tsp sugar
- coarse salt
- melted butter (unsalted margarine)
- 1 tbsp baking soda
- 3 cups water

In a bowl of room temperature water add yeast and allow to sit for about 5 minutes or until it gets foamy. In a bowl combine flour, sugar and yeast. Add chopped jalapenos. Knead the mixture to form a dough. Roll it into a large ball. Remove dough from your bowl and lightly oil the entire inside of it. Place the dough back in the bowl, cover with a dish and allow the dough to rise for about 20-25 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with non-stick spray.

Lightly flour a surface for you to put the dough out on. Divide the dough up into equal parts. Take each part of dough and roll out into a “rope.” Be careful not to make it too thin. Then, make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel. In a small pot simmer 3 cups of water with baking soda. Keep the heat very low. As you finish each pretzels quickly dunk into the baking soda water and then place onto baking sheet.

Bake pretzels for about 10 minutes or until the outsides start to turn a golden color. Remove from oven and brush with melted butter immediately. Sprinkle coarse salt over each pretzel if desired. You can eat them warm or wait to eat them later. With the salt and the spice from the jalapenos I didn’t create a dipping sauce to dunk these in. They were flavorful on their on.