Beer Pretzels

Soft pretzels are one of those things that you get as a treat if you ever visit NYC or go to a baseball game. Most people don’t even realize that these fluffy, salty snacks can be made easily at home.

Make the dough, do some twisting, pop your pretzels into the oven, and in 20 minutes you can be sitting back with a cool beer in one hand and a warm soft pretzel in the other. What’s better, you can actually combine the two. Just add beer to the recipe.

Adding in a bit of beer to the dough gives your pretzels just a hint of hoppy beer flavor, and really ups-the-ante.

If you have a few hours to spare before a family get-together or party, whipping up a batch of these super simple beer pretzels is the perfect way to spend your time. Pretzel making can also be a great indoor activity for the kids. They’ll love getting to play with the dough and twist it into fun shapes.

And hey, kids aren’t the only ones who like messing around in the kitchen. Making beer pretzels is fun and simple, and it’s even better when you have a cold glass of beer beside you the entire time. But then again… what isn’t?

About 2 hours

- Warm the beer in a saucepan over medium heat on the stove until the beer reaches about 110F. Then, remove from heat and pour in the yeast. Give this a quick stir, then let it sit.

- Mix together the sugar, butter, and salt, then combine this with the beer and yeast mixture. Continue mixing until it has formed a dough texture. You may need to add in more flour or a bit of water to get the correct consistency.

- Coat a bowl in oil or cooking spray, then place the dough into it. Form the dough into a ball, then cover the bowl and let the dough rise for 1 hour.

- Preheat the oven to 425F.

- In a pot on the stove over medium-high heat, combine the water and baking soda. Let this mixture come to a boil. While that’s heating up, form the dough into pretzel shapes! Split the dough into 8 even pieces, then roll each piece out so it looks like a snake that’s about 1½ to 2 feet long.

All you have to do is place the long piece of dough into a U shape, then wrap the ends around each other twice. Now, just bring the ends back down to the curved part of the U, and press them into place. You can use pretzel photos for reference.

- By now, the water and baking soda should be boiling. Drop each pretzel, one or two at a time, into the boiling water for just about 30 seconds. Then, place them on a prepared baking

- Paint the tops of each pretzel with a bit of the egg yolk, then sprinkle coarse salt over them. You can skip the salt if you want. After this, just put the pretzels into the oven for about 15 minutes, or until they turn golden brown.

- Let them cool down! I know it’s tempting to pick one up and take a bite, but trust me, it’ll be worth it to wait just a few minutes. This will let the flavors meld together better, and won’t leave you with a burnt tongue.

Once the pretzels are cooled off, but still a bit warm inside, you can enjoy your homemade soft beer pretzels! Serve them with cheese dip or mustard to make them even more tasty.

These will go great with a backyard BBQ, or family game night. Whatever event you’re planning, serving up some delicious beer pretzels is a great way to put a smile on everyone’s face.