These soft, sweet, and secretly healthy Auntie Anne’s pretzels are just as delicious as the ones you can get at the mall!
I still remember my first Auntie Anne’s pretzel.
It was in West Chester, Pennsylvania, when I was eight years old. The little shop smelled like cinnamon sugar as soon as you walked in, and a friendly lady in a striped apron smiled across the counter as she quickly and skillfully twisted long strips of dough into perfect pretzel shapes. For a while, I thought she was the actual Auntie Anne, and I dreamed about growing up and working in that shop, smelling cinnamon all day, as I learned to roll perfect pretzels.
Last weekend, Auntie Anne’s came to my own kitchen. This was my first time making soft pretzels, but I adapted a base recipe I already knew would yield a successful dough: my recipe for Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls.
All in all, these homemade Auntie Anne’s pretzels were much easier to make than I’d anticipated.
Healthy Auntie Anne’s Pretzels
(Auntie Katie’s soft pretzels)
- 1 cup milk of choice
- 1 tsp agave or honey or sugar
- 1 tbsp yeast
- 2 1/2 cups ww or white flour, or a combination of the two
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp brown sugar or coconut sugar
- 2 tbsp butter spread, such as Earth Balance OR firm coconut oil
- 1/3 cup baking soda
- Extra flour as needed
In a measuring cup, heat the first two ingredients to around 110 degrees F. (Mine reached this point after 1 minute in the microwave.) Sprinkle the yeast on top, then let it sit 5 minutes. If your yeast is good, it will bubble up. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, stir together the flour, salt, and the 2 tbsp sugar. (Do not use xylitol here.) Cut in the butter spread (or oil), using a fork or stand mixer. Combine with the yeast mixture, using your hands or stand mixer, until well-combined, then knead on a floured surface or in the bowl for 5 minutes, adding more flour as needed to keep it from being too sticky to knead. (I mixed the dough in the bowl and added a total of 6 extra tbsp flour by the end of the 5 minutes.)
Lightly grease the mixing bowl, then set the dough in the bowl, cover the bowl with a towel, and put in a warm place (such as an oven on “bread proof”) for 50-60 minutes or until it has doubled in size. Preheat oven to 350 F and lightly grease a baking tray. In a long and shallow dish or container, dissolve the baking soda in 3 cups warm water. Set aside. Now get out your risen dough: punch dough to deflate, then form evenly-sized pieces (6 for large pretzels, 12 for smaller ones). Roll each section as thinly as you possibly can (seriously, the thinner the better), then twist into a pretzel shape. Dip into the baking soda, shake to dry, then arrange pretzels on the baking tray. Baking time will vary, depending on whether you’re using whole-wheat flour or all-purpose, but homemade Auntie Anne’s pretzels are done when they have turned golden-brown and you can smell them (15-18 minutes). Scroll down for flavors.
Homemade Auntie Anne’s Soft Pretzel Flavors:
- Cinnamon Sugar Pretzels: melt some of your favorite butter-type spread or coconut oil in a shallow dish, then dip the hot pretzels into the spread. (For a fat-free version, you can spray them with oil spray instead. They just won’t be anywhere near as rich and buttery!) Immediately dip into a mixture of cinnamon and sugar (or xylitol).
- Salted Soft Pretzels: sprinkle pretzels with coarse salt before baking
- Coconut Pretzels: dip each pretzel in melted coconut butter. Sprinkle shredded coconut over top.
- Homemade Soft Pretzel Dip Ideas: dip pretzels in ranch dressing, maple-mustard dressing (combine mustard with pure maple syrup), or even peanut sauce or a nutritional-yeast cheese sauce.
That’s not to say I have anything against the real Auntie Anne’s. Their soft pretzels are certainly not the worst snack you can get at a mall food court! And if you ask them to hold the butter, the following Auntie Anne’s pretzels are actually vegan: Original, Cinnamon Sugar, Almond, Garlic, Jalapeño, and Raisin. If you are a super-strict vegan, you’ll want to skip the pretzels due to the processed sugar. (It’s a personal choice; my goal with my veganism is to present the lifestyle as do-able, fun, and easy, not to show that I’m getting bogged down with tiny details like processed sugar. I feel that would just turn more people off to the lifestyle, which is opposite of my goal. So when I’m out with friends, I jump at the chance to eat “normal” food when we all stop at the mall food court.)
Link Of The Day:
Oh my…my mouth is watering! I am going to make these tonight!
I am not vegan, but am dairy free and try to reduce our consumption of animal products. I am wondering if you could make a “pizza” version of this pretzel? I know that they make no meat pepperoni and nutritional yeast, although I’ve never tried it, is supposed to taste a bit like cheese. Do you think I could add cut up pepperoni, real or fake, and some nutritional yeast to the dough or do you think it would be best to stick the “pepperoni” to the top of the pretzel before you bake it? I know you mentioned a nutritional yeast cheese sauce to dip in. I was just trying to come up with an idea to make it less messy and all in one because I’d like to make these to send with my kids in their lunch. Just thought I’d throw the idea out there and get your opinion since you have more experience with this type of thing than I do. Thanks in advance for any help you can lend.
I really can’t say if something will work if I haven’t tried. But I don’t see why that wouldn’t work… I’ve been wanting to try adding ingredients into the dough, so if I get to it before you do, I will let you know. And if you get to it first, let me know.
I’m just curious, what does avoiding processed sugar have to do with being “super-strict vegan”? Being vegan doesn’t necessarily imply limiting sugar in any way. Is there some part of sugar-processing that harms animals?
Answered my own question with a quick google. “However, some refined sugar is processed with animal bone char. The charcoal is used to remove color, impurities, and minerals from sugar. The charcoal is not ‘in’ the sugar, but is used in the process as as a filter.” from http://www.veganoutreach.org/guide/qa.html#isrefinedsugarvegan
I’m always so intimidated by yeast, and may be a little intimidated with mine ending up looking like an actual pretzel;)
This looks really tasty though! I haven’t had a pretzel in probably 10 years.
When I grew up I always wanted to be an orthodontist haha, most random thing for a 10 year old to want.
..hehe I wanted to be an orthodontist for the longest time ever too!( if you don’t mind me asking.. what’s your occupation currently or do you mainly do things related to your blog?)…. now, I’m not too sure (graduating high school student)…
-question: can I halve this recipe?
As I haven’t quite “grown up” yet, I keep switching between President and working as an anchor for Fox news! And that last one has NOTHING to do with getting to wear cute outfits and heels and makeup all day. Nothing. okay…maybe a little!
I’d just love to work on Capitol Hill in some capacity, even as a staffer!
Is there a gluten free version by any chance? These look delicious!
Unfortunately, I don’t have a gf option for this recipe. I did see that a few people have posted gluten free soft pretzels online, such as this one: http://www.glutenfreebakingbear.com/2012/09/gluten-free-soft-pretzels-auntie_3.html
(Note: I haven’t tried the linked recipe.)
Or you could try my recipe with gluten free baking mix… but I really have no idea what the results will be. Try it if you are up for an experiment, and be sure to report back!
I’m sure this is just me being my sleep-deprived self, but I didn’t quite understand what you mean by rolling the dough as thinly as possible. Wouldn’t that yield giant, skinny pretzels? Or do they really expand that much in the oven? Your pretzels look deliciously fat!
Yes, they would be skinny. The ones from Annie’s are very skinny, and I actually wish I’d made mine even thinner than in the photos. But if you want fat pretzels then you are in luck! It’s much easier to not roll them super-skinny :).
Skinny is the way to go! It’s sort of like with bagels, thinner means chewy rather than doughy!
LOVE this pretzel. It looks so soft and ready to be pulled apart. I wanted to be a fireman when I was little. Ironic, seeing as I am not a man!!
I can’t wait to try these! I always drool at my sisters cinnamon pretzel that she always gets when we go to the mall, so now I finally have a vegan recipe for one *does happy dance*!:)
Wow, I didn’t know that the pretzels were vegan without butter! Everyday, it surprises me to learn that a crazy number of things are actually vegan 😀
When i was little, i wanted to be a ballerina when I grew up….but then I realized a teeny weeny problem: I couldn’t tell my right from my leftXD
These pretzels are so cute! I also wanted to work in the medical field at one point but the sciences drove me away. 🙂