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:
Wow, these look awesome!
I’ve actually been kind of wanting something sweet and carb-y: I WANT THESE! 🙂
I have to ask since Auntie Anne’s was always my absolute favorite pretzel prior to going vegan (although the original w/ salt–not cinnamon and sugar). I’ve read in lots of places now that Auntie Anne’s is vegan if you ask them to hold the butter. However, anytime I’ve gone near an Auntie Anne’s in a mall (usually to get my boys one since they’re vegetarian and not vegan), there’s a sign posted that says that butter will be used in all (can’t remember exact wording); I was a little shocked when I saw that.
When you get an Auntie Anne’s pretzel have you ever seen a sign like that? Do you just ignore it and ask them to hold the butter anyway? I guess I’m a very timid vegan; I tend to just do without rather than “impose” on any food workers. I would love to have real Auntie Anne’s again, though, rather than relying on homemade (which I’ve been doing for years, anyway).
I haven’t seen that sign… or maybe I haven’t noticed. Very odd, especially since their own website has a section written in specifically for vegans (which I thought was pretty cool). They’re constantly making fresh pretzels, so they never have had a problem taking one straight from the oven for me. The worst that’s ever happened is that sometimes you have to wait ten minutes for the new batch to come out of the oven.
Can I make this gluten free? Ie. just use the same amount of gluten free flour or would it be too sticky to roll?
These look so yummy! Could these be made with GF flour? Also, how do you stay so thin? What’s your secret?:)
These pretzels sound wonderful.
As to what I wanted to be when I grew up, I wanted to be the concert mistress of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. Strange that I quit the violin at age 17, but both my sisters became professional musicians, & music has remained just a hobby for me.
I am most curious as to the reason for the baking soda water and how that could have an impact. Care to share? Also, have you tried it with spelt flour? or other GF flour combos?
How many Points Plus are these?
You are so smart to come up with this recipe Katie. I never would of thought this could be so easy. I have not had a pretzel in years and now look forward to giving this recipe a try.
You are the best!
Your recipes are always wonderful and I have tried nearly all of them, however as a vegan (and I know we are all different), I was shocked by your comment about processed sugar. Isn’t eating a small bit of an animal, eating an animal just the same? I understand it is not you prerogative to educate those about veganism by disclosing how our foods are processed, but by providing fabulous non threatening recipes. Nevertheless, foods containing animal products are not vegan, and should not be presented as such! As a vegan, (or vegetarian) how could you be “bogged down” by choosing not to eat animal bones?
Respectfully,
Rhonda-T
Hi Rhonda,
You are actually not eating any of an animal, as the bone char is not included in the sugar (only the processing step). Some vegans choose not to worry about sugar. My goal as a vegan is to keep the bigger picture in mind of trying to open more people to the lifestyle. If non-vegans see their vegan friends getting bogged down in minutiae, they are less likely to be open-minded to trying the lifestyle for themselves. So in the long run, more animals suffer as a result.
Thanks for your honest reply Katie… much appreciated!
These look incredible, Katie! We will be making these tonight, guaranteed. I always wanted to be a teacher or an astronaut. Nurse and ballerina made the list in the very early years. Now, I work in the education department and make visits to US Space Camp now and again to get my space fix.