Heather's Bytes

It’s a good thing that making soft pretzels is a bit on the labor-intensive side of things because otherwise I’d be making them all the time and that would not be good for the upcoming swimsuit season.

Homemade soft pretzels are a great weekend treat to make for the family. Serve them with some yellow mustard or melted cheese, or sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar instead of salt before baking, and voila, you’re an instant rock star.

Homemade Soft Pretzels

1 cup warm water (about 98 degrees)
1 package active dry yeast
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar

4 cups water
5 teaspoons baking soda
4 tablespoons butter, melted
Kosher salt

In a large mixing bowl, combine warm water and yeast. When the yeast dissolves, add half of the flour, the butter, salt, and sugar and mix for about 3 minutes. Stir in the remaining flour. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead until the dough is no longer sticky.

Let the dough rise in a greased, covered bowl until it doubles in size, about 45 to 50 minutes. Punch down the dough and divide into 12 pieces. Roll each piece of dough into 18-inch long ropes. On a greased cookie sheet, shape each rope into a pretzel shape. Let rise again until almost doubled, about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

In a large non-aluminum Dutch oven over high heat, bring the four cups of water and baking soda to a boil. Using a large spoon, gently lower pretzels into water a few at a time and boil for about 1 minute, or until they float. Return the pretzels to the cookie sheet and brush with melted butter then sprinkle with kosher salt. Bake until browned, about 12 minutes.

 Print this recipe!

Greek yogurt is thick, creamy and surprisingly easy to make. It’s also called for in many frozen yogurt recipes because there is less water in the mixture, making for less ice crystals and a thicker final product.

You can actually use regular yogurt to make Greek-style yogurt, and depending on what you want it for you can use just plain or vanilla, or even the fruit varieties. Sugar- and fat-free work too. Here’s what you do:

Get your strainer and a bowl big enough that the strainer can fit into it with a bit of space space between the bottom of the bowl and the bottom of the strainer.

Line the inside of the strainer with a few layers of cheesecloth (you can find cheesecloth in the baking aisle at the grocery store). Empty a container of yogurt onto the cheesecloth, and depending on how much you’re using you can even use a smaller strainer and bowl, etc.

You’ll immediately start to see some of the liquid from the yogurt. Gently cover the top of the yogurt with plastic wrap and place the whole thing in the fridge.

Depending on how thick you want your yogurt will determine how long it should stay in the fridge and drain. For a creamy, sour-cream textured Greek yogurt, keep it in for 4-6 hours. A more authentic Greek yogurt needs 8-12 hours, and 24 hours will give you something close to cream cheese.

When you’re done, gently lift the strainer from the drain bowl. The liquid that’s left is whey, and actually contains any bitterness from the yogurt. Scoop your Greek yogurt into an airtight container and keep stored in the fridge, or:

Make frozen yogurt!

I’ve had the pictures for this sitting in a folder on my desktop for what seems like months, I’ve just been too busy to get in an process them. It’s hard to take pictures of guacamole and make it look good, but we tried!

Our “recipe” is actually pretty simple, and you can increase the amount any of the ingredients according to your own tastes.

Fresh Guacamole

2 large, ripe avocados
1 tomato, seeded
1/2 red onion
1 jalapeno
kosher salt
lemon or lime juice

Roast the jalapeno over a flame until the skin is blackened. Put into a plastic baggie until condensation appears and let it sit for a few minutes while you chop the tomato and onion, and mash the avocado.

Remove the jalapeno from the bag and rub with a damp paper towel to remove the blackened skin, chop jalapeno finely (or split and remove seeds if you don’t want too much heat, then chop).

Add to the mashed avocado, and gently mix in the onion and tomato. Add kosher salt to taste and a squeeze of the lemon or lime juice to taste. Mix gently one more time. Transfer to a clean bowl and press plastic wrap right on top of the guacamole so it doesn’t brown, and chill in the fridge until ready to serve.

I know, I’m only on day two and already straying from the “cookies” theme for the 25 Days of Cookies, but these candied pecans are so good that you’ll probably want to make them several times over the next three weeks anyway, especially if you’re having guests over and are looking for some light snacks.

These are really easy to make and the hardest part is, as always, the waiting. But they’re worth it!

Also, I’ve added a very handy “Print this recipe” to the end of each recipe, making it easy for you to print out the ones you’d like to try.

Candied Pecans

1 egg white
1 tablespoon water
1 pound pecan halves
1 cup white sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 250°. Grease one baking sheet. In a mixing bowl, whip together the egg white and water until frothy. In a separate bowl, mix together sugar, salt, and cinnamon.

Add pecans to egg whites, stir to coat the nuts evenly. Remove the nuts, and toss them in the sugar mixture until coated (putting the nuts and sugar mixture in a zip-top bag makes the process easier). Spread the nuts out on the prepared baking sheet. Bake at 250° for 1 hour. Stir every 15 minutes.