Soft Pretzel Rolls

Hi everyone! Be sure to check out my giveaway post from yesterday. You won't want to miss it! Anyway...

Oh how I used to hate going to the mall. No sale or bargain could entice me. I hated the crowds, trying on clothes I didn't care for and having to walk around for hours. We had a rule in my family during the busy Christmas season. My sister and I were each allowed to pick three stores to visit, and that was it. In my family, one has choose her stores wisely. I almost always picked the Disney Store, Limited Too and The Discovery Store. Very chic.

After my three choices, which always seemed to come and go a little faster than everyone else's, I had nothing left to look forward to. I pouted and dragged my multi-color Converse heels all over until we had to leave. Unless, that is, we happened to spot an Auntie Anne's Pretzel.

Auntie Anne's made the mall seem worthwhile. Once the excitement of Mickey Mouse had wore off, the scent of Auntie Anne's and the sight of the bakers rolling and shaping the dough was mesmerizing.

Please, please can I get one? I would beg. Finally, if only to shut me up, one of my parents would give in, hand the cashier some money and toss a soft pretzel in my face. With mustard, please! I'd pipe up. The spoiled little brat prevails!

It was many years later that I discovered something that blew my mind. Pretzels I could eat everyday. Soft ones. In sandwich roll form! Everytime I see the option of pretzel roll at a deli, I go for it. It was a mysterious thing to me. How did they make my beloved pretzels into cute three-bite rolls? Wegman's has them. WaWa and Sheetz both feature them...even the dining commons at Penn State had them.

How can I be the only one who doesn't believe this phenomenon can be achieved at home?

So I did a little research, and turns out, I can make them. Yes, me. I can add yeast, flour, butter and salt and let the magic happen! So I did, and in attempt to make hamburger buns, I set out to find a recipe.

The recipe I used called for 18 rolls, and I wish I had only made about 12. The good thing is smaller rolls, lower calories and more chances to eat them. The bad thing is smaller rolls, less girth to fit the planned hamburger dinner. So, these rolls, if made into 18, are great a big dinner salad, a bowl of soup, or topped with turkey. They also happen to taste fabulous warm with a bit of butter. Fabulous. So, I think you should try them!

Some of the process got a little tricky, but I hope you'll agree that they turned out pretty nice! And they tasted just like the perfect soft pretzels I remember.

What ya need

1.5 cups warm water (110°F... aka warm)
1 tbsp active dry yeast (1 package)
2 tsp sugar
4.5 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

2 tsp kosher salt
4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup baking soda
Large saucepan of water
1 egg, lightly beaten
Pretzel salt or sea salt


What ya do:

1. Combine the water and the yeast in the bowl of a standing mixer and let rest 5 minutes until foamy. Add sugar, flour, salt, butter and mix with the dough hook until thoroughly combined, the dough comes together and is rather silky to the touch.It really is silky feeling, I promise! Not sticky
3. Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in bulk. 4. Punch down and turn out onto a lightly floured surface.

5. Cut the dough into 12 to 18 pieces, depending on how big. Mine were about  2 ounces each.
6. This is the tricky part. To shape, take a piece of dough and start forming a nice round, smooth ball by pulling the sides to the center and pinching to seal. By doing this, you’re creating a smooth skin around the dough ball. 

See how it's pinched?? Do this.

 7. Place, pinched side down, on a counterand continue to roll dough ball in your hand until smooth.
8. Space evenly on the sheet pans cpvered in parchment paper, pinched seam side down. Make sure you give them room to grow even more.

No plastic wrap? Use ziploc bags and be ghetto like I am.

9. Cover with a plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes until doubled and preheat oven to 425°F and place oven racks on the lowest and middle positions.
10. In a large saucepan, bring 2 quarts of water to a low boil. Add the baking soda and lower heat to a simmer.

11.Carefully slip the rolls into the poaching liquid, seam side down. Poach for 30 seconds then carefully turn the roll over in the liquid.Poach other side for 30 seconds then remove with a spider or slotted spoon to the same prepared sheet pans, seam side down.
12. Repeat with the remaining rolls, leaving room between rolls for baking. 

13. With a pastry brush, glaze each roll completely with the lightly beaten egg making sure to coat all sides completely and top each roll with a sprinkle of pretzel salt.
14. With a sharp straight edged knife, cut a slash or “X” in the top of each roll. Place in oven  and bake the rolls for 15-20 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking – top to bottom, front to back – for even browning.Cool completely and enjoy!

I learned these are the best on the day they are baked, but you can store them in a freezer if you wrap them tightly and reheat them in a damp paper towel.

Last but not least, the last guest post I will have for a bit. I recieved this little nugget of gold on my cell phone. If this doesn't inspire you to create high level culinary masterpieces, I'm not sure what will.

"Dear Messie Kitchen, I'm an avid reader of your blog and would love to be a guest picture in one of your posts. Love, Alex"

Wowwwww, I tell him. What do we have here? A charming chicken dinner. Tell me what you made!

Chicken. Barbecue Sauce. Bush's Baked Beans.

Ohhhhh, I coo. How tasty! I'd love to feature your work. And so, here he is, for his third debut, Alex, the boyfriend.

My First GIVEAWAY!!!

Hello readers! A lot has been cooking in my kitchen this week but it’s been a busy one so forgive me if my posts come in slowly.

On a sidenote, something way cooler than my cooking has happened.

I’ve been offered to do my first giveaway! I’m super excited about this because I feel so much more legitimate now. Go ego, go! I hope you’re as excited as I am, and I hope that you’re the winner! Yes you! So what is it, you ask?

One million dollars!

Minus some. But it’s close enough. The giveaway is $40 from CSN Stores and you can spend it on whatever you’d like. I’ve checked out their site and they have a ton of things that you would love to have in your kitchen. I’ve had my eye on a Dutch oven, an ice cream machine and a Crème Brûlée set, but that’s just me. The options are really endless at CSN's website. Check it out and see what you like!

To enter, all you have to do is publicly follow my blog, and leave a comment about what you'd like to see The Messie Kitchen cook next and what you'd like to spend your gift card on.Make sure you leave your email address so I can contact you!

You will have until Sunday, August 8th to enter and then the winner will be selected and mailed their moola to start spending! Enter now, and good luck!

Red Velvet Cookie Sandwich

Happy Monday!

Oxymoron? Or charming greeting?


One of the two. Hope you're enjoying the beginning of your work  or school or regular old summer week. I sure am, because I can walk again! Just a small limp but ain't nobody gonna hold me down. Ain't nothin' gonna to break my stride. Nobody's gonna slow me down, oh-no. I got to keep on moving.


Cannot believe I just quoted that song. Forgive me, it's early here. I'm now back to full time work status which means 5 a.m. every morning. That means I'm up at 4:34. I've timed it perfectly that I can wake up, get dressed, brush my teeth, look somewhat presentable, grab my breakfast lunch from the fridge and be out the door by 4:45. I know, I know. Impressive. It's down to a science.


All that early morning nonsense means that my evenings cannot consist of any late night dwelling, but it also means that I can bake during the day. And all you bloggers know what that means...


NATURAL LIGHTING FOR YOUR PICTURES!!


Tonight, I'm meeting some of my girlfriends for sushi before we all get back into working, going to grad school and moving away (Naomi!).

Because I love them so, and because it's always better to share baked goodies than to hoard them up yourself, I wanted to make a treat that we would all love.

Yesterday, driving home from a Folk Art Festival in Wilmington, Delaware and a quick visit to the Rut with my parents, my mom just needed ice cream. We drove and drove and drove and honestly no ice cream joints on our side of the road for miles. From Columbia, Maryland all the way to DC...nothing!

This ended up like a blessing in disguise, because our route took us right to U Street in DC. Known for some of it's restaurants, I was sure we'd strike gold. And we did! U Scream for Ice Cream was the place. And you want to know something amazing? I actually resisted getting any. (The whole not walking for over a week isn't the most helpful weight control mechanism). Alas, my mom got carrot cake ice cream and my dad got a red velvet flavor. And they truly inspired me.

Tonight, I'm going with an all time favorite. I love red velvet, but toting around a cake isn't the easiest option. So, for my friends, red velvet cookie sandwiches. Portable, totable red velvet delicacies.  They're so cute, no? I thought maybe cupcakes would be a good idea but why not try something new?

They taste just like the cake... but with the consistency of a cookie. Do not be tricked; these are not whoopie pies. I don't like whoopie pies. There I said it. These are wonderful cookies sandwiched with perfect cream cheese frosting. And they were a hit with the girls.

I cheated a little. I didn't totally make this from scratch. I made my own frosting though! And you have to admit, they look homemade. And they taste homemade. And they are, who am I kidding! These were great and easy. They could be seasonal, festive, plain or coated with chocolate chips, pecans, you name it. You could probably do this with any cake, so I'm going to continue experimenting. Anyway, here's the recipe! It made 24 mini sandwiches. You could go bigger if you wanted.


What ya need:
1 (18.25 oz) box of red velvet cake mix
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup oil

1 (8 oz) package of cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 tsp evaporated milk
4 cups confectioners' sugar
Mini chocolate chips (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F

2. Mix together cake mix, eggs, and oil into a mixing bowl. I used a table spoon to scoop the dough and then split each ball into two minis. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. 

These babies expand, so don’t worry about them looking too small.

3. Bake in the preheated oven until the tops start to crack, about 8 minutes. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.

4. In a large bowl combine cream cheese, butter, evaporated milk, and vanilla, Add the confectioners' sugar 1 cup at a time, mixing well with each addition. If consistency is too stiff, add more milk. 

Try to match same size cookies, if your bad at making uniform size like I am!

5. After cookies to cool. spread a generous amount of icing on the bottom of a cookie, sandwich it with another cookie. If using chocolate chips, press firmly so that the icing comes all the way out to the edge. Roll the edges of the sandwich cookies in the mini chips.

Enjoy! You’re going to love them

Clearing up the Beef, Guest Post by Andra Zeppelin: Homemade Polenta

Hi Everyone! Happy Sunday! I have work now every morning at 5:00, so I am both tired and not excited that I have to be up in a few hours... So I'm going to let Andra take this one away from me. It's quite the funny story how we "met" and here she is to "reconcile," even though I never thought her comment was snobby. You're probably confused. Just read on! I'll be back in the kitchen full force soon, for sure! Here she goes!

Several weeks ago, Jessie posted a tasty Grilled Polenta with Spicy Ribeye.

It just a hearty but summery recipe because of the grilling aspect. I seemed to have a problem with it though. Not with the grill, not the ribeye - with the polenta.

Let’s back up. I am an avid polenta lover. I’d venture to say most Romanians are. For some reason, although it could not have been since the beginning of times, since corn didn’t make it to Europe until the 1500s, polenta is a staple of Romanian cooking. It is cheap and easy and tasty and it arrives in so many iterations that anyone can find a reason to dress it up or down, cook it for a dinner party or for a casual lunch at home

Being that I am a polenta lover and connoisseur of sorts, I may have some snobbish tendencies when it comes to it. So I had a beef with Jessie’s polenta- she didn’t make it- it was the pre-packaged kind, something any self-respecting Romania has to frown upon as if it was some sort of cardinal sin.

I left a comment. I told Jessie that she should make her polenta, that it is easy, and simple and blah blah blah. But then I felt bad. I felt like my comment was obnoxious. Here is a girl who cooks a lot, who makes healthy choices in food, who shares her experiences in the kitchen and here am I, the polenta-from-scratch police.

When Jessie tweeted about looking for guest posts, I saw that as a chance to explain the ease of polenta. And to say that I love her blog and her passion for cooking.

So here it is- Simple Polenta, a FrenchPressMemos Romanian Staple!

 Ingredients: 1 large garlic clove, peeled; 2 cups chicken or vegetable stock (ha, you really should make this too-freeze it and use it whenever needed); 1 3/4 cup polenta, 1/2 cup heavy cream; 3 tablespoons butter cut in small pieces; salt and pepper to taste.

Mince the clove of garlic finely.

 Bring the stock to a boil in a heavy bottomed pot. Add salt to the water - about 1 teaspoon. Add the minced garlic and reduce the heat to a simmer.

Rain the polenta in stirring for a couple of minutes until there are no lumps and the polenta is well absorbed in the water. Cook stirring occasionally for about 20-25 minutes until it gets thick and most of the liquid evaporates.

 Turn the store off and start adding the cream in bit by bit stirring constantly to incorporate it. Do the same with the butter. Add salt and pepper to taste.

This can be served soft immediately. If it isn’t creamy enough, add more butter or heavy cream. To grill it, set it in a pan to cool.

After it cools, cut it up in the desired shapes and sizes and there you go, now you can grill it after perhaps you brush it with a bit of olive oil. I cut it in rounds to mimic the packaged polenta but of course you can cut it in any shape you want. A knife works as well as a cookie cutter does. Serve it with Jessie’s ribeye!

Some suggested variations include- water instead of stock- it just won’t come out as flavorful, but will still be delicious; shallots or onions minced finely and sauteed before being added to the boiling stock/water; thyme minced finely and added to the boiling stock; hot peppers- jalapenos or others minced finely and added to the boiling water; mascarpone cheese instead of butter; add grated cheddar cheese at the end to give it a cheesier flare; use milk instead of cream or more butter instead of cream (really any combination of milk, cream, and butter should work to get you to the creaminess and consistency desired.

Most important- don’t be intimidated by making it. If it gets too hard, you can add water. If it isn’t hard enough, cook it until the liquid evaporates. There is no exact science, you can fix it and change it and serve it so many ways.  And if you cut it up in rounds and you have all sorts of little pieces left over, consider lightly toasting them in the oven to dry them up and use them as polenta croutons in your lunch salad the next day.

Happy polenta making!