Curing the Rainy Day Blahs...

By making pretzels!

I feel like it has rained most of the spring so far. I wonder if that means we will barely have a drop of rain over the summer? We are getting bored of being cooped up in the house or running errands. Today I decided to make homemade pretzels with Ben. It brought me back to my childhood when my mom would make these on a weekend afternoon. My siblings and I could hardly wait for the the dough to rise, so they could get in the oven. Ben was a great helper. His favorite part was rolling out the dough into snakes. It was a fun way to pass the morning and we had something to eat when the pretzels were finished. So basically a win-win!

 Ben had to keep an eye on the dough when it was mixing with the dough hook.

 I cut the dough into sixteen pieces then rolled one out so that Ben could see how long he needed to make his "snakes."

 Ben rolled out all of the other pieces. I just had to make an adjustment here or there.

 The pretzels all ready for an egg wash and salt.

 Ben helped add the salt to the tops. It took a bit of practice for him to sprinkle it more that dump it in a pile. :)

 Ready for the oven.

 This picture doesn't really go with the pretzels, but I thought it was funny. While I was cleaning up the dishes from making the dough Ben decided to "help" me by cleaning the dishwasher with a wet paper towel. I think his streaks really added a nice touch.

 The first pan of pretzels cooling on the counter...all ready for us to eat!

Delicious! We ate them for lunch. Ben ate three. He said we were great pretzel makers and I would have to agree. :)