Soft Pretzels
After I had a little nap and and then visited with some friends, Autumn and I headed to the kitchen to whip up a treat. Soft pretzels. Mmmm... Dip them in a little mustard, and they're near perfect.
Ready for a little history lesson? It is rumored that as early as 610 AD at a monastery in Southern France or Northern Italy, monks formed scraps of dough into the traditional pretzel shape that we see today. The traditional shape represented a child's arms folded in prayer. The three empty holes were to represent the Christian Trinity. The monks gave the warm, doughy treats to children in order to bribe them into learning their Bible verses and prayers. The monks called these treats the Pretiola, which means "little reward" in Latin. Before too long, people started using pretzels in wedding ceremonies. The happy couple would wish upon the pretzel, and then break it like a wishbone. They then ate it to signify their oneness. Pretzels were used during lent, and eaten on Easter with hard-boiled eggs. They were hidden for children to find. This practice preceded the traditional Easter egg hunts that we have today!
Teaching a child their A, B, C's? Abandon the traditional shape, and make letters instead!
You can find the recipe for these soft pretzels over at Mama's Fixins.
9 comments:
Tracy,
I have ALWAYS wanted to know how to make these. YAY! Thank you so much for sharing your recipe and technique! Can't wait to try them! :)
Yay----They look great!! I agree they are so yummy dipped in mustard:)
Julieann
I've never heard that background info on pretzels before. This is a favorite treat for our daughters and I to make...sooooo yummmmy!
I do love making pretzels! That's one of our after-school projects for this week!
I can't make them work gluten-free, though. It's frustrating.
Tracy, those look great!
An unrelated question: how did you design that signature at the end of your posts?
The first time I saw how to make pretzles was when my daughter was a wee thing and we were watching Mr. Rogers. Mr. Rogers always took us on field trips through tv-land. This one was to a pretzle factory somewhere in Pennsylvania. When we visited the Lancaster (PA) 1.5 years ago we visited a pretzle factory and were done in from the aroma alone. Mmmm.
Thank you for this recipe!
Those look great Tracy and I'm going to try making A, B, C's. Thanks bunches for more wonderful ideas!
Those look so good! We love pretzels. I like mine with salt and mustard. The girls like them with cinnamon and sugar. Thanks for the recipe.
I was just toying with the idea of making pretzels! How great! I thought the boys would have fun, and now I've got a recipe! Thank you!
Post a Comment