Ham & Cheese Stuffed Pretzels II

So, we've set a date! April 27th, 2013! Yes, I know what you're thinking, 3 years is a LONG ASS time! But ya know, when we've got to pay for an extravaganza ourselves, go to school, work, and have to pay our current bills... it's kind of hard to save a pretty penny for an amazing wedding. But it'll happen and we'll live happily ever after... or at least that's a start. Right?

And on a side note... I am completely pleased with the turnout of the Superbowl! Yes, I lived in Indiana for about 8 or so years, but I absolutely HATE the Indianapolis Colts and am glad that they fell to the truly better team, the Saints!

Ingredients:
Adapted from Flamingo Bear's blog

1 packet active dry yeast
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon light brown sugar
1/4 cup warm water
1 cup warm milk
2 & 1/2 cups wheat flour
10-15 slices honey ham, chopped
1 & 1/2 cups cheddar cheese, grated
6 cups water
4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 cup Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
kosher salt

In a large bowl, mix yeast, 1 teaspoon brown sugar, and warm water. Mix until sugar is dissolved and let sit about 8 to 10 minutes, until foamy.

In another bowl, mix together remaining brown sugar and milk until brown sugar is dissolved.

Add 2 & 1/2 cups flour and milk mixture to yeast and stir with a wooden spoon until soft ball of dough forms.

Turn dough onto lightly floured surface and knead a few times. Place in clean bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let sit for 2 hours or until doubled in size.

Turn dough out onto floured surface and divide into 4 pieces. I froze 2 and used the other for the a good sized plate full of pretzels.

Roll each piece into a long rope and flatten/spread out. Place ham and cheese on top of dough and roll up. Seal seam with water if needed. Cut into segments of desired size. Let rest for 30 minutes on baking sheet.

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Bring 6 cups of water to a boil. Lower heat and add baking soda. Cook pretzels in batches of 2 or 3 for about 30 seconds and let rest back on baking sheet.

Bake in oven for about 20 minutes, or until pretzels are light and puffy. Brush with melted butter and top with kosher salt.

You can also make a quick honey mustard dipping sauce by mixing the dijon mustard with the honey.

This was a great snack! I don't know if I'd do it again with wheat flour, it gave it an interesting taste, but in a good way. Enjoy!

Ham & Cheese Stuffed Pretzel Rolls

It seems that whenever I decide to stuff something, I use ham and cheese. I don't know what it is, but I think it's just a neutral flavor that almost everyone can tolerate I guess. Now, these pretzel rolls didn't photograph very well, and trust me, I tried to make them into pretzel shapes, but with the stuffing inside them, they were kinda fragile, so I just stuck with the log shape. But the taste was there. Tasted like a pretzel/ham and cheese sandwich. So, I think all in all it was a success. Recipe was inspired by these little mini guys over at Ezra Pound Cake's blog.

Ingredients:

1 packet active dry yeast

2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon dark brown sugar

1/2 cup warm water

1 cup warm milk

2 & 1/2 cups flour

1 pack of ham (use as much as you like in each roll, but I found about 2-3 slices in each worked well)

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

6 cups water

4 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted

kosher salt to top

In a fairly large bowl, combine yeast, 1 teaspoon brown sugar, and warm water. Stir together and let sit until started to become foamy, about 5 to 8 minutes. If you don't see any foam by 10 minutes, then start over. It means your yeast is bunk, and nobody likes bunk yeast.

Then in a small bowl, stir together remaining brown sugar and milk. Mix until sugar is dissolved.

Add flour and milk mixture to yeast mixture. Stir with a wooden spoon until a dough starts to form.

Gently knead dough into a smooth ball on a floured surface, Then place in clean bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise at room temperature for about 2 hours. I actually let this sit for about 6 to 8 hours, and it kinda resembled the starter of a sourdough or something (although I'm not for certain because I've never made sourdough, but I've seen pictures, so close enough), but either way, I think it should be fine. Mine turned out fine, so it's fine, right? Right.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Cut the dough into 4 separate pieces, then divide those pieces in half. Roll out each piece to desired length and flatten with rolling pin. Place desired amount of ham and cheese on each rolled out piece of dough. Then, using warm water to seal the edges, press each roll closed. When done with each roll, let sit for about 30 minutes at room temperature. And don't worry, the dough will rise ever so slightly during this process, but it's okay.

Bring water to a boil in a large pot. Add baking soda and stir. This was kind of a cool effect because it sizzled as I put it in. I know, kinda dorky that I'm fascinated with that, but it's science in action. I could get into the reaction of it all, but I'm sure I would just bore you all, so you can just Google it if you're interested.

Add each pretzel roll in, 1 at a time, and soak until slightly puffed up, about 20 seconds. Make sure you turn them at least once during that time. Then place on baking sheet with parchment paper.

Bake the rolls until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Keep an eye on them, everybody's oven is a little different.

When done, brush on melted butter and sprinkle with kosher salt. Serve with beer cheese (Andy's concoction wasn't too bad, but it's nothing like beer cheese from Sportstime) or your favorite pretzel dipping sauces.

These were pretty scrumptious. Definitely authentically tasted like pretzels. I'm not much of a baker, so I didn't expect much out of these, but it was different, genuine, and pretty tasty. Job well done, I'd say. Enjoy!

Homemade Hot Pockets

All I have to say is 2 sticks of butter. Paula Dean would love this recipe just based on that. This was pretty tasty, and definitely more rewarding than the $2 things you get wrapped in plastic in your grocery's freezer aisle. Pictures were kinda of blah, but taste was great. Dough and recipe was inspired by these little guys at Eat My Cake Now. While pufflets are cute, I've always gone by the slogan, go big or go home, so that's exactly what I did.

Ingredients:

2 sticks of butter

2 tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 & 2/3 cups flour

2 tablespoons parmesan cheese

3/4 cup cottage cheese - yeah, i'm kind of grossed out by cottage cheese by itself, but in this, you couldn't really tell it was in there, so i survived.

This is basically for the dough. You can really stuff these babies with whatever you want, I opted for the ham, turkey, and cheddar cheese. Yum.

In a medium bowl, beat your butter and cottage cheese. Heart attack in a bowl, right? Right. Paula Dean is still alive, so this should be no worries.

In another medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt, and parmesan cheese.

Add the flour mixture, in batches, to butter and cottage cheese mixture. You'll form a sticky ball of goodness. Split the ball in two, flatten both halves into a square-like shape, and cover in plastic wrap. Throw those suckers in the fridge for at least 3 hours.

When the squares are nice and cold and somewhat hard, take them out of the fridge. Roll out the dough in between two pieces of plastic wrap. Cut dough in half again, and place fillings on one side of dough. Fold over and seal edges with a little bit of cold water.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake these babies for about 30 minutes, depending on how big you make them. They'll have a nice golden brown crust, and a pretty hot juicy center.

For being this easy, I don't know why I haven't tried making my own hot pockets before! Enjoy!