Auntie Anne's.

For as long as I can remember, I've loved soft pretzels.  The best kind were usually from Auntie Anne's in the mall as they tempt you with the smell of gooey butter and salt.  However, I often got pretzels at OU football games (not very good) or at the softball field when I watched the McFarlin boys play during the summer months.  Or, I would eat the soft pretzel brand found in the frozen section at Target or Wal-Mart.  Regardless of where I ate them in the states, I can't buy them here in Ukraine.  Ukraine has lots of good breads that I indulge in, but pretzels are not one of them.  So...to google and pinterest I went.

I pinned this recipe the other day.  However, upon further inspection, I do not have a bread maker here in K-grad.  Back to the drawing boards (or google).

I finally found this recipe which looked promising.  And, bonus, I had all of the ingredients in my kitchen.  Winner winner, chicken dinner (can anybody name that movie quote?).

As I made the pretzels (overall, a very easy and simple recipe), I even documented the process...just for the blog :)

dough waiting to rise...

After I got the dough finished and ready to rise, I headed to the store across the street to try and get the ingredients for nacho cheese, which eventually turned into an epic fail.  They didn't have cornstarch (to my knowledge, and I even had the Russian and Ukrainian words for it).  The recipe I had for nacho cheese required condensed milk (recipe here), and when I thought I was buying regular condensed milk, it was in fact chocolate condensed milk.  Cultural moment for Lydia.  I still tried to make the recipe...not with the chocolate condensed milk.  With regular milk.   You'll see in a bit...continuing on with the photo story:

after an hour...

starting to make the pretzel bites...

You drop the bites into simmering water for 30 seconds, then transfer to the cookie sheet.  I dropped mine in a bowl of melted butter after the simmer time, then dusted with salt.  HIGHLY recommend this part of the process :)

the first two bites!  success!

minus the bottoms sticking...

Cooking in a toaster oven is a tricky business the first time you try a recipe.  The heat is SO much more concentrated in such a small area, that things can burn very quickly.  See pictures above.

I think I eventually cooked these at around 150 C for 5-6 minutes.  The butter definitely helps this part of the process because they won't stick to the bottom...

Voila!  :)

I froze the rest of the dough (thanks for the suggestion, Mom!) so that I wouldn't eat all of them during this one sitting.  However, I wanted some for dessert tonight.  But, I didn't want to wait for them to defrost.  Gonna have to plan ahead better tomorrow...

And in case you're interested in what my failed attempt of nacho cheese looked like...

It actually tasted decent, but looked disgusting.  Ukraine does not have the right kinds of cheddar cheese for this...

It rained most of the day today, which meant that when I went to dinner tonight with Phil, Dan, Vicki, and Angie (who lives in a village about an hour and a half away), I got to wear my PINK RAIN BOOTS :)  Any excuse to wear those things that scream, "I'm an American!" makes me laugh.  People literally start at my feet and scan my whole body trying to figure out what the heck I'm wearing.  

I'm about to start the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo tonight. Who's read this?  I don't even know what it's about, but it's a phenomenon I'm jumping into.  Toodles :)  enjoy your Friday night!