It is that time of year again!

Last year I told you about the early Christmas prep that goes on in the Nagle5 household as a result of Superman's overseas work.  In order to get the goodies to the troops well in time for the holiday season (not just in time for Christmas day), we start in early November.  To that end, the first batch of goodies was mailed on Tuesday.  With the way the mail has been to the base lately, Superman will be able to share these right about Thanksgiving.

This first package had the pretzel treats and the peppermint bark that were most requested.  (Who knew that these simple treats would be so popular?)  Since they were so popular, I thought I'd give you some quick guidelines and you can whip up a batch yourself, if you're so inclined.  Seriously, everyone seems to love these...the kids were a bit pouty that I mailed this entire batch off!

Pretzel Treats

1 bag Rolled Gold pretzel sticks
1 bag mini marshmallows
Roughly 4 cups of Merckens milk chocolate buttons*
Mini muffin tin liners

Directions:
Take the time to break all the pretzel sticks into halves or thirds and set them in a bowl.

Using the microwave on roughly 2/3 power, melt the chocolate buttons in a glass measuring cup.  About 5 minutes at 2/3 power...stirring once halfway through.  Just don't scorch the chocolate.  (Yes, you can use a double boiler, but why?)

In a large bowl, use a spatula to combine the pretzels and the melted chocolate.  Add the pretzels a handful at a time.  (Don't just pour the broken pretzels in from the smaller bowl...you'll get all the salt that collected at the bottom of the bowl in your treats and that won't be good!)  Keep stirring and stirring until the pretzels are well-coated with chocolate and then pour in the bag of mini marshmallows and coat them with the melted chocolate.

Once it is all combined and everything is well-coated, scoop out spoonfuls and allow to cool.  (This year I skipped the waxed paper and just scooped straight onto the counter...it was simpler.)  Once they've cooled off, place each goodie in a mini muffin liner and you're done...ready to share them.

Really, you can do this with anything...I'm going to make a batch with dark chocolate, raisins, and unsweetened coconut...not primal, but still, a good compromise, don't you think? 

Tomorrow, I'll share with you just how easy it is to make peppermint bark!

Home-made Soft Pretzels

We here at the Nagle household love Wetzel's Pretzels, among other mall pretzels. If you are familiar with these pretzels, however, you know two things: 1) you have to go to the mall to get them and 2) you have to pay a pretty penny for them. Since we're staying away from the mall for all kinds of reasons, we haven't had any pretzels in a while. I was super excited to see this recipe from Mayaluna at MayaMade. The comments were all positive with regard to their own results, so I had to give it a try. I can tell you it was fantastic! We made regular salted pretzels, cinnamon sugar pretzels, pretzel bites, even pizza pretzels and they turned out really, really well.


Soft Pretzels

-makes 12-14 pretzels

Combine:
1 cup of warm water with 2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast and let sit for five minutes

Then add:
1 1/2 cup unbleached flour (I only had all-purpose)
2 tablespoons butter - softened
1/2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon sugar

Mix for three minutes and then add:
1 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour (I only had all-purpose, so that is what I used)

Knead the dough until it loses its stickiness. Let rise in a covered and oiled bowl until doubled in sized. Punch down and divide 12-14 pieces.

Roll into 18 inch snakes with tapered ends (roughly the diameter of your finger) and mold into traditional pretzel shape or whatever you want.

Place on greased baking sheet and let rise again. Preheat oven to 475.

Bring a pot with 4 cups of water to a boil and add 5 teaspoons of baking soda to the boiling water. Carefully lower the pretzels into the boiling water for one minute or until the pretzel floats. Remove with slotted spoon and place back onto the baking sheet. (Do not use an aluminum pot or spoon for this step!) Sprinkle with coarse salt (not too much - it sticks!)

Bake until golden - about five minutes. Let them cool for a few minutes and then eat them! They are really, really good.