Never find yourself waiting in a sluggish line for Auntie Anne’s pretzels again, one of the only fast food chains I proudly crave. The joys of making these copycat mall-flavored pretzels is that they require basic ingredients you likely already have: flour, yeast, milk, butter, sugar, and cinnamon. They’re plush, buttery, and very sweet with a hint of salt. They’re all around the best pretzel nuggets you’ll want to keep popping as you stroll to your favorite stores. Follow these techniques to get the best version of a nostalgic treat.
The ingredients:
—Brown sugar: The ingredient list on frozen Auntie Anne’s cinnamon sugar pretzels includes brown sugar, so that’s a given. Brown sugar also has higher moisture content than granulated sugar, which will result in more steam and fluff.
—Milk: I opted for milk over water since it enriches the dough and will make it softer.
—Baking soda: I call for 1/3 cup baking soda to 3 cups water so there’s a stronger metallic flavor present in the dough.
—Butter: To my surprise, these pretzels are made with real butter. You don’t need a ton of it, but you should let the hot pretzels soak for a few seconds once they come out of the oven.
—Cinnamon sugar: There’s definitely a ratio of granulated sugar: cinnamon: salt on the outside of the pretzels. You don’t want the pretzel to be so sweet that you can’t taste anything but butter sugar. There should be a lightly coating of sugar with a warmness from the cinnamon. Salt is definitely present, so a little bit in the mix will balance and enhance the sweet and spice.
The baking:
After a run to my local Auntie Anne’s stall, I observed how lightly colored the pretzel was under the cinnamon sugar blend. Many recipes call for baking their pretzels upwards of 400°, but I felt it wasn’t as easy to control their browning. I decided to bake these at a lower temperature of 375° and pull them when lightly golden. They shouldn’t be as dark as a salted soft pretzel. You’ll notice they won’t have as much of a crust when you pull them.
Tips & tricks:
Another way to impart the iconic metallic or slightly bitter taste these pretzels give off is baking them directly on the baking sheet and a great idea from Delish food editor Brooke Caison. If anything, you get a lovely crust on the bottom of each nugget. Roll the dough out into thin strands and cut into 2″ to 3″ nuggets. The dough might shrink, so it’s better to make the nuggets longer so they hold their narrow shape in the oven. Auntie Anne’s pretzels are more narrow than they are square or rounded.
Storage:
You can store leftover pretzels in an airtight container layered with parchment at room temperature for up to 2
days. If the cinnamon sugar mixture starts to turn gooey, then gently toss to combine.
Did you try making this? Let us know how it went in the comments!
