Homemade Pretzel Bites with Cheddar Cheese Beer Sauce

For the pretzels:
Begin by adding 1 1/2 cups of warm water to a mixing bowl. If you have a KitchenAid mixing bowl, use that. Add in the sugar, salt and the package of yeast. Gently stir, and walk away from it for about 5-10 minutes, or until the yeast foams.

Once the mixture has foamed, add in the flour and melted butter. Use your dough hook attachment, and begin mixing on medium speed for about four minutes. Your dough should be smooth and begin coming off of the sides of the bowl. Remove the dough from the mixer and add it to another bowl. Drizzle the vegetable oil on top of the dough, and then flip the dough over to the other side, making sure the entire surface of the dough is oiled. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in a warm spot for about two hours.

The goal is to have the dough rise to about twice the size of when you placed it into the bowl.

Once the dough has risen, remove the plastic wrap and give it a good smell. I love the smell of fresh dough. Nothing beats that wonderful yeast smell. Well, bacon probably beats that, but still, it is a great smell.

For the next few steps you will want to have everything prepared as things go pretty quickly.

Spray a large baking sheet with cooking spray. Preheat your oven to 450 F. Beat the egg in a small bowl. Add the salt to another small bowl.

In a roasting pan or another large pot, add the 12 cups of water and the baking soda. Put it on the stovetop and bring it to a boil. If you do not have a roasting pan, use a deep skillet or another vessel that can hold that water to a boil.

OK, back to the dough. Take the dough and divide it into about 8-10 balls. The dough will be a bit sticky, so use a bit more vegetable oil to lightly coat your hands.

Take each ball and begin to roll it into a rope like shape. Once you begin to get the rope, grab both ends and swing it a bit. Your goal here is to get the rope to be about 7 inches long or so. Repeat with the remaining pieces of dough. Lay the ropes down, and cut them into about 2 inch pieces.

Add these pieces to the boiling water. Let these cook in the water for 20-30 seconds. What happens here is that the dough begins to soften, par cook, and enlarge a bit. Remove the dough with a slotted spoon, trying to remove as much water as possible, and add the cooked dough to the oiled baking sheet.

Brush the egg wash onto the top of each pretzel bite, then sprinkle each one with kosher salt.

Repeat this process for the remaining dough balls.

Once the baking sheet is filled with some pretzel bites, add them to the preheated oven and cook for about 15 minutes. They should come out golden brown. The smell is amazing. Take it in. Remove them from the baking sheet and place on a wire rack to cool.

Repeat this process until all of the pretzel bites have baked.

As the pretzels cook, make the cheddar cheese beer sauce.

Add the beer to a sauce pan. Bring it to a boil.

Toss the flour with the cheese. Once the beer is boiling, add the cheese and flour mixture, dial down the heat, and stir constantly. Toss in some salt and pepper. Stir until the mixture is melted and smooth. Then remove from heat and put it into a serving bowl.

When you are ready to plate, add the pretzel bites to a plate with a small bowl of the beer sauce, and dig in.

The flavor of these pretzels is just phenomenal to say the least. Packed with this yeasty smell and flavor, every bite is nicely salted. And that beer and cheese sauce, well, I will let you judge. A perfect snack any time of the day. And better yet, a great game day appetizer that will get all of your friends and family dipping everything into that beer and cheddar cheese sauce! Enjoy.