I'm from Philadelphia, the home of the soft pretzel. When I was growing up, there were pretzel carts on almost every corner downtown. Usually we smeared our pretzels with mustard. The soft pretzels were very doughy on the inside but crunchy on the outside and dipped in rock (kosher?) salt. Since I always enjoyed baking bread, I used to make my own pretzels.
I did a little research on pretzels, and it wasn't surprising to find that the first commercial pretzel bakery in the U.S. was established in 1861 in Lancaster County, PA. In 1935, the Reading Pretzel Machinery Company introduced the automatic pretzel twisting machine. For a history of the pretzel, go here and here.
Want to make your own soft pretzels? Here's a great recipe from King Arthur Flour.
Chocolate covered pretzels, though, are made with hard pretzels. I love the salt/sweet thing. Here's an easy recipe. As always, use the very best chocolate for the very best flavor.
CHOCOLATE COVERED PRETZELS
Ingredients
1 1/2 good dark chocolate bars broken into pieces (6-8 oz?)
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
Pretzels (until your chocolate runs out)
Directions
Melt chocolate with butter in metal bowl over saucepan over simmering water. Remove from heat.
One at a time immerse pretzels into chocolate. Lift out with fork, tapping fork against side of bowl to let excess chocolate drip back into bowl.
Put pretzels on wire rack (over wax paper). Dry until chocolate hardens.
How easy is that?
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