A pretty perfect fall food, these pretzel knots are the perfect snack after an afternoon picking apples or carving pumpkins! It’s also a good excuse to have the rest of a gallon of cider around, so you could sip some mulled cider while you munch!
Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup warm apple cider
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon, divided
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 medium apple, peeled and diced
- 1/4 cup cheddar cheese, grated
- sea salt for topping
- 1 large egg, beaten, for egg wash
- 2/3 cup baking soda, for boiling
Cheese is one ingredient where I recommend paying a bit extra for a nice version. Supermarket brand cheddar can be pretty flavorless, and extra sharp cheddar really stands out and improves things enough to justify the cost.
To make the dough, stir together the cider, brown sugar, and yeast in a large bowl.
I did question whether my yeast had died, but the dough rose, so all’s well…
Let it sit for 5-10 minutes until the yeast starts to get things a bit foamy, then add the butter, salt, 1/2 teaspoon of the cinnamon, and flour, stirring until a rough dough comes together.
Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead unto a soft, smooth dough is formed. Form the dough into a ball and place it in a large greased bowl, turning the dough-ball to get it lightly greased all over. Cover with a kitchen towel and set aside in a warm place to ride until the dough has doubled, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
While the dough rises, prepare the apple filling. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment. Combine the diced apple with the remaining 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, and spread on the lined sheet.
Bake 15-20 minutes, until the pieces are dry to the touch. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.
Once the dough has risen, increase the oven temperature to 425 degrees, and set a large pot of water on the stove to boil. Line another baking sheet and set aside.
Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces, and roll each out into a 12″x3″ rectangle.
Spread 1/4 of the cheese and 1/4 of the apple down the long side of one of the dough pieces, then repeat with the remaining cheese, apple, and dough pieces.
Lightly brush the opposite long sides with egg wash, then roll the dough around the filling, towards the egg wash side, creating a log, and pinching to make sure the log stays closed around the filling.
Gently tie each log into a basic knot.
Add the baking soda to the boiling water, being careful as it will foam up. Add two of the knots to the boiling water and let them boil for 30 seconds, spooning water over them or flipping them if they are floating half out of the water. Remove from the water with a slotted spoon and place on the prepared sheet. Repeat with the remaining pretzels.
Brush the top of each knot with egg wash, then sprinkle with sea salt. Bake 18-20 minutes, or until golden brown. 
Let cool 10 minutes before serving.
Super yummy, and not as much work as they may appear!
Apple Cheddar Pretzel Knots
From Bashful Bao.
- 3/4 cup warm apple cider
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon, divided
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 medium apple, peeled and diced
- 1/4 cup cheddar cheese, grated
- sea salt for topping
- 1 large egg, beaten, for egg wash
- 2/3 cup baking soda, for boiling
To make the dough, stir together the cider, brown sugar, and yeast in a large bowl. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes until the yeast starts to get things a bit foamy, then add the butter, salt, 1/2 teaspoon of the cinnamon, and flour, stirring until a rough dough comes together. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead unto a soft, smooth dough is formed. Form the dough into a ball and place it in a large greased bowl, turning the dough-ball to get it lightly greased all over. Cover with a kitchen towel and set aside in a warm place to ride until the dough has doubled, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
While the dough rises, prepare the apple filling. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment. Combine the diced apple with the remaining 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, and spread on the lined sheet. Bake 15-20 minutes, until the pieces are dry to the touch. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.
Once the dough has risen, increase the oven temperature to 425 degrees, and set a large pot of water on the stove to boil. Line another baking sheet and set aside.
Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces, and roll each out into a 12″x3″ rectangle. Spread 1/4 of the cheese and 1/4 of the apple down the long side of one of the dough pieces, then repeat with the remaining cheese, apple, and dough pieces. Lightly brush the opposite long sides with egg wash, then roll the dough around the filling, towards the egg wash side, creating a log, and pinching to make sure the log stays closed around the filling. Gently tie each log into a basic knot.
Add the baking soda to the boiling water. Add two of the knots to the boiling water and let them boil for 30 seconds, spooning water over them or flipping them if they are floating half out of the water. Remove from the water with a slotted spoon and place on the prepared sheet. Repeat with the remaining pretzels.
Brush the top of each knot with egg wash, then sprinkle with sea salt. Bake 18-20 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool 10 minutes before serving.
Ingredients:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Trim any excess fat or creepy bits (tendons) from the pork, then pat the outside dry with paper towels. Sprinkle salt, pepper, and the rosemary evenly all over the pork.
Turn the pork, using tongs, and sear similarly on all the other sides.
Transfer the pan to the oven and cook until an instant read thermometer reads 140 degrees in the center, 12-15 minutes. If you have one of the ones that reads the meat while it’s still in the oven, even better, mine was even hotter at just 12 minutes. Remove the pork to a clean plate/cutting board.
Return the pan to medium high heat and add the cider mixture, scraping up the browned bits on the bottom with a wooden spoon.
When the cider has reached a simmer, return the pork to the pan. Spoon the cider mixture over the pork, tilting the pan as needed to scoop up more mixture.
Continue spooning the cider mixture until it reduces and thickens. Remove the pan from the heat, and remove the pork to a cutting board. Tent with foil and let rest 5-10 minutes before slicing and serving, drizzling with the remaining cider sauce.
Ingredients:
Add the melted butter and combine until well mixed. Again, this takes just seconds in a food processor.
Transfer the crumb mixture into a 9″ springform pan and bake 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool. Once the crust has reached room temperature, you can store it in the freezer until the ice cream is ready.
To make the ice cream, place the yolks in a medium, heatproof bowl and whisk them to break them up. Whisk in the malted milk powder, then set aside.
In a heavy saucepan, combine the cream, milk, sugar, and salt, stirring to combine. Place the pan over medium-high heat until the mixture just begins to simmer, then reduce the heat to medium.
Stirring the cream mixture constantly with a rubber spatula, now drizzle the egg mixture into the rest of the cream mixture. Cook, stirring constantly, until the combined mixture coats the back of a spoon, holding a clear line when you run your finger through it.
Strain the mixture into a clean container (to catch any scrambled eggs that may have cooked a bit too much).
Put your clean container into an ice bath to cool the custard you’ve made, stirring occasionally. Once the custard has reached roughly room temperature, stir in the vanilla and then cover it with plastic wrap, pressing the wrap all the way down to the surface of the custard to prevent a skin from forming on the surface. Refrigerate at least 2 hours.
When the custard has been chilled, freeze it according to your ice cream maker’s instructions. You can add fudge sauce (however much you want, probably something like 6 ounces) to the end of the churning process, or add it to the ice cream as you put it in the pan – I went with the latter as I didn’t want brown ice cream, but either way is going to taste fantastic.
Remove the prepared crust from the freezer and scoop the soft ice cream from your ice cream maker, adding hot fudge sauce between scoops of ice cream if you haven’t already added it to the ice cream, then swirling a bit and smoothing the top.
Freeze at least a further 3 hours before serving.
Happy birthday to me!
Ingredients:
Add the egg and vanilla, then the salt.
On low speed, add the flour 1/2 cup at the time.
Fold in the baking soda, cornstarch, and butterscotch chips by hand.
Either cover the dough in the bowl or place it on plastic wrap and shape into a log (like slice and bake dough you can buy in the dairy/eggs section of your supermarket) and wrap up tight. Refrigerate at least 3 hours, preferably overnight.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Spoon or slice cookie dough onto the lined sheets.
Bake 10-12 minutes, cool on the pans 2 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool.
Ingredients:
Bake for 15 minutes, then remove from the oven and set aside to cool slightly.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each.
Mix in the vanilla and cinnamon.
Finally, mix in the sour cream, then spread evenly in the prepared crust. Set aside to make the topping.
For the topping, combine the oats, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl. Use a pastry blender, fork, or your hands to mix the butter into the dry goods until the the butter is well distributed and has just small clumps throughout.
Sprinkle the prepared oat mixture on top of the pears.
Bake for 15 minutes at 350, then reduce the temperature to 200 and bake a further 2 hours and 10 minutes. Turn off the oven, remove the cheesecake, and run a knife around the inside edge of the pan. Return the cheesecake to the oven with the door shut and let it sit in the still-warm oven for a further 2 hours. Remove from the oven, cover, and chill overnight.
My coworker Carol said this was the best thing I’ve made yet, which is a no small feat!
First, though, a 2-picture tutorial on cutting lemons to juice them, which I learned from the side of a lime box:
Transfer to a dish with a lid and freeze several more hours until firm.
Super simple, super flavorful
If you’re unsure how to get prepared spaghetti squash, cut a spaghetti squash in half lengthwise and scrape out the seeds and glop in the middle with a spoon. Either bake, face down, at 350 degrees for an hour, or microwave each half, again face down, for 10 minutes. Either way, once they are cooked you just scrape out the insides with a fork or two, and it’s all set! What you don’t use for the cheesecake, you can eat for dinner with some spaghetti sauce!
Add the pudding mix and process again until evenly combined.
Dot the surface with the jam, in this case blueberry, and swirl it with a knife.
Chill at least 1 hour before serving.
Stir in the chocolate chips.
Serve either with a spoon, sliced fruit, or cookies for dipping.
This recipe calls for white wine. I don’t drink, and don’t need most of a bottle of wine sitting around, so I was going to go with one of the normal substitutions (grape juice or additional broth) but I decided to use this as an excuse to get a bottle of sparkling grape juice. The bubbles cooked out, but I thought it added a nice tangyness I enjoyed – maybe wine would do this as well, I don’t know – I really don’t ever drink!
Add the carrots, salt, and pepper, and cook an additional 2 minutes, continuing to stir occasionally.
Add the wine and stock, increase the heat to bring the mixture to a boil, then bring it back down to simmer for 5 minutes.
Add the beans and zucchini and simmer another 5 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender.
Add the peas, spinach, and Parmesan, and cook until they are warmed through and the spinach is wilted.
Serve with additional black pepper on top. Actually, or extra Parmesan? Why not.
Ingredients:
Add the butter and sugar and pulse until evenly combined. Pour the mixture into the prepared pie pan and press evenly into the sides and bottom of the pan.
Bake for 10 minutes, then cool on a wire rack.
Once the pie crust and strawberry mixture have been cooling for a while (10-15 minutes), cut the remaining strawberries into slices, then set aside. Beat together the cream cheese and powdered sugar. Transfer the cream cheese mixture into the crust. Although the crust is pretty sturdy once it has chilled, I found it better at this point to drop the cream cheese in small blobs to distribute it widely, rather than trying to smear the cream cheese evenly and messing up the crust in the process.
Scatter the sliced strawberries over the cream cheese mixture.
Spoon the cooked/cooled strawberry mixture on top.
Refrigerate for 1 hour. Melt the chocolate chips, drizzle the chocolate over the top of the pie, and refrigerate a further 15 minutes. Then slice, serve, and do your own shouting about your pie prowess!
sparecake 