One-Hour Chocolate and Cinnamon-Sugar Soft Pretzel Bites

New Year's Eve was Sunday and we kept it quiet, which is the Larson family tradition: board games at home, sparkling cider for the kids in real champagne glasses because New Year's Eve calls for real glasses and children who are allowed to use them treat them with the gravity that real glasses deserve. We played Ticket to Ride, which Mason won with the particular calm of someone who has been managing routes and resources since the first five minutes of the game and knew before anyone else how it was going to end. He is nine and he is already thinking four moves ahead.

I made the traditional New Year's Eve party food: a full charcuterie board, two kinds of dip with chips and crackers, pigs in blankets from frozen puff pastry and cocktail sausages, and a chocolate fondue with strawberries and pretzels and pound cake cut into cubes. The kids stayed up until eleven, which is as close to midnight as I allow on a school night even when school is still out, and Noah fell asleep on the couch at ten forty-five and was technically present for most of the celebration while being entirely asleep for the end of it.

January begins and Grace's anniversary is in two weeks. I always feel it coming before it arrives, the way weather feels before weather: something in the light, something in the specific quality of January air, something in the way I look at the photo above the stove more often. The grief has changed since last January. It is still there, it will always be there, but the shape of it has shifted, the way a river shifts when it finds a channel: deeper in some places, quieter in others, still moving but not flooding.

I resolved to do one new thing in 2018. After three days of thinking about it, I wrote down: teach more people. The workshops are working. The system helps people. I am going to teach more people the system. That is the resolution. The accountant in me considers this adequately specific.

The pound cake and strawberries did their job beautifully alongside that chocolate fondue, but the pretzels — store-bought, fine, perfectly acceptable — were the part I kept thinking about afterward. There is a version of this same New Year’s Eve spread where the pretzels are homemade, warm, dusted in cinnamon sugar, and the whole thing takes about an hour. I am making that version next year. These soft pretzel bites are the recipe I am saving for it: the kind of thing that earns real champagne glasses and keeps the children awake past ten forty-five.

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 12 min | Total Time: ~1 hour (includes rise) | Servings: 8 (about 60 bites)

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups warm water (110°F)
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast (one standard packet)
1 tsp granulated sugar
4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading
2 tsp fine kosher salt
4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted, divided
10 cups water (for the baking soda bath)
2/3 cup baking soda
1 large egg, beaten with 1 tbsp water (egg wash)
3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted (for finishing)
1/2 cup granulated sugar mixed with 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (for coating)

For the chocolate dipping sauce:

1 cup heavy cream
8 oz good-quality semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 tbsp unsalted butter
Pinch of flaky sea salt

Instructions

Activate the yeast. Combine warm water, yeast, and 1 tsp sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Let sit 5 minutes until foamy. If it doesn’t foam, your water was too hot or your yeast is old — start over.
Make the dough. Add flour, salt, and 2 tbsp of the melted butter to the yeast mixture. Using the dough hook, mix on medium speed 4–5 minutes until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. It should be slightly tacky but not sticky.
First rise. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, shape into a ball, and place in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rise in a warm spot for 25–30 minutes, until roughly doubled.
Preheat and prep the bath. Preheat your oven to 450°F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment and lightly grease the parchment. Bring 10 cups of water to a boil in a wide pot, then carefully add the baking soda (it will foam up — add it slowly).
Shape the bites. Divide the risen dough into 8 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a long rope about 3/4 inch thick. Cut each rope into 1-inch pieces. You’ll get roughly 60 bites total.
Boil the bites. Working in batches, drop pretzel bites into the baking soda bath and boil for 30 seconds. Remove with a slotted spoon, let drain briefly, and arrange on the prepared baking sheets. Brush each bite with egg wash.
Bake. Bake 10–12 minutes until deep golden brown. Rotate the pans halfway through for even color.
Coat in cinnamon sugar. While the bites are still hot, brush generously with the remaining 3 tbsp melted butter, then toss in the cinnamon-sugar mixture until well coated. Work in batches and don’t let them cool first — the coating sticks best when they’re warm.
Make the chocolate sauce. Heat heavy cream in a small saucepan over medium heat until just simmering. Pour over chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Let sit 2 minutes, then stir until completely smooth. Add butter and a pinch of flaky salt. Stir to combine. Serve warm alongside the pretzel bites for dipping.

Nutrition (per serving)

One-Hour Chocolate and Cinnamon-Sugar Soft Pretzel Bites — The New Year’s Eve Fondue Upgrade We Didn’t Know We Needed