Caramel Apple Homemade Soft Pretzel Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why do you boil soft pretzels before baking? ›

Quick, easy, and fresh weeknight recipes. It turns out that most pretzels are boiled, often in a lye solution, before baking to ensure that the exterior comes out just right.

What Gives Pretzels Their Pretzel Flavor? You have baking soda to thank for that distinct pretzel flavor. Baking soda is highly alkaline and imparts that subtly metallic taste onto the dough before your pretzels go into the oven. Some recipes call for a lye bath, which does the same thing.

First, rinse and dry the apples. Apples have a waxy coating that will prevent the caramel from sticking, so it's important to wash and dry it off. Make sure the apples are cold, which helps prevent the caramel from slipping off. Pull out the apple's stem and insert a caramel apple stick.

I do not recommend refrigerating caramel apples because the caramel becomes very hard and sticky. In this recipe for caramel apples, you can store the caramel apples in an airtight container.

On the one hand, lye gives pretzels their distinctive flavor, kind of a sharp flatness, if that makes sense. It's what keeps a pretzel from tasting like pretzel-shaped bread.

As noted above, baking soda is a staple ingredient for making homemade pretzels. Dunking your pretzels in a baking soda bath prior to baking is what enables them to develop their distinctive color and crispy-on-the-outside, chewy-on-the-inside texture.

According to King Arthur Baking, lye and caustic sodas are used in the process of baking pretzels because lye's reaction to the pretzels, much like baking soda, gives them that chewy texture, light interior, and brown crust.

In Bavaria's world-famous beer gardens, pretzels are also enjoyed with obatzda, a strong, cheesy dip made with butter, hot paprika, and Camembert. Frankfurt is home to a milder, creamier version known as schneegestöber, also enjoyed with pretzels and glasses of sour flat apple cider named apfelwein.

If you don't have airtight containers handy, you can tightly wrap the soft pretzels with aluminum foil or plastic wrap. You can also store soft pretzels in nifty sealable silicone food storage bags, which we feel are essential kitchen items.

For dipping in caramel, we recommend the ever-loved Granny Smith, which offers the right amount of tartness to offset the sweetness of caramel hausarbeit schreiben lassen kosten. New, up-and-coming apples for making caramel apples include: Pink Lady, Honeycrisp, and SweeTango^®.

Do you put caramel apples in the fridge to harden? ›

Dip the Caramel Apples

Set the apples on the prepared baking sheet to harden. To speed up the process put the finished caramel apples in the refrigerator. Remove 30-60 minutes before serving so the caramel is soft.

Storage Instructions:

To Store: These beautiful dipped caramel apples will last for about 2 weeks, stored in the refrigerator. They make great gifts for teachers, friends and neighbors! I like to wrap them in a piece of cellophane with a cute ribbon.

If caramels are too hard, you can try placing them back in a saucepan, adding a couple tablespoons of water and stirring until the thermometer reads 242°F. Pour back into a prepared buttered pan.

Like bagels, pretzels are made in boiling water prior to baking to give them their snappy outsides and chewy insides (messy!). Soft pretzels must be boiled, or dipped in a baking soda bath (or lye if you're gusty and strict with your pretzel traditions).

Anyone who has tried to make homemade pretzels knows that there is one essential step that you can never skip: boiling your pretzels in baking soda water before baking. Almost every homemade pretzel recipe contains this step—but why? Here, we dig into the science to help you better understand how crucial this step is.

Keep it in a paper bag

Paper bags are preferable to plastic bags, as these allow the moisture to escape. Keep in mind, though, that with a paper bag your pretzels may become stale more quickly than by freezing them or placing them in a bread box.

Egg Wash – The egg wash on the pretzels gives them a little shine, and I find it softens the exterior a bit. For a more traditional taste, omit the egg wash and just use salt when the pretzels come out of the water bath.