Soft Cheesey Pretzels

Today is a rainy and humid day in our neck of the woods! Since the kiddos couldn't go outside to play, I decided to have some fun with them and make some soft pretzels. We had a blast! Hailey and Justin love making "snakes" with playdough, so I figured they would be great little helpers for this task ... and they were! They rolled out the dough, and then I formed the little pretzels. We had a nice little assembly going.

Here are some pics I took to capture the memory!

And in case anyone wants this yummy recipe to try ...
Soft Cheesey Pretzels
~1/4 c. warm water
~1 T. yeast
~1 t. sugar
Combine these 3 ingredients in a small bowl, let sit to begin to foam.
Place in mixer bowl:
~4 c. flour (I used 2 c. whole wheat)
~3 c. grated cheddar cheese (I used a mexican blend)
~1 t. salt
~1 T. sugar
Mix these together briefly, then attach dough hook.
Add foamy liquid mixture to flour mixture, and turn on mixer (not above speed 2).
While mixing, add between 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 cups water to make the dough soft, but firm (not sticky).
Let dough rise to double in size (I let it sit for a couple hours this morning).
Punch down dough and form approx. 25 pretzels (I shaped the dough into a rectangle, then cut off little strips for the kiddos to roll out).
Let pretzels rise until double in size (this doesn't take too long).
Brush top of pretzels with an egg white, and sprinkle with coarse (I used kosher) salt on top.
Bake @ 425* for 10 minutes
Yummy ...