Wendigo Hunting M&M's Trail Mix | Supernatural

Welcome to another Supernatural Thursday, in which I share recipes inspired by the show Supernatural. This week I'm heading way back to a time before our boys voices were deep and husky, and the hunt to find their dad had only just begun. Season 1, Episode 2 (Wendigo) finds Sam and Dean posing as park rangers in order to look into the disappearance of campers in the woods at Blackwater Ridge in Colorado...thinking that perhaps John may have been there.

Almond Pretzel Bread Pudding | #ProgressiveEats

Welcome to this month's edition of Progressive Eats, which I am very happy to be hosting this month! Since today just so happens to be National Pretzel Day, I invited everybody to share a recipe featuring pretzels as an ingredient, a recipe for pretzels (or using pretzel dough), or a condiment that went perfectly with pretzels—and boy did they deliver!

My love for pretzels has never been a secret, I've shared everything from regular homemade soft pretzels and pretzel sticks to homemade pretzel dogs to cinnamon-sugar pretzels, pretzel bites to pretzel pockets, and even pretzel crackers and pretzel croissants! Initially I planned on trying my hand at homemade pretzel rods to share today, but time got away from me and I had to push that endeavor back...but only temporarily.

Sweet 'n Spicy Dr Pepper Glazed Pretzels inspired by Mermaids

If this isn't your first time here, you probably know that I've been making food inspired by movies once a month for more than five years now. So yeah, I've featured food or drink inspired by over 60 movies now! And even though that is a lot, I always find myself thinking I'd like to do more in a month. Unfortunately, the months just do not have enough days for me to do that. Or do they?

I decided that this month would defintely have enough days. One of the cool things about running a "movie and food" club online is meeting people with similar interests that I probably wouldn't have met otherwise. I met Kimberly from Coffee and Casseroles when she emailed me a little over a year ago now about joining in the Food 'n Flix fun, and we've become friends since then.

We often talk about books, tv, and movies and this month we decided to watch and cook from another one together. She mentioned the 1990 flick Mermaids and since I hadn't seen it in a couple of decades (yikes!) I asked her if she wanted to use that as our inspiration for our post. The rest is history.

Pretzel Crackers

Did we skip September this year? I have no idea how it's already the sixth day of October...the sixth day and the first Tuesday...and that means it's time for another edition of Twelve Loaves! Our host this month is Camilla from Culinary Adventures with Camilla, and our theme is Crackers, Crisps, and Flatbreads. Pretty fun, right? I think so.

I actually knew what I was going to make the minute Camilla announced our theme. I've had these pretzel crackers sitting on the backburner of my brain for a couple of years now, so what better time to finally get around to making them. You may know that I am one in a family of pretzels lovers—because I've talked about it numerous times in the past. And while I've made my fair share of soft pretzels in the past, I've never ventured into making my own hard pretzels.

I guess I can't say that today is any different since I'm not technically making hard pretzels, but I am making crackers that have the taste and crunch of hard pretzels...so I'm one step closer. I've slightly adapted a recipe from one the most-loved cookbooks from my shelves, Pretzel Making at Home. I'm pretty sure that I'm going to bake my way through that entire book before too long (it's also where I got the genius recipe for these pretzel croissants).

So, I guess you're probably wondering how the crackers actually tasted? They tasted like thin, crispy pretzels, so - INCREDIBLE! The batch didn't last much longer than 24 hours. The key is rolling the dough out very thin so that that they will be crisp all the way through. I used some of them to as a base for the Apple-Cheese Spread that I made last week, but they're also good just as they are.

Don't forget to scroll down past the recipe to see more cracker, crisp, and flatbread recipes from this month's Twelve Loaves bakers!

Pretzel Crackers

This homemade pretzel cracker recipe gives you that classic pretzel taste in a thin, crisp, buttery cracker.

by Heather Schmitt-Gonzalez

Prep Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes (includes resting time)

Cook Time: 12 to 15 minutes

Keywords: bake appetizer snack vegetarian

Ingredients (48 crackers)

• 255 grams (~2 cups) all-purpose flour + more for work surface
• 1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 2 ounces (4 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, diced
• 1/4 cup + 3 tablespoons ice water

to finish:

• 1 cup water
• 2 teaspoons baked baking soda (see notes at bottom)
• coarse salt, for sprinkling

Instructions

Whisk the flour, brown sugar, and salt together in a medium-sized bowl. Drop in the diced butter and use your fingers to rub the butter into the mixture, much like you would when making a pie crust, until you have crumbles the size of rice.

Add the water and use a rubber spatula to stir until it comes together in a shaggy mass.

Turn out onto a work surface and knead until all of the flour is incorporated, working as quickly as possible so that you don't melt the butter pieces. You will have a dough that is slightly tacky, but not sticky.

Cut the dough into two equal portions, then wrap each one in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Put the 1 cup of water into a small spray bottle, then set a funnel over the bottle and add the baked baking soda. Put on the lid and shake gently until all of the baking soda has dissolved. Set aside for now.

If you have two racks in your oven, place one in the upper third of your oven, and the other in the lower third. If you don't, just leave your rack in the middle and bake in two batches. Preheat oven to 400° F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Lightly flour our work surface. Working with one portion of dough at a time, roll out into a thin rectangle that is roughly 10" x 16" and between 1/8" and 1/4" thick (I found the thinner you rolled it, the more pretzely they were). Use your hands to gently pull and stretch into form if need be (you can also trim and straighten the edges and corners with a metal bench scraper). Brush any excess flour off of the dough.

Give your spray bottle a gentle shake, then evenly spray a fine mist of the solution over one of the sheets of parchment paper that you've set on a baking sheet. Gently pick up your sheet of dough, using your rolling pin to help, and lay it on the sprayed sheet of parchment. Try to do this evenly, because it's really hard to reposition the dough once you've set it on the wet parchment.

Use a metal bench scraper or pizza roller to cut the dough into 24 even rectangles.

Spray the top of the dough evenly with a fine mist of your solution, taking care to coat the entire surface. Any part that isn't wet will not turn that dark, burnished pretzel color when baking.

Sprinkle coarse salt over the wet dough. Repeat with the other half of the dough.

Slide into preheated oven and bake until brown and crisp, 12 to 15 minutes. If you're baking both sheets at once, rotate the pans from front to back and top to bottom halfway through baking. If just baking one pan at a time, rotate the pan so the back is in the front halfway through baking.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store cooled crackers in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

Notes:

To make baked baking soda, preheat the oven to 250° F. Scoop about 1/4 cup of baking soda onto the bottom of a pie plate and shake to spread evenly. Bake for 1 hour. Allow to cool completely, then store in an airtight container at room temperature indefinitely. You can make more or less in the same manner. Use this to replace the lye that is called for in pretzel-making recipes.

-slightly adapted from Pretzel Making at Home by Andrea Slonecker

#TwelveLoaves is a monthly bread baking party created by Lora from Savoring Italy and runs smoothly with the help of Heather of All Roads Lead to the Kitchen, and the rest of our fabulous bakers.

Our host this month is Camilla from Culinary Aventures with Camilla, and our theme is Crackers, Crisps, and Flatbreads. For more bread recipes, visit the #TwelveLoaves Pinterest board, or check out last month's mouthwatering selection of #TwelveLoaves enter last month's #TwelveLoaves Seeded Breads!

• Cheddar Cheese Crackers from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Lemon Oregano Pita Bread from Kudos Kitchen By Renee
• Pane Carasau from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Parmesan-Thyme Cream Crackers from A Baker's House
• Piadina (Italian Flat Bread) from Cake Duchess
• Pretzel Crackers from All Roads Lead to the Kitchen
• Quick Raspberry Flatbread from Cheap Ethnic Eatz
• Rye Crispbread from The Bread She Bakes
• Senbei - Japanese Rice Crackers from A Shaggy Dough Story
• Three Seed Crackers from Hostess At Heart
• Thyme and Black Pepper Crackers from blackberry eating in late september

If you'd like to bake along with us this month, share your Crackers, Crisps, and Flatbreads using hashtag #TwelveLoaves!

Soft Pretzel Sticks with Spicy Mustard Sauce

I recently went on a scavenger hunt with my main objective being to find something sparkly. That's right, I said SPARKLY! Why, you ask? It's all due to a not-so-secret secret society called blogger C.L.U.E.. I was given a blog to rummage around in and get familiar with, and since I already "know" the brains behind this blog, I a wee bit worried about finding something sparkly. When I think Debra, and her blog, Eliot's Eats, I think down to earth...I think from the earth...I think seasonal produce.

But, even though I couldn't recall ever seeing a bubble, a shimmering coating of sugar, or a colorful smattering of sprinkles adorning her food, I was on a mission to dig up some sparkle. I was moments away from turning her Maldivian Scrub into a sugar scrub...adding my own sparkle, if you will. But I decided that was changing things up a little too much (our goal is to stay fairly true to the original recipe). I worried that adding sugar and oil (and removing rice flour) may be too much fiddling. But I still plan on making it. This frigid, dry weather has my skin begging for a little resort getaway (at home).

So, I set forth once more. I didn't look far before I the answer was staring me in the face—pretzel sticks gleaming with the twinkle of sea salt. Done. Finito. Acabado.

Cinnamon Raisin Soft Pretzels

It's hard to believe that today is already the first day of October! The mornings and the evenings are now chilly, bordering on cold. Pumpkins and gourds have taken up residence on porches. The leaves are lighting the streets on fire with their brilliant colors, a few even finding their way underfoot as we walk to the bus stop wrapped in a cloak of darkness. Lamp posts that haven't been transformed into scarecrow poles are shrouded in brittle corn stalks. Pretzels of all shapes, sizes, and orientations are held in the highest of regard.

Wait, what? Pretzels? You better believe it. October is National Pretzel Month, and flanked by my small army of pretzel-lovers, we'll be celebrating it in style all month long in our house—starting now.

You know my affinity for celebrating food holidays, right? If it's your first time here, it's true. I grab hold and celebrate one whenever possible. It's just fun stuff. Well, it should come as no surprise that I'm joining a group of like-minded bloggers today, and we're inviting you to a party featuring all pretzels, all day long.

Pretzel Croissants

Guess whose turn it is to be the Bread Baking Babes Kitchen of the Month? Yes, mine! As the host, it's my responsibility to choose what we will be baking. Now, I like to choose a bread that is one (or more) of these things:

a) a challenge - something that takes a while to make or introduces a new technique
b) a favorite - something that I already love and think that everybody should know how to make
c) new to me - ummmmm, self-explanatory

The bread that I chose this month is sort of a combination of all three of my self-imposed requirements.

Jalapeño-Cheddar Pretzel Bites

Due to the craziness of the holiday season, Leslie and I missed a couple of months of she made, ella hace. We're back in the swing of things this month...and not because things have necessarily slowed down or gotten less crazy. Simply because we've just missed our time cooking together. I need time with my foodie bff!

Since it's the week leading up to the Super Bowl, our theme for the month was an easy pick: Football Snacks! Now, I hear tell that there are people out there who could care less about football. I am not one of those people. I absolutely love it! I scream at the television. I call in plays from the sofa. I've even been known to knock over a t.v. tray in the heat of the moment - something my kids will never let me live down. Kind of like the time I forcefully told a team to "suck it" when we beat them...long live the underdog! I cannot be held responsible for my actions when my team takes the field.

But just as important to the football experience is the food. Be it something you buy from the vendors during halftime at the stadium, or a glorious spread laid out in front of you at home (okay, that's almost better since you don't have to wait until halftime), food and drink go hand-in-hand with football.

Ham, Cheese & Broccoli Pretzel Pockets

I'm a teeeeny-tiny-leeetle-bit obsessed with soft pretzels at this moment in time.  Really.  I can't get enough.  I blame it on the bursts of life, or should I call them teasers, of crisp Autumn air.  And football.

It's all football season's fault.  Yeah, that's it.  Football season made me do it.

Soft Pretzels w/ Spicy Beer Cheese Sauce

Today (I'm writing this on Saturday), we had absolutely PERFECT football weather.  Clear blue skies with fluffy white clouds and temps in the upper 60's.  For me, it doesn't get any better.  And while those are the perfect conditions for hanging out in the stadium and watching a college football game, they're also pretty ideal for tailgating beforehand.

I feel most alive when the air is slightly crisp...when jeans or comfy pants and a t-shirt can be supplemented by a sweatshirt if you start feeling chilly.  I love being able to chill outside of the stadium between rows of parked cars, temporary tents, and grills sizzling with brats, burgers, and dogs whose smell is enough to make you stop and chat.

And then there's the beer.  It seems in endless supply.  And while I've seen my fair share of people who have had a few too many...it's usually just a great social lubricant.  Beer AND hot chocolate spiked with Butterscotch Schnapps.  I don't drink that much anymore, but back in college when we'd walk from the dorm to the stadium, a tall thermos filled with that was the best medicine for staying warm.  Sigh.  Those were the days.  And I can't even think of the combination without being transported back 19 years.  Holy shtuff.  19 years ago I was a freshman in college.  Ssshhhh...don't tell.  It really doesn't seem like that long ago.

But these days, I love planning the food that we're going to bring tailgating.  Everybody brings something, so you know you'll have lots of choices.  One of my go-to foods for tailgating is pretzels in some form.  They're one of my favorite munching foods.  Heck, they're one of the whole family's favorite munching foods.  From pretzels wrapped around hotdogs or sausages to pretzels filled with veggies, meats, and gooey cheese (coming soon) to pretzel bites and sticks to good ol' fashioned soft pretzels like these - they ALWAYS please.  Especially when served with an ooey-gooey cheese sauce that is slightly spicy (more so the longer it sits) and tastes of beer.  I have to make at least a double-batch.  Even then, they disappear super fast.

These were gone in no longer than 20 minutes, which is about how long it usually takes them to get eaten.  And not long after that 20 minutes everybody was telling me I should have made a triple batch.  Next time.

What are some of your favorite tailgating foods (or foods that eat during football games)?  What's your favorite - college or pro?  Who do you cheer for?  Feel free to leave any links to your answers in the comments...I'd love to have more recipes marked for future game days!

Soft Pretzels w/ Spicy Beer Cheese Sauce

by Heather Schmitt-González

Prep Time: 1½ hours-2 hours (largely una

Cook Time: 15-17 minutes

Keywords: simmer bake bread snack beer cheese flour chiles Super Bowl tailgating American

Ingredients (8 pretzels / ~2 cups sauce)

Pretzels:

• 1½ c. lukewarm water (110 -115° F)
• 1 Tbs. sugar
• 2 tsp. fine sea salt
• 2 tsp.active dry yeast
• 4-4½ c. all-purpose flour
• 2 Tbs. butter, melted
• ⅔ c. baking soda
• 1 egg yolk beaten w/ 1 Tbs. water
• Coarse sea salt or kosher salt

Spicy Beer Cheese Sauce:

• 1 bottle (12 oz.) beer
• 2 c. (8 oz.) shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese
• 1 Tbs. all-purpose flour
• 8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 jalapeño, minced (& seeded, if you wish)
• salt
• black pepper

Instructions

Making the Pretzels:

Combine the water and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Let sit until the mixture begins to turn creamy, ~5 minutes. Add 4 cups of the flour, salt, and melted butter and mix on low using the dough hook attachment until well combined. If dough seems extremely sticky, start adding in a little bit of the extra flour at a time until dough is just slightly tacky, but no longer sticky. Increase speed to medium and knead until the dough is smooth and cleans the sides of the bowl, ~5 minutes.

Form dough into a loose ball and place in an oiled bowl Cover with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel and let sit in a warm place until doubled in size, ~1 hour.

Line a baking tray with parchment paper and lightly brush with vegetable oil or spray with pan spray. Set aside.

Once dough has risen turn out onto a lightly floured work surface. Divide into 8 (basically) equal portions using a bench scraper. Roll each portion into a rope that is 18"-24" long. Lift up ends of rope to form a sort of U-shape and then twist the two sides around each other and bring down to form a pretzel shape. Place on baking tray and repeat with all of the dough portions. Let sit uncovered while you prepare the water and preheat the oven.

Preheat the oven to 450° F. Bring 10 cups of water to a boil in a large, wide-ish pot (like a soup pot). Once it begins to boil, gradually add in the baking soda to prevent overflow. Once it comes back to the boil, lower the pretzels one at a time into the water for 30 seconds each, flipping over halfway. When picking up the formed dough, I like to use two fingers to pick it up, one through each pretzel "loop". This allows the dough to sort of stretch in the right direction. Then just lower it carefully into the boiling baking soda bath. Use a wide,flat slotted spoon or spatula to lift from the water. Let as much of the water as you can fall back into the pot and lay the pretzel back onto the prepared tray.

Once all of the pretzels are back on the tray, beat the egg yolk with the water and brush the top of each pretzel with it. Sprinkle with coarse salt (or parmesan, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, cinnamon-sugar, what-have-you). Slide into preheated oven and bake until the pretzels turn a deep golden brown, 15-17 minutes.

Transfer to a cooling rack and allow to sit for as many minutes as you can before tearing into them. That's usually 5 tops in my house.

Making the Spicy Beer Cheese Sauce:

This comes together very quickly - make it once you slide the pretzels into the oven and it will be finished before they come out.

Add beer to a medium saucepan set over medium heat and bring to a boil. While you're waiting, toss the cheddar cheese with the flour. Once beer is simmering, whisk in the reserved cheese and all of the remaining ingredients. Whisk regularly until the cheese has all melted and you have a smooth, creamy sauce. Hold warm until ready to serve.

Notes:

We love soft pretzels pretty much ANYTIME. But if you want to take these tailgating (or somewhere similar), you can hold the cheese sauce in a small crockpot or thermos and wrap the warm pretzels in a towel and hold them in a cooler reserved for "hot" items. You may want to make a double batch - they go fast!

adapted from Chuck Hughes

Pretzel Dogs

Ever since I can remember, the two things I get most often when watching a sporting event - baseball...football...basketball...what-have-you... are warm, soft pretzels and/or a good dog or sausage.  Sure.  Sometimes nachos sneak their way in, but there's just something that screams EAT ME! from the pretzel and dog stalls and sellers.

So it should be no surprise that the little people sprung from my loins feel the same way, should it?  Huhn-uh.  No surprise at all.  We're very lucky to have a minor league baseball team that calls our city home.  I've been a baseball fan ever since I can remember.  There's a fabulous cart in the stadium selling dogs and brats you can smell before you've even pushed through the turnstiles.  And we can always count on a soft pretzel pebbled with fat grains of salt and wrapped in wax paper to shield our hands from the heat.  Dripping mustard and cheese.  Nothing like a sunny day, baseball with pretzels, dogs, and beer.

Or perhaps the crisp days of autumn.  Football games.  Fortunately we live in a college town with plenty of football madness.  And driving distance from "my" school.  And two to three hours drive from three pro stadiums.  Be it the walk to the stadium or tailgating outside - you can smell the fat and spices in the air and hear the sizzle as they turn brown over the fire.  Slather on the goodies and warm up with a sausage.  Walk into the stadium and grab run to the snack bar at halftime for a pretzel as big as your head.  And each child wants their own.  Nothing like a crisp autumn day with pretzels, dogs, and beer.

Or maybe winter is ending and a premature dose of spring is in the air.  March Madness.  College hoops (the only kind of hoops if you ask me - not a fan of pro-basketball).  While I love going to a game, I've always watched the Madness from my own (or somebody else's) living room.  But this doesn't mean we don't still crave our pretzels and dogs!  Oh no.  And perhaps...just perhaps...we crave them even more.  Since we can close our eyes and feel the rush of crowd, the squeak of the sneakers, the thumping of the ball; it's only natural that we should also crave those familiar foods.

So that is why it was the perfect time to head into the kitchen and combine our two favorites. Fat and chewy soft pretzels wrapped around tasty dogs, smoked sausage, and/or cooked brats. The kids and I made the dough in advance. They helped me roll out the dough, wrap the dogs, and fend off determined hotdog thieves. We all reaped the rewards as we chose our favorite items for dipping (mustard all the way, baby!), poured cold bevvies, and joined the hubs in the living room for what we realized was becoming a family tradition - sports, pretzels, dogs, and beer (or another age-appropriate liquid).

Pretzel Dogs

by Heather Schmitt-González

Prep Time: 1 hour 45 minutes

Cook Time: 12-14 minutes

Keywords: bake boil entree snack appetizer bread hotdogs sausage Super Bowl birthday American

6020346

Ingredients (8 full-size or 16 mini)

• 8 hotdogs or sausages (of the pre-cooked variety)

dough:

• 1½ c. warm water (110-115°F)
• 1 Tbs. granulated sugar
• 2¼ tsp. (1 package) active dry yeast
• 22 oz. (~4½ c.) all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. salt
• 2 oz. butter, melted and cooled

water:

• ~3½ quarts of water
• 1 c. baking soda
• 1 large egg, beaten, with a splash of water

topping:

• coarse salt
• freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

make dough:

Combine warm water and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Sprinkle the yeast on top of the water and set aside for 5 minutes, until mixture is foamy.

Add the flour, salt, and melted butter. Using the dough hook, mix on low speed until well combined. Increase speed to medium and knead dough until it is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, creating a ball of dough around the dough hook, ~5 minutes or so.

The dough will be soft, pliable, and just a bit sticky. Remove from bowl, form into a ball and place in an oiled bowl. Dust the top with flour, then cover with plastic and let sit in a warm place and allow to rise until doubled in size, ~1 hour.

Place baking racks in the center and upper third of the oven. Preheat oven to 425° F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, and lightly brush the paper with oil. (Don't skip the oiling - it’s important to brush the paper or the pretzels will stick!)

making the pretzel dogs:

Combine water and baking soda in a large pot and bring to a boil.

While the water comes to a boil, turn the dough out onto a clean, lightly oiled work surface.

If you are using whole dogs, divide dough into 8 pieces. If you are cutting the dogs in half, divide dough into 16 pieces.

You want to make a rope with each piece of dough. Start with the fingers of both hands in the center of the dough, and roll, moving your hands outward as you go. Roll the dough along the oiled surface until you have about a 24" (for whole dogs) or 12" (for half dogs) piece of rope.

Starting at one end, roll the dough around a hot dog gently (without stretching too much), pinching and sealing each end well.

When water has come to a boil, gently lower a few of the dough-wrapped dogs into the boiling water and allow to boil for 30 seconds. Using a skimmer (flat, slotted spatula), carefully remove them and place on the oiled parchment.

Brush with the egg wash and sprinkle each with some coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Slide into the oven and bake until they are a deep, golden brown, ~12-14 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool a bit...but serve them warm!

notes:

When in doubt, use 2 trays - these need space around them to help the air circulate and brown them better.

If possible, I recommend weighing (as opposed to measuring) the ingredients. I found the weights to be EXACT. This dough is a dream to work with.

These are best enjoyed the same day that they are made. HOWEVER, if you don't eat them all right away, then double-wrap them in plastic wrap and store in the freezer. When ready to serve, remove them from the plastic. Wrap each one well in a piece of foil and bake in an oven preheated to 350°F for ~12 minutes, or until heated through.

adapted from Alton Brown and Joy the Baker

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