Lately we’ve been playing around with recipes for honey mustard pretzels, thanks to having scored one-pound bags of Snyder’s of Hanover pretzels for 50 cents apiece at the bakery outlet.

We’ve experimented with proportions and also the type of pretzel: minis, nuggets and “snaps” (the square ones that look like tic-tac-toe grids — see illustration at left). Yesterday DF came up with what I think is the simplest and most flavorful honey mustard pretzels recipe in the whole wide world.

In the interest of scientific discovery, perhaps you should try it yourselves.

Here’s how:

Melt two tablespoons of butter. (We use a Pyrex cup in the microwave.)

Add three tablespoons of honey and three tablespoons of prepared mustard.

Stir in one teaspoon powdered mustard, a shake of garlic powder and a splash of Worcestershire sauce.

Pour one pound of pretzels into a large bowl and drizzle the sauce over them, stirring constantly until evenly distributed. (A rubber or silicon spatula works well.)

Coat two or three cookie sheets with cooking spray and spread the pretzels as evenly as possible. Bake at 250 degrees for at least one hour, stirring every 15 minutes. If they still feel super-sticky, bake them a little longer. (We have left them in for 75 minutes.)

Break up the pretzels with a pancake turner or your brave, brave hands. (Pro tip: It’s more fun to lick your fingers than a hot metal utensil.)

 

I strongly using the snaps variety of pretzels. They were the best of all three varieties we’ve tried.

 

In search of cheaper pretzels

 

These have made great snacks for us. Although they’re a little too easy to eat, they’re far less greasy than potato chips and they’re so darned cheap, because:

• We get the prepared mustard in large quantities at Costco.
• We bought the store-brand powdered mustard on Senior Day at Kroger, which meant a 10 percent discount. It might have cost even less in the bulk-buy section, but they were out; you can be sure we’ll check once this supply runs low, however.
• Honey is not cheap. However, we paid $7 for a five-pound jug of the stuff thanks to a $10 gift card I cashed in from the MyPoints rewards program.
• The pretzels, as noted, cost 50 cents per pound. (The original price was $3.69.)

Not every bakery outlet carries pretzels, but I’d certainly suggest checking. Not sure if there’s an outlet in your area? Here’s how to find out:

Aunt Millie’s: A Midwestern brand with shops in Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois.

Bimbo Bakeries USA: Outlets in 44 states; brands include Arnold, Ball Park, Boboli, Earth Grains, Entemann’s, Freihofer’s, Marinela, Mrs. Baird’s, Oroweat, Sara Lee, Stroehmann, Thomas and Tia Rosa.

Franz: Stores in Alaska, Montana, Washington, Oregon and Idaho; labels include Seattle International, Seattle Sourdough Baking Co., Alaska Grains, New York Bagel Boys and, of course, Franz.

Holsum: Outlets in Louisiana, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, California, Arizona and Colorado.

Oroweat: Locations in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colrado, Louisiana, Missouri, New Jersey, Nevada, Oregon, Texas and Washington.

Pepperidge Farms: Outlets in Connecticut, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin.

Schwebel’s: Stores in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and West Virginia.

You should also do a search for “bakery outlet in [your town],” because a local or regional bakery might have outlet prices.

 

Honey mustard pretzels: That “old”-time flavor?

 

Some people think of bakery outlets as the places where stale bread goes to develop mold and die. It ain’t necessarily so. In fact, I’ve bought items there with sell-by dates further off than bread in the supermarket.

In this case, though, the stereotype holds true: These pretzels have sell-by dates of Nov. 2018. Was your initial reaction to that statemet “eeewww”? I assure you that these things are incredibly good. At one point I had to remove myself from the room to keep from eating my way to the bottom of the bag.

True, I didn’t taste them raw – that is, before we soaked them in tangy-and-sticky deliciousness – but suppose they had been stale. We planned to soak them in liquid and then bake them low and slow. If that doesn’t refresh a slightly-past-its-prime snack, I don’t know what would.

Your mileage may vary. Either check the sell-by date at the bakery outlet or try the recipe with supermarket-brand pretzels, or dollar-store pretzels. And if this particular flavor combo isn’t your brand? Check online for other recipes. Before this I’d made pretzels with ranch dressing mix, herbs and seasonings, which were pretty tasty.

They’ve been replaced in my affections by the honey-mustard kind, however. They’re sweet but not too sweet, spicy-tangy but not overly so. They make the house smell wonderful while they cook, a particularly nice touch today because it’s been snowing for about 30 hours. Nothing like being in a warm, deliciously fragranced environment while watching all the weather that can’t touch you.

Until later, anyway. I will be going to my niece’s home to watch “The Walking Dead” with her and her sons this evening. Generally I bring a snack to share.  Guess what I’ll be taking? The only question is whether I’ll be bringing any of it back home.

 

Related reading:

• Eat the cake
• Enchilada sauce and the domino effect
• Adventures in steamed bread