It's National Pretzel Day! Make Your Own Tonight in 30 Minutes!

Welcome to National Pretzel Day! As Americas 534th Favorite Holiday, it's a pretty low-key celebration. You can hope Kwik Trip has some cooked up, but you can also make 'em really quick.

There's a whirlwind of baking going on since the stay-at-home order went into effect. Here's one to add to your list that'll make tonight the best Sunday night ever. To get 8-10 delicious pretzels, you need just a few ingredients you probably already have at home.

Yummy Soft Pretzels - Recipe from James Rabe's Cousin (posted as she wrote 'em).

Preheat oven to 425.

You'll need

1.5 cups warm water (not hot...warm to the back of your hand, like for baybeeee)
1/2 Cup Baking powder
1 packet or 2 and a 1/4 teaspoons of instant yeast.
1 Tsp salt
1 TBLS granulated sugar
4.5 cups all purpose flour
1 large egg (give it a couple whips with a fork, but just enough to blend it, don't go making it all tough and stuff).
Kosher salt to taste (or cinnamon sugar if you like)

Line baking sheet with parchment paper

Dissolve yeast in warm water, stir until mixed. Clusters are OK. Add salt and sugar, stir again to combine.

SLOWLY add 3 cups of flour, mixing with a wooden spoon until dough is thick. IF the dough is sticky, add some more flour u ntil it isn't.

If you touch the dough with your finger (like you would the Pillsbury Dough Boy), and it bounces back (like the PBD), you're ready to go to the kneading.

On a floured surface (granite counter-tops were MADE for this kinda thing), knead for about 3 minutes and make into a ball. With a sharp something (knife, blade, chopper, wide putty knife, whatever makes you happy) cut into about 1/3 cup pieces. For baking, this is a lot of abouts, I know. Trust me, Pretzels are pretty forgiving.

Roll the dough until it's a rope with even diameter. I like 18 inches, my husband prefers 20, you gotta decide this one for yourself, love.

Take the ends of the rope and make a circle. Twist the ends and bring them toward you and press down to make the pretzel shape. Don't worry if they're not perfect looking, because whatever they look like you just say, "I made them that way on purpose...I'm a wild beast and you can't tame me!"

Fill a pot with 9 cups of water and a 1/2 cup of baking soda. Whisk it to blend and when it's boiling, put a pretzel on a slotted spoon or spatula and gently dip into the water and let it float for about 25 seconds. Lift out of the water, let it drip, and put it on a baking sheet.

Do the same with all the pretzels. Then, brush or dip the egg wash onto the pretzels (both sides) and if you took 'em off the baking sheet, put 'em back on, sprinkle 'em with kosher salt and into the oven for 10 minutes.

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Then, turn the oven to broil to brown 'em up. and serve 'em. Some serve 'em with mustard, but I've never understood why you'd want to ruin something so perfect with mustard, so I recommend Cheese Whiz.

By the way, you can skip the boiling water dip if you want, but I think they taste better when they've been dipped.

Thanks, Cuz...if you try the recipe, let me know how it went!