I’ve been distracting myself by cooking and baking in the kitchen as much as I can after a tooth extraction I had earlier this week. After almost a full week of soft foods only, I’m finally graduating back to solid foods. For the last week, I ate mostly mashed potatoes, yogurt, macaroni and cheese, and eggs. All I’ve been craving after the week are solid foods. One such craving is my favorite soft pretzels. My usually go-to pretzels are everything pretzels with scallion cream cheese. This time around, I decided to put a spin on my usual go-to soft pretzels and made some Asiago cheese pretzels along with a few everything pretzel bites. Asiago cheese and I go way back to my college years. My first experience eating Asiago cheese was in the form of a bagel as a college student. I was a freshman student in Ann Arbor and I was craving a bagel with cream cheese. I had moved away for college and had the most intense craving for bagel with cream cheese, a staple I grew up eating while living in New York. I walked up to the counter of a café located in the undergraduate library on campus, scanned through the selection of baked goods and packed salads, and committed to an Asiago bagel with a side of cream cheese. I had never had an Asiago cheese bagel before, but the bagel sure looked delicious. I asked for the bagel to be toasted and then waited impatiently to take a bite. One bite and I was hooked for life. The Asiago cheese added a savory nutty flavor to the bagel and paired perfectly with the cream cheese. I must have been really missing Asiago cheese bagels because this week, I suddenly had the most intense cravings for Asiago cheese. To get my fix of Asiago cheese and soft pretzels, I combined the two into an Asiago cheese pretzel and served it alongside some homemade garden vegetable cream cheese. Making garden vegetable cream cheese was my way of convincing myself I had a couple servings of vegetables along with my carbs. The dough for my pretzels is the same dough I use for my pizza. It’s the perfect foundation for shaping and forming pretzel twists and pretzel bites. Usually, I make the dough ahead of time and leave it in a cool spot to rise undisturbed overnight. I didn’t remember to start the dough the night before, so I made the dough early in the morning and left it to rise undisturbed for 2-3 hours while I worked on other recipes. This was the perfect time to whip up some vegetable cream cheese using some of my favorite vegetables I had on hand including red pepper, celery, carrots, and scallions. The vegetable cream cheese is easy to prepare and tastes best when chilled in the refrigerator for a few hours before use. By the time the dough has doubled in size, I was ready to begin prepping and shaping my pretzels. I rolled out the dough, flattened it with a rolling pin, cut up strips of the dough, and formed them into either pretzel twists or bites. The pretzel twists were topped with grated Asiago cheese and the bites were topped with an everything seasoning. There really is something magical about Asiago cheese. When melted under high heat, the heat brings out the intense savory, salty, and nuttiness of the Asiago cheese. Asiago cheese works wonders when topped on soft pretzels. Twenty to twenty-five minutes later and the pretzels are done. The only step left is to grab my vegetable cream cheese from the refrigerator and serve it alongside the pretzels and bites. The assorted pretzels with vegetable cream cheese was just what I needed to satisfy my cravings for Asiago cheese and soft pretzels. Cooking and baking have been a much-needed distraction from the throbbing sensation and discomfort of the dental surgical site. With one recipe done, I need another distraction before I notice the discomfort kicking in again.
For the pretzels:
· A double batch of my pizza dough recipe
· 4 cups of water
· 2 tablespoons baking soda
· 1½ teaspoons kosher salt
· 2 ounces Asiago cheese
*If making the everything pretzel bites, follow my recipe here.
For the garden vegetable cream cheese:
· 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese
· 1 stalk scallion, thinly sliced
· 1 stalk of celery, diced
· 1 carrot, peeled and diced
· ½ of a red pepper, diced
· ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
Directions:
1) Prepare the dough following my recipe here. Allow the dough to rise undisturbed for 2-3 hours.
2) While the dough is resting and rising, prepare the vegetable cream cheese by combining the cream cheese, sliced scallion, diced celery, diced carrot, diced red pepper, and kosher salt in a bowl. Chill the vegetable cream cheese in the refrigerator.
3) When the dough has risen and doubled in size, roll out the dough into a large rectangle or oval on a lightly floured surface. Cut the dough vertically into eight equal strips. Reserve the shorter ends for rolling into pretzel bites. To roll the pretzel twists, roll each strip of dough into long rods. Bring both ends of each rod toward the top. Twist the ends and bring the twisted ends towards the bottom of the loop. Press the two ends of the rods onto the loop at the bottom with about ¼ inch space between the ends of each rod. Repeat for the remaining pretzel twists. Set aside. For the pretzel bites, cut each of the shorter ends into about four equal pieces. Roll each of the pieces into balls. Set aside.
4) Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
5) Heat a Dutch oven pot on medium heat. Add four cups of water into the pot. Once the water begins to boil, add the baking soda and 1½ teaspoons kosher salt. Add in the pretzel twists one at a time. Let the twists sit in the boiling baking soda bath for about a minute. Remove the twists from the baking soda bath. Cook the dough balls 4 pieces at a time. The dough balls will begin to float after several seconds. Let the dough balls sit in the boiling water for about a minute. Use a slotted spoon to remove the dough balls from the boiling baking soda bath.
6) Arrange the pretzel twists and dough balls on the parchment lined baking sheet. Top the pretzel twists generously with the grated Asiago cheese and dough balls generously with the everything bagel seasoning.
7) Place the baking sheet into the preheated oven. Bake the pretzel twists and balls for 20-25 minutes, until the twists and balls develop a deep golden-brown exterior. Remove the baking sheet from the oven.
8) To serve, remove the vegetable cream cheese from the refrigerator. Serve the pretzels alongside the vegetable cream cheese.
Takeaways: The soft pretzels are best when served immediately. The chilled vegetable cream cheese pairs very well with the pretzels (and definitely reminded me of an Asiago cheese bagel with cream cheese). For an alternative variation, check out my everything pretzels with scallion cream cheese or my pretzel bites with a cheddar cheese sauce.