Homemade Soft Pretzels with Jarlsberg Dip

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February 6, 2012 by Dana

Ok, people.  Listen up.  I am about to give you a gift.

A huge gift.

What I am about to give you.  Is an excuse. To eat.  CHEESE.

That’s right.  Cheese.

Lots and lots of cheese.  An entire month’s worth of excuses, in fact.  For cheese.

I mean, not that anyone should need an excuse to eat cheese other than the fact that it’s ah-mazing.  But if you do, here it is:  Kitchen Play’s  “29 Ways to Leap into Jarlsberg Dip!“

Over the course of this month, 29 bloggers are giving you serving suggestions, recipes, and fun ways to enjoy the new Jarlsberg Original Cheese Dip.  There have already been five great suggestions (well, hello, Jarlsberg Creamed Spinach).  And, now, here’s your sixth:

Use it as a dip for homemade soft pretzels!

Fact: big, chewy pretzels are the perfect vehicle to get this delicious cheesy dip delivered straight to your face.

And if cheese smothered pretzel-y goodness isn’t enough of a gift for you, there’s no hope try this one on for size:

You can win your own tailgate tote stocked with these tasty goodies:

Jarlsberg Lite Cheese
new Jarlsberg Cheese Dip
Snofrisk (a Norwegian style cream cheese)
crispbreads
honey crèmes
honey vinegar

Just head over to Jarlsberg USA for the giveaway details and instructions on how to enter.

This recipe for Homemade Soft Pretzels comes straight from my friend Victoria at Mission: Food, who adapted it from Alton Brown.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups warm (110 to 115 degrees F) water
1 T. sugar
2 tsp. kosher salt
1 package active dry yeast
22 oz all-purpose flour, approximately 4 1/2 cups
2 oz unsalted butter, melted
Vegetable oil, for pan
10 cups water
2/3 cup baking soda
1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 T. water
Pretzel salt (optional)
1 container Jarlsberg Original Cheese Dip 

Victoria is one of those people that is lucky enough to have a stand mixer.  I’m not.  So I just did the work by hand, but since I would HIGHLY suggest you use a mixer if you have one (especially if you just did about 1000 push-ups at bootcamp and your arms already feel like jello), I kept her directions as is.

Directions

Combine the water, sugar and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam. Add the flour and butter and, using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined. Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl, clean the bowl and then oil it well with vegetable oil. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place for approximately 50 to 55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper and lightly brush with the vegetable oil. Set aside.

Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an 8-quart saucepan or roasting pan.

In the meantime, turn the dough out onto a work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 24-inch rope. Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other twice, into a twist, and press onto the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel. Place onto the parchment-lined half sheet pan.

Place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 by 1, for 30 seconds on each side, starting with the top side and then the bottom. Remove them from the water using a large flat spatula. Return to the half sheet pan, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture and sprinkle with the pretzel salt, if desired. Alternatively, kosher salt creates a less salty topping. Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes, rotating pans from top to bottom and front to back halfway through . Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.

Heat Jarlsberg Original Cheese Dip in the microwave for 45-60 seconds.  Serve dip with warm pretzels and enjoy.

Disclosure:  I received monetary compensation to pay for the Jarlsberg dip and supplies for my recipe suggestion, but the opinions are 100% my own!