How can you not want one of these little guys right this second? It’s an all-beef hot dog wrapped in a soft, homemade pretzel and sprinkled with just the right amount of coarse salt. I’m sad that we already ate all of these because as I’m typing this, I’m seriously craving one.

Your initial thought may be, “Make my own soft pretzels? That sounds way too difficult!”. Ah, I was with you on that one, although I promise it is no harder than making pizza dough. If you have a stand mixer, it’s incredibly easy- just throw in the ingredients, mix a bit, let rise and you’re ready to rock. If not, it’s still a very easy dough to knead together with your hands. You don’t really need to knead at all, just enough to bring everything together.

You could make these pretzel dogs as shown, with hot dog halves, or you could make them smaller and more pop-able by cutting the hot dogs in fourths. I envision them as the perfect party food for kids, or adults that like being a kid every once and a while

Pretzel Dogs
Ingredients:

For pretzel dough and hot dogs:
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 Tbs sugar
2 tsp salt
1 package dry active yeast
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tbs unsalted butter, melted and cooled
vegetable oil spray
8 all-beef hot dogs, halved (recommended: Nathan’s)

To make the pretzel dough, place warm water, sugar and salt into the bowl of a stand mixer. Sprinkle yeast over the mixture and let sit until foamy, about 5 to 10 minutes. Add flour and melted butter and mix on low speed with the dough hook until the dough comes together and pulls away from the side of the bowl, about 5 minutes. If the dough is looking crumbly, add a tiny bit of water if needed. I think I ended up adding about a tablespoon extra.

Lightly spray a bowl with vegetable spray and place the dough inside the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit for an hour, until doubled in size.

Once the dough has doubled, split it into 16 equal pieces. Roll out each piece into a long rope and wrap it around a hot dog, pinching ends closed. Repeat with remaining dough and hot dogs. Set aside.

For boiling:
10 cups water
2/3 cup baking soda

Preheat oven to 450F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, spray lightly with vegetable oil spray and set aside.

Bring water and baking soda to a roaring bowl. Working with one pretzel dog at a time, boil for 30-45 seconds. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on a drying rack.

To finish the pretzel dogs:
1 large egg yolk, beaten with 1 tablespoon water (this is your egg wash)
Pretzel salt or other coarse salt

Place 8 pretzel dogs on each prepared baking sheet and lightly brush the tops with the egg wash. Bake for 14 minutes, until golden brown. Rotate the baking sheets if the pretzel dogs are not browning evenly. Let pretzel dogs cool for a few minutes before serving. Enjoy!

Recipe from Smells Like Home