Day 6: Stinky Pretzels

Austin went on a ten minute tangent when I told him we were making stinky pretzels. Here are just a few of the things I remember him saying, " Stinky pretzels? Why would we eat something that stinks?" "They won't be good because they're smelly." " Dad, you won't believe this; Mom wants to make stinky pretzels!" "They are going to taste terrible." "How do pretzels stink?"

Don't let the name of this recipe throw you off. They may sound gross, but I assure you that they are worth reading about. Paul is the head girls' golf coach at Rolling Meadows High School, and last year one of his golfers gave him a bag of these pretzels. He brought them home to me in a sandwich sized bag, but informed me that they had started out in a gallon sized bag and that after 3 hours this was all that remained. He told me not to be turned off by the name and explained that they were called stinky pretzels. I asked him why he thought I'd be turned off by that considering I call hamburger snacks dog food burgers and still manage to pound those down. Anyway, I tried a stinky pretzel and immediately understood how Paul had consumed three quarters of a bag of them in 3 hours. They were AWESOME. Once he knew I liked them, he handed me the recipe. It turns out that these pretzels are so well received that his student's mom actually staples the recipe to the bag because everyone always asks her for it. The recipe is from the Chicago Tribune, and is part of a cute little article about a granddaughter who used to eat these with her grandmother and how it has been a family recipe ever since. The author of the article thought the story was worth telling and the pretzels seemed too interesting not to try. So, she makes them and is floored as to how tasty they are. She even tells the readers not to stray from the recipe at all as far as brand, portion, etc. In one weeks' time she played with this recipe and made 5 batches, all of which she ate, but admitted that none compared to the batch that followed the recipe verbatim.

So, even though these could not be any easier to make; my husband loves them; and I enjoyed them too; until today, I had never made them. Here's to hoping I don't disappoint my wonderful husband and my very skeptical son.

Stinky Pretzels
2 16 oz bags of small pretzel twists
1 1oz envelope(powder) of Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing and Seasoning Mix(Original)
12 oz of Orville Redenbachers' Popcorn Oil
1 teas garlic powder
1/2 teas lemon pepper

Directions:
1) In a small bowl, stir together dressing packet, garlic powder and lemon pepper.
2) In a VERY large bowl, add pretzels, the popcorn oil, and spice mix. Blend well.
3) Every 15 minutes for 1 hour stir preztels making sure to scrap the bottom each time.The preztels will absorb the majority of the popcorn oil during this time.
4) Place the pretzels on a paper towel to drain excess liquid.
5) Place in zip lock bags for 6-8 hours to meld.

Kitchen Play by Play: Seriously, like 1 minute total prep time. Austin measured and mixed the dry ingredients and made sure to let me know that he thought it smelled very bad. I had a 16oz popcorn oil, so I measured out 12 oz and mixed it all together. We mixed the bowl more like every 8 minutes because we were incredibly inpatient and were dying to try them. We may have sneaked a few :) We still gave it the full hour though. I emptied the pretzels onto paper towels and made sure to use a rubber spatula to get every last drop of the remaining oil mixture out and spread it around the pile of pretzels. The two most difficult parts of this recipe are 1) finding a bowl big enough. I used my salad spinner bowl, and it was perfect! 2) Waiting for them to be completely done. There is no way in hell that they are going to sit in the bag for 6-8 hours tonight. As I'm typing this, I am eating them off of the paper towel. In fact, the author of the article admits that her pretzels never made it to the "zip lock and set" stage either. I didn't take a picture because they just look like pretzels...little pretzels of deliciousness that is.

The Verdict:
Nicole: Can you guess? I haven't exactly tried to hide my obsession for these pretzels. I give the recipe a 5!

Paul: He came into the other room and asked me why I didn't double the recipe. He has consumed about 50 of them already. He gives the pretzels a 5!

Austin: Suprisingly, Austin didn't even hesitate to try one. He loved them! He was still chewing his first pretzel when he shouted, "It's a 5!" But then he said, " Wow, my breath is stinky."

Peyton: She licked all the seasoning off and then handed Paul the plain pretzel. It's going to be hard for me to watch her throw away pretzels once she has licked all the yummy goodness off of them.

** Thankfully, we all love them because now we can still hug and kiss each other without worrying about being called stinky.