Pretzel Bites with Hatch Green Chile Queso
What up friends! How's everyone's beginning of March going? Here in Kansas we're finally getting some warmer weather, in fact, I spent most of today with the doors and windows open. It was glorious. I caught myself a few different times just standing in front of them feeling the finally not below freezing temperatures. When I wasn't entranced by the warm weather, the hubby and I spent a good portion of this weekend continuing to plan Peru! Seriously though, if anyone has any recommendations or advice on Peru, HIT A GIRL UP.
ANYWAYS, food. I'm not really sure what possessed me to make pretzel bites. Except for that they're freaking delicious. Seriously, I've kind of become known for them. I bring them to sport watching events, Super Bowl parties, or just parties in general. People are always so amazed that I made soft pretzels from scratch like yeast is this extremely scary substance that only highly trained professionals can use. Lemme tell ya, I ain't no trained professional. These are easy. You just need time.
This was the first time I made said pretzel bites with a hatch green chile queso. I've made it with beer cheese, or other cheddar based dips trying to imitate the plastic nacho cheese stuff you get with mall pretzels. I'm not really sure why I kept trying to achieve that yellow nacho, dare I say it...crap, but this queso was AMAZING. Like, my husband had to take it away from me so I could photograph it before I ate the entire skillet. It's so dang good. So make this for a party, or for lunch...like I did for myself today...lolz, it's not sad, it's fine. (Also if you're weird and don't like cheese you could serve these with a nice whole grain mustard. I picked up a Tank 7 based mustard at the grocery, because Kansas City that's why. But why would you not want to eat these with cheese??)
Pretzel Bites
2 cups of milk
1 1/2 teaspoons (2 packets) active dry yeast
6 tablespoons brown sugar (divided)
4 tablespoons butter, melted
5 to 5 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
2 teaspoons fine sea salt
1/3 cup baking soda
3 cups warm water
Coarse salt for sprinkling
8 tablespoons butter, melted
Warm up the milk in the microwave. It should be about 110°F. If it’s too hot it will kill the yeast. You should be able to comfortably keep your finger in it.
Stir in yeast and one tablespoon of the brown sugar and let it sit for about 10 minutes, until it is frothy.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, pour the yeast mixture, butter and remaining sugar.
Add flour one cup at a time. The amount of flour you'll need will depend on the moisture in the air where you are. I only needed 5 cups. You'll want the dough to pull away from the sides, be smooth, and not too sticky.
Add the salt.
Knead the dough in the stand mixer for 10 minutes.
Put in greased bowl and let rise for about an hour or until doubled in size.
Preheat oven to 450°F, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Combine baking soda and warm water into bowl and set aside while we make the bites.
Punch dough down and divide it into 12 even pieces.
Roll out each piece of dough into 1 inch thick ropes. Cut bites into 1 1/2 inch pieces. Dip the bites into the baking soda water solution for a few seconds.
Place bites on baking sheet, bake for 6-10 minutes or until golden brown. Once they come out of the oven, brush the tops with the remaining melted butter.
** This recipe can be made ahead of time and reheated in the oven. Only reheat them in the oven. Microwaves leave them too squishy and not crisp!
Hatch Green Chile Queso
2 tablespoons of butter
3 garlic cloves either finely minced or put through a garlic press
2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour
1 cup of whole milk (trust me, just get whole milk)
1 4oz can of hatch green chiles
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne (or less if you'd like to tone down the heat)
1 cup of shredded monterey jack cheese
1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
In a cast iron skillet, or small skillet, melt butter over medium high heat. Once melted, add the garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes or until fragrant.
Add the flour to the butter and garlic mixture and whisk right away to eliminate lumps and create paste. Cook this for 1 to 2 minutes.
Slowly whisk in the milk.
Once milk is combined, add the chiles, cumin, salt and cayenne.
Let the mixture come to a gentle boil and thicken. Whisk constantly.
Turn the heat to low and slowly sprinkle cheese into mixture allowing it to melt completely.
Garnish with cilantro and green chiles. Dip and enjoy!