Vanilla Pretzels - Project #3

friday nights at work are a bit strange. any other night, there are 2 of us in the kitchen. but on friday nights, with 12 people eating dinner, there are 4 of us in the kitchen (greg and i, and the other chef couple). there is never enough work for all of us to do. most fridays, you will find me in the car, going to the market for something we've forgotten.

last week, when i was making the decision to start baking, i realized fridays were the perfect time to try stuff out. this week's recipe, from the CIA "Baking & Pastry" book, vanilla pretzels.

makes 12 dozen cookies

butter soft - 9oz/255g
confectioners' sugar, sifted - 4.5oz/128g
eggs - 4.5oz/128g
milk - 2 floz/60mL
cake flour, sifted - 14oz/397g
dark chocolate, melted, tempered - 3lb/1.36kg
coarse sugar for coating - 1lb 8oz/680g

1. trace pretzel shapes onto parchment paper and line sheet pans with the parchment, inverting it so the pencil markings are on the underside of the paper.
2. cream the butter and confectioners' sugar on medium speed with a paddle attachment until smooth, about 5 mintues. blend the eggs and milk and add in two or three additions, blending completely and scraping down the bowl after each addition. on low speed, mix in the flour until just blended
3. fit a pastry bag with a no. 2 plain tip and fill it with the batter. pipe pretzel shapes using the traced patterns on the prepared sheet pans.
4. bake at 375F/191C until light golden brown, about 8 minutes. transfer to racks and cool completely.
5. dip the pretzels into tempered chocolate and transfer to racks set over sheet pans. sprinkle iwth coarse sugar once the chocolate is lightly set.

i cut this recipe in half, because 136 cookies was far too many.

because of this book, i bought a digital baking scale, which is probably the best thing ever. at first, looking at a recipe that only have weights can be intimidating, but it actually is very easy if you have a good scale. here is a link to the scale i bought:

http://www.kitchenkapers.com/3007.html

things that concerned me while working on this recipe. when i was mixing in the eggs and milk into the sugar and butter, it didn't seem like it was combining well. when i started adding the flour, it finally started to come together, and actually worked out well.

a number 2 pastry tip was far too small for my taste. i used it for my first batch, and they burned far too quickly and it was hard to make the shape come out correctly. i switched to a number 4 tip and was able to control the shape much better. the cooking time needed to be adjusted to 12-13 minutes to achieve the desired look.

i decided not to dip the cookies in chocolate, too much of a mess. instead, i melted chocolate and put it into a squeeze bottle, and drizzled it over the cookies. the effect was nice and it was much easier than dipping cookies.

the cookies were a big success! next time i will make more, and maybe use colored sugars over the chocolate to add color.

well, it is the weekend, and i'm off the to the philly auto show to find my next car. snow is also on the way. if i'm working on sunday, i'm thinking about making pound cake, i will let you all know.