These cinnamon sugar pretzel bites with cream cheese dipping sauce are the perfect movie night snack. You can also make this indulgent recipe for a playful get-together or maybe a movie party or sleep over for your kids (the kids would love to help). They are so delicious you can’t just eat a few, let alone one. This one is a really fun recipe!
If you’ve seen some of our other pretzel recipes then surely you know that we are pretzel lovers here, #realpretzelsonly. Don’t give us those imitation baked dough twist and call them pretzels. We like to make pretzels that actually taste like pretzels. Okay, I’m off my soapbox. I won’t spend too much time ranting about real pretzels like I did here.
When it comes to pretzeling (yes, I just used that word, wanna fight about it), we like to stuff them. We like to make soft pretzels most of all, but hard pretzels are fun to make too. Especially when you dip them in chocolate.
Check out some of our other pretzel recipes below:
Buffalo Chicken Stuffed Pretzels
Jalapeno Popper Stuffed Pretzels
Now, this recipe definitely isn’t an original idea. But it is simple and we provide you with some ideas to make these in advance and serve them to a crowd. It’s so simple. I mean, don’t pretzels just beg for cinnamon and sugar…
Not only is this recipe easy to make but it’s cheap. Cheap and easy is the name of the game here. You don’t need any specialty ingredients like blue cheese. And you don’t have to worry about special techniques like stuffing these pretzels. You make the dough, roll it, cut it, dip, bake, and toss in cinnamon sugar. Then you indulge!
Perfect Make Ahead Snack or Party Food
If you are planning a sleep over for your daughter and want to be ahead of the game then this recipe is definitely for you. There are a couple ways to do it. You can make the dough and freeze. Or you could roll the dough, cut it into bite-sized pieces, and then freeze. Alternatively, you could make the pretzel bites start to finish, and then freeze. To reheat the frozen bites you want to put them in the oven at 350 degrees for 3 to 5 minutes.
We prefer to freeze the cut dough bites instead of baking them and freezing.
Serving
So, you can serve these bites any way you want, but we found these nice little serving dishes at party city. They are brilliant and work perfectly for this recipe. You place the bites on the tray and then pour the cream cheese dipping sauce in the center. It makes the perfect dipping situation. We love them!
Also by having the dipping sauce in the center of the tray, there is less chance of spilling sauce all over the place. You can also control the serving. And if a kid hits you with “Jay had more pretzel bites than me”, you can say “beat it kid, you all had the same amount”.
Like all pretzels, you will want to start out with the dough. (see recipe below)
Next, you want to go ahead and make some homemade cream cheese dipping sauce, alternatively you could buy a premade frosting. (see recipe below)
Then you will want to roll the dough and cut into the size you want. We found that 1-inch bites work best.
Dip those bad boys in a lye or baking soda solution for 30 seconds. (see recipe for instructions)
Place those little future bites heaven onto a parchment or wax paper lined pan and use a sharp knife to score each one. Be sure to place about an inch away from one another in all directions.
If you opt to use baking soda, you will also need to brush the bites with egg wash before baking.
Take a picture. Soon these little guys are going to grow into adult pretzel bites. They grow up so fast…
Bake in the oven at 425 degrees on the middle rack for 8 minutes.
Enjoy.
Cinnamon Sugar Pretzel Bites with Cream Cheese Dipping Sauce
Ingredients
Pretzel Dough
- Basic Pretzel Dough
- 1 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
- ¼ Cup Granulated Sugar
Lye Bath
- 2 Tablespoons Lye
- 6 Cups of Water
Cream Cheese Dip
- ½ Cup Unsalted Butter Room Temperature
- 8 Ounces of Cream Cheese Room Temperature
- 3 Cups of Confectioner Powered Sugar
- 2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Instructions
- Make 1 batch of pretzel dough. Click here to get recipe.
- Take a handful of dough from the bowl of basic dough recipe. Doesn’t really matter how much since you will be rolling the dough out and cutting it into small pieces. About ½ cup at a time.
- Roll the dough into a 1 inch diameter strips. Then cut the dough into 1 inch pieces. Place the dough on a parchment or wax lined baking sheet.
- Mix the cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl and set aside.
Lye or Baking Soda Solution
- Gather safety goggles, disposable rubber gloves, stainless steel pot, long stainless steel stirring spoon. Put on safety goggles and rubber gloves.
- Take the stainless steel pot and fill it with 6 cups of water. Add the lye to the pot and heat on high until you see steam. Then turn the heat off and set aside for about 5 minutes until you no longer see the steam. Make sure that the area you work in is well ventilated. Do not inhale the steam.
- If you opt to use baking soda instead of lye, follow these instructions:When using the baking soda bath you will need to bake ¼ cup of baking soda at 250 degrees for 1 hour. Then you will need a stainless pot with 8 cups of water. Add the baked baking soda to the pot of water and cook on high until you it simmers. Use a stainless steel spoon to mix the solution to make sure the baking soda dissolves. Then turn the heat to medium to maintain a simmer. You are ready to dip your pretzels for 30 seconds then cook.
- Place the dough pieces into the lye or baking soda solution for 30 seconds. Then place the pieces onto a parchment or wax paper lined baking sheet. If you used a lye solution, do not touch the dough with bare hands at this stage.
- After all of the dough has been dipped in the lye or baking soda solution be sure to clean the pot, any utensils and work area. You can pour either solution down the drain. Clean the pot, utensils and work area with soap and warm water.
- Once the dough has been dipped in lye, use a sharp knife to score each piece of dough. Mark an "X" lightly on each piece.
Baking
- Bake at 425 for 5-7 minutes.
- As soon as they come out of the oven toss the bites in a bowl with the cinnamon and sugar mixture. Dunk the bites into the cream cheese frosting. (See notes) Enjoy!
Cream Cheese Dip
- Start by creaming the butter and cream cheese together into a medium bowl.
- Add the confectioner sugar and vanilla extract to the same bowl. Start the mixer on low blend until all combined. You don’t want the sugar to be all over you instead of the bowl. Serve with your favorite treat. Enjoy!
Notes
- We made a homemade cream cheese dipping sauce that's really easy to make but if you'd like you can also buy your favorite store brand cream cheese frosting. Just warm it first.
- If you let the bites sit too long on the baking sheet it will be a little hard to score them. Make sure you score each bite as soon as you finish dipping them in the lye bath.
- Cooking time does not include making batch of dough.
- You want to make sure both the butter and cream cheese are at room temperature if you don’t it will be hard to cream the mixture.
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