These Pigs in a Pretzel Blanket (pretzel wrapped little Smokies) are a fun and tasty snack or appetizer perfect for game day parties or whenever the mood strikes you. As you will find out below, these little bites of deliciousness are easy to make and versatile enough to be served at many different kinds of events.
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Who doesn’t love pigs in a blanket? I’ll wait. Oh, did I see a hand in the back? Nah, that’s because everyone love’s these delicious little bites. But, this version of pigs in a blanket is killer because of the pretzel aspect. So, here we combined two irresistible snack foods.
Then, as if that weren’t enough, we made a deliciously tangy honey mustard sauce. You see, we care about pretzels, so we think that they deserve better than run of the mill store bought mustard. This mustard sauce is very simple with just 3 ingredients; mustard, creamy horseradish, and honey. We’ll show you how to make it below.
These little snacks are so good that we started eating them right after we finished taking pictures.
Okay, so now that I’ve sold you on this recipe, let’s cover the challenging part. When rolling the pigs into the blanket, you want to place the little Smokies at an angle. I’d say that a 70 degree angle works best. If you roll them without the angle the dough will bunch up. You won’t be able to roll the dough completely over the little Smokie.
Okay, so that’s not really a big challenge but we don’t want you to have partially wrapped pigs in a blanket. When I think about it, the biggest challenge will be not eating all of these little pigs once they come out of the oven.
The first step is to make the dough.
Next, you want to roll out a section of dough to about ¼ inch thick.
Then you will want to cut the dough into ½ x 3 inch pieces.
Take a little smokie and place it on piece of dough as seen in the picture above.
Roll the dough at the same angle.
Complete these steps over again until you finish as many as you need.
Dip those little piglets in the lye or baking soda bath for 30 seconds. Use a kitchen timer.
Place those bad boys on a parchment or wax paper lined baking pan.
Use a sharp knife to lightly score the dough.
Sprinkle with salt.
Bake for about 8 minutes at 425 in the middle rack in the oven.
Serving
So, of course you can just pile these little pigs in a blanket into bowl, plop down on the couch in front of the t.v. and go to town. But if you want to be a little fancier for a party or something then you can consider these little plastic servers. Check out the pictures to see what I mean. This is a clever way to serve your guest a nice appetizer. This allows for portion control and it cuts down on mess. Also, with the divider, you can separate the dipping sauces. In the pictures we chose ketchup and our delicious spicy honey mustard, but you can go with beer cheese, ranch or whatever you like.
However you decide to serve these babies up they are sure to please your crowd!
Pigs in a Pretzel Blanket
Ingredients
- 1 Basic Pretzel Recipe
- 1 Package of Smokies Mini hotdogs
Spicy Honey Mustard
- ¼ Cup Prepared Mustard
- 2 ½ Teaspoons of Creamy Horseradish
- 4 Teaspoons Honey
- Salt and Pepper to Taste
Lye Solution
- 2 Tablespoon Food Grade Lye
- 6 cups of Water
Instructions
- Prepare the basic pretzel recipe.
- Make the delicious dipping sauce. You are gonna want to put this on everything. Take the mustard, honey, and creamy horseradish and mix in a small bowl, add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside to allow the flavors to marry.
- Cut the dough into 8 equal pieces. Take one piece and roll it out into a rectangle about ¼ inch thick. Cut the rolled out dough into strips about 3 ½ inches long and ½ inch wide.
- Take one strip and one smokie. Angle the smokie at the bottom of the strip of dough and roll all the way up around the smokie. Pinch the bottom to seal the dough. Repeat until all smokies have been wrapped and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
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.
- Dip the wrapped smokies in the lye or baking soda solution for 30 seconds then place them back on the baking sheet (if you use lye, do not touch at this stage). After you dip all of dough wrapped smokies, score them with a sharp knife and top with pretzel salt.
- 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.
Baking
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
- Bake for 5-8 minutes at 425 degrees . The cooking time can vary based on how close you have your oven rack to the heating element. Start looking at them after 5 minutes. No one wants burnt pigs in a blanket. LOL
- Let them cool for about 5 minutes and enjoy!
Notes
- When using food grade lye you want to make sure you use a stainless pot DO NOT use any other metal.
- Some safety precautions you can take when working with food grade lye is to where safety goggles, long rubber gloves, long sleeve shirt, and pants. If you drop some solution on your skin just take some vinegar and pour it on the affected area. It will help neutralize the chemical reaction.
- You can also use a baking soda bath if you do not want or can’t find food grade lye.
- If using baking soda bath you will need to take ¼ cup of baking soda and bake it at 250 degrees for 1 hour. Then take a stainless steel pot and add 8 cups of water. Add the baked baking soda and stir until dissolved. Cook the bath on high until it simmers then lower the heat to medium to keep the solution at a simmer. Using the baking soda bath you should also follow the same precautionary measures as you would with the lye.
- You can put leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 3-5 days.
- They are best reheated in the oven at 350 degrees for 2-3 minutes.
- 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.
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