Soft Pretzel Bites with Cheese Sauce

I love soft pretzels. And cheese sauce...that's a no-brainer.

http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/homemade-soft-pretzel-bites/

I really enjoyed making these. Working with yeast can be very intimidating, but not with these babies.

I kind of freaked out about boiling these in baking soda water. Sounds weird, tastes good. Really good.







Bottom line: The pretzels were great! Chewy, salty, kinda gooey (in a good way). The recipe assumes you know that when you roll out the dough, you don't need a floured surface. You don't, as the oil from the rising dough bowl is sufficient. I took both batches out after 13 minutes, and they probably only needed 11.  Now for the cheese sauce: it was gross. Grainy, actually...and gross. Nothing beats the processed creaminess of Velveeta. I've never had much luck melting cheddar for any kind of sauce, but I gave it a try. Next time, it's Velveeta or a can of nacho cheese sauce. Do yourself a favor and don't make this sauce. But do try the pretzels!