These cinnamon sugar soft pretzel bites are perfect soft pretzels with a chewy pretzel crust, soft interior, and coated in cinnamon sugar. They are so good on their own, or served with a sweet cream cheese dip!
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Ever since I made my soft pretzel bites last year I have been wanting to try homemade cinnamon sugar soft pretzel bites! Well, I finally had an excuse to make them and now I’m wondering why I didn’t do it sooner!?
These soft pretzel bites are perfectly soft in the middle, with that classic chewy soft pretzel crust, ultra soft interior, and then they are coated in cinnamon sugar!
They’re such a yummy sweet treat, and perfect for when you’re craving something sweet. They only take about 1 hours from start to finish, and then you’re ready to dig right in.
These cinnamon sugar pretzels are just like Auntie Anne’s, or other mall pretzel stores, or maybe even better. And now you can make, and enjoy them at home whenever that soft pretzel craving strikes. I don’t know about you – but soft pretzels are totally something I crave 😉
This recipe makes a big giant batch of these, so they’re perfect for a fun party, or whenever you’re having a group of people over. They’re perfect for a birthday, sporting event, movie night, etc.
The pretzels can be a little messy to make, and they might look intimidating with so many steps, but I promise the results are well worth it!
How to make Cinnamon Sugar Soft Pretzels?
- First we will start with the pretzel dough, it’s a pretty simple yeast dough. You’ll dissolve the yeast in the warm water till it’s nice and bubbly.
- Then add in the sugar, salt, and butter and stir it all together.
- Add in the flour one cup at a time, mixing after each addition.
- If it’s still sticky after four cups of flour you can add in more flour, one tablespoon at a time, until it’s no longer sticky.
- The dough should bounce back when you poke it.
- Knead the dough for a few minutes, then form it into a ball. Stick the dough into a clean bowl, sprayed with nonstick spray. Cover the bowl with a towel and let it rise for about 30 minutes, until it is doubled in size.
- Separate the dough into 6 sections.
- Then roll each of those into long ropes.
- Cut each of the ropes into 10 to 12 pieces.
- When you’re ready to make the pretzels, bring a big pot of water to boil with the baking soda in it. Drop about 12 pieces at a time into the hot water, and let them sit for a few seconds. Remove them from a slotted spoon, and try and shake all the extra water off.
- Then place them onto a baking sheet. Brush each pretzel bite with an egg wash (beat together 1 egg and 1 TBS water in a small bowl) with a silicone brush.
- Then bake them in the oven until the tops are nice and golden brown.
- Dip each pretzel bite into melted butter,
- Then into cinnamon sugar.
- Enjoy!!
Tips for making Cinnamon Sugar Pretzels?
- This recipe makes a big batch, about 60-72 pretzel bites depending how big/small you cut them up. If you aren’t going to be sharing, I recommend cutting the recipe in half. All the ingredients should be fine being cut straight in half, except for the egg wash (you’ll still just want 1 egg and 1 Tablespoon of water), and you’ll keep the baking soda bath as is.
- If not, you can also turn half of the pretzel bites, into salty bites – the dough recipe is the same as my traditional soft pretzel bites.
- These pretzel bites are best eaten warm and fresh, but if you’re going to eat some the next day zap them in the microwave for about 10 seconds to warm them up again, and they’ll be almost as good as new!
- For a pumpkin spice twist, add a couple teaspoons of pumpkin spice seasoning to the cinnamon sugar coating.
- I haven’t tried this, but I’ve been told these can easily be subbed with vegan ingredients, using vegan butter or coconut oil instead of the butter, and almond milk instead of the egg wash.
- Put your cinnamon sugar mixture through a sifter if it starts to get clumpy from too much butter getting into it.
These cinnamon sugar soft pretzel bites are seriously delicious on their own, but paired with the cream cheese dip, *muah* they’re perfection. You’ll love them with or with out the dip, but if you do make the dip then I think these are acceptable for breakfast as they’re practically cinnamon rolls 😉
It’s a super quick altered version of my cream cheese frosting. But they would also be so good dipped in some hot fudge, or salted caramel sauce. I’m practically drooling just thinking about it!
What people are saying about these cinnamon sugar soft pretzel bites:
“I usually don’t write reviews, but these pretzels were SO delicious I had to. I’ve made these pretzels 3 times in the past month. My family loves them. I’ll be making them again later today. Thanks so much for sharing such a delicious, easy recipe:)” – Emmy
“So quick and easy to make! Super soft and fluffy too. I suck at making bread but this was a no fail recipe for me 🙂” – Jennifer
Looking for more soft pretzel recipes:
- Soft Pretzels
- Soft Pretzel Bites
- Pretzel Wrapped Bratwurst
- Jalapeno Cheddar Soft Pretzel Bites on Cook Nourish Bliss
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Cinnamon Sugar Soft Pretzel Bites
Ingredients
For the Soft Pretzels:
- 2 1/4 tsp instant yeast
- 1 1/2 cups warm water
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 TBS brown sugar
- 2 TBS unsalted butter (melted)
- 4 cups all purpose flour
For the Egg Wash:
- 1 large egg
- 1 TBS water
For the Baking Soda Bath:
- 9 cups water
- 1/2 cup baking soda
For the Cinnamon Sugar Coating:
- 1/4 cup butter (melted)
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 3 tsp cinnamon
For the Cream Cheese Dip:
- 4 oz cream cheese softened)
- 1/4 cup butter (softened)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
Equipment
- Large Mixing Bowl
Instructions
For the Pretzels:
- Dissolve your yeast in your warm water in a large bowl. Stir together for about 1 minute until mostly combined.
- Add in your salt, sugar and butter and stir everything together.
- Add in your flour, 1 cup at a time until dough is thick and no longer sticky. Add more flour 1 TBS at a time if needed to make sure dough isn’t sticky. (Poke dough with your finger, and dough should bounce back – then it is ready)
- Lightly flour a flat surface.
- Knead your dough for 3 minutes and form into a ball.
- Oil a large bowl with nonstick spray and place dough in. Cover bowl with a towel and place in a warm area.
- Allow to rest in warm area for about 30 minutes.
- Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
- Bring 9 cups of water with ½ cup of baking soda to boil.
- Cut your dough ball into 6 sections.
- Roll each section into long ropes about 20-22 inches long.
- Cut each rope into about 10-12 1.5 inch pieces.
- Drop one rope worth of pretzel bites into your baking soda bath and let sit for 20-30 seconds. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone liner.
- Beat together your egg and 1 TBS water in a small bowl.
- Brush egg over each pretzel bite and place on prepared pan.
- Place in oven and bake for 15 minutes or until pretzel tops are a nice golden brown.
- Remove from oven.
- Combine sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.
- Dip each pretzel bite into melted butter then into cinnamon sugar mixture.
- Set back on tray and repeat with additional pretzel bites.
For the Cream Cheese Dip:
- Mix together your butter and cream cheese until smooth.
- Add in your powdered sugar and vanilla and mix until completely combined. (Add in milk 1/2 TBS at a time, if needed to make dip softer and smoother) Microwave for 20 seconds to reheat if you’re not using immediately.
Video
Nutrition
These cinnamon sugar soft pretzel bites were first posted on January 15, 2016. The photos and text were updated for clarity on April 21, 2021.
MAKE THESE AMAZING CINNAMON SUGAR SOFT PRETZEL BITES WITH THESE GREAT KITCHEN TOOLS AND INGREDIENTS:
Jesseca says
We drive into salt lake for pretzel bites from thirst about two days a week. Saw this recipe and decided to make our own. SO GOOD. Voted better than thirst- which is a big compliment in our house!
Aimee says
Yay! I’m so glad you loved them!
sarah says
stolen recipe from sally’s baking addiction.
Aimee says
Sally’s recipe also looks oddly similar to Alton Brown’s which is even older than hers, so I don’t know what to tell ya 🙂
Erica Schwarz says
I love making pretzel bread at home, but I had never tried a sweet version until I happened on this recipe. Needless to say, they weren’t around long! SO yummy! And the cream cheese dip is out of this world – easy to make too.
Lisalia says
We wanted a sweet treat after dinner and these HIT the SPOT! What a yummy and easy to make treat. Not too sweet – just perfect for a before-bed snack. Can’t wait to make these soft and delicious cinnamon sugar pretzels again.
king parker says
These were amazing! However, I’d like to know if the nutrition is for one pretzel bite. How much is a serving size? Is each pretzel bite 78 calories?
Aimee says
If you make the recipe into 60 pretzel bites then the calories are about 54 per bite (but you may not actually use all the sugar for the cinnamon sugar coating. So they may be lower) The calories were originally including the cream cheese dip, and I removed that.
Courtney Britton says
Is the bath supposed to be actively boiling or do you boil it and then take it off the stove when you do the 30 second dip?
Ellen says
Yes, the bath is actively boiling. Let me know if you make these and how it turns out for you.
Veronica says
very good but my advice is don’t leave it for 15 cuz they will get really hard. do it for like 10-12 minutes max if you want them softer. but really good
Aimee says
Yeah, definitely watch them close based on how thick your ropes were and how big your bites were.
Katie says
I added too much flour, what should I do?
Aimee says
Sorry, what happened when you added to much did it not come together? I’m not sure, you could try adding a bit of water, or melted butter
Donna Johnson says
Amazing! And really easy to make.
Hannah says
I cannot put into words how good these are!! I made some simple substitutions to make them vegan – subbed out regular butter for unsalted vegan butter sticks, and used almond milk in lieu of egg wash. Also skipped the cream cheese dip (though I’m sure it would’ve been delicious). They turned out INCREDIBLE. The pretzels were so airy and fluffy, the flavors were perfect. My family devoured them and didn’t believe me when I told them I made them vegan!
Ellen says
That’s awesome Hannah, so glad you made it work for you. And thanks for letting us know how much you all liked them.
Lin says
Very good and at the end you have a lot of good pretzels to eat.
Mini says
Came out amazing. I substituted the butter with canola oil and used brown sugar for the sugar coating. They were pretty good.
Love baking says
This is a very good recipe and is easy to follow. However one of the misleading things was the flour- In this recipe it just says flour, it doesn’t specify which flour. I used Plain flour ( wholemeal flour) and that worked amazingly. I was left with a soft puffy pretzel. For the baking I only put my oven on 190oc fan oven instead of what the recipe said, and my pretzels came out warm, fluffy, and had a beautiful golden colour. Also when applying the butter,cinnamon and sugar I found that applying the butter with a brush is both easier and more tastier, followed by sprinkling the desired amount of cinnamon and sugar onto the pretzel. Consiquently, this recipe is very good and delivers amazement, but can be misleading to some, and is quite faffy.
Aimee says
Sorry for forgetting to specify the type of flour. I’m slowly working on updating our older recipes to include the specifics that I forgot to put originally, it just takes a while. I’m glad you still enjoyed them.
Tamika says
So I made the ones wth the salt I did half of that and I’m currently doing the other half with the cinnamon sugar . So the ones with the salt came out horrible I made the dough left it rise portion it off and i boiled my water and put 12 pieces in the water but I baked then and they came out like sponges the top was wrinkly and stiff and underneath was still wet but the whole thing was cooked and then the outside just tasted weird. I would like to know where i went wrong.
Aimee says
I can’t exactly say, as I haven’t had that problem, but a few possibilities are the dough was over rise. So it shrank a bit down after boiling, or they were in the water too long. One thing that could help is putting them on a paper towel or cooling rack for a bit after boiling them to help get some of the excess water off of them.
Tamika says
So yea some of the pieces did shrink and they were stiff and they stayed stiff even after baking. So thanks for the tip I’ll try it again soon
Amy says
Amazing and Super SUper easy to make. Never made any sort of dough from scratch before so this was a fun experience. I noticed my sugar and cinnamon Sugar mix got sort of clumped towards the end any recommendations on how to avoid?
Aimee says
It starts to clump because some of the extra melted butter drips off the bites and into the mixture. Unfortunately I’m not sure how to avoid that, but if it’s a problem, you could sift that section out, or make another small bowlful, sorry I don’t have other ideas!
Micaela says
Hi! Would I be able to leave the dough to rest overnight?
Aimee says
The dough will rise too much if left overnight. You could try leaving it in the fridge, but it still may rise a bit more than you need.
alexa says
hiya do we use self raising floury or plain flour?
Aimee says
All purpose flour (not self rising)
Meli mango 🥭 says
Ihad tried and tried making some like these, and OMG THESE ARE THE BOMB! I almost ate all of them before realizing I was sharing. I am 11 years old so it’s hard for to to understand most wording used, get easy and a MUST TRY!
Aimee says
I’m so happy to hear that!! And so glad you were able to figure the recipe out 🙂
sofia says
I recommend this recipe it is so DELICIOUS!! Love It!!
Phillip says
Thank you for this one! This was the perfectfall recipe to make!
Ellen says
So delighted to know this. Thanks for sharing.
Molly says
Could I use active dry yeast in this recipe?
Aimee says
Yes it should work fine since the yeast is being dissolved in warm water anyway. You may need a little bit more yeast this way, probably another 1/2 teaspoon. And I’d watch your rising time closely, as it may take a bit longer from what I’ve listed.
Grace says
I made these today and they were DELICIOUS — so much so that my family has already finished half the batch in a few hours ! I made half salty, half cinnamon sugar. It was easy and very fun!
For any dairy free folks, melted coconut oil works just fine in place of the melted butter.
Ellen says
What a great idea. And so glad to know the melted coconut oil works for you too. Thanks for the review.
Sophia Fernandez says
Hi, did you use salted butter for this recipe?
Aimee says
I always use unsalted butter, but you can use salted. There isn’t a lot of butter in the dough so it shouldn’t make a big difference.
Pauline says
Can you store the baking soda water bath or it needs to be thrown out?
Aimee says
I think the baking soda would deactivate after a while in the water and it wouldn’t be worth using again
Ameera says
Hi there! is it possible for me to use granulated brown sugar for this recipe please?
Ellen says
Ameera,
The pretzel bites themselves are made with granulated brown sugar. I have never made cinnamon sugar with brown sugar, but you can try. Let us know how it goes.
Pauline says
I’ve made the cinnamon sugar with brown sugar and it works! 😊