Peanut Butter Soft Pretzel Bites
Peanut butter pretzel bites are an addictive snack. Homemade soft pretzel dough is stuffed with peanut butter and then baked until golden brown.
Sometimes I plan recipes way ahead and other times inspiration comes at random moments and I stop everything so I can try it out right then and there. That was the case with these peanut butter pretzel bites. They weren’t even an idea until I cleaned out the freezer one night.
I had just made some peanut butter cookies and decided to clean out our overstuffed freezer. All the way in the back I found some old pretzel dough I’d forgotten about. As soon as I found it I looked at the open peanut butter jar on the counter and immediately wanted to make pretzel bites stuffed with peanut butter. So, I did. Except I tossed the old dough and made a new batch.
I knew they’d be good because one of my favorite childhood snacks was peanut butter pretzels. The brand, Combos, had all kinds of different bites filled with nacho cheese, pizza, etc but my favorite was the peanut butter. So, I knew my idea would work.
Soft Pretzels with Peanut Butter
I used my favorite soft pretzel recipe to make the dough but instead of tying the dough into knots I filled it with peanut butter and cut them into bite-sized pieces. Here’s how you do it:
- Once you’ve made the dough, divide it into eight equal parts.
- Roll each part into a 12-inch rope and then press each one flat so it’s like a long skinny rectangle. You want it wide enough so you can spread the peanut butter over the top and still be able to wrap it up and seal the edge. Make sure you really seal them so they don’t open up when you cook them.
- Once you’ve sealed the edges of edge rope, slice them into bite-sized pieces.
- To get the right pretzel texture and flavor, boil the pieces for 30 seconds in a mixture of water and baking soda. Drain them and place them on a baking sheet.
- Because they’re so small, they don’t take long to bake. They only need about six minutes in the oven.
These bites came out just as I imagined. I love the combination of soft pretzel dough with the peanut butter. I was a little worried when I cut into my first one because the peanut butter gets a little cooked, but it tasted delicious. They’re a lot better than the store-bought ones I had growing up because the pretzels are soft instead of crunchy.
More Snack Recipes
Peanut Butter Soft Pretzel Bites
Ingredients
- 3/4 cups warm water, 110 to 115°F
- 1/2 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 1/8 tsp active dry yeast
- 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 oz unsalted butter, melted
- 1/3 cup baking soda
- 1 egg
- peanut butter for filling
Instructions
- Combine the warm water, sugar and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow it to sit for about 5 minutes. Add the flour and butter and using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined. Change to medium speed and knead about 5 minutes until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl. Remove the dough from the bowl, and place the dough in a glass bowl oiled with vegetable oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for approximately 50 to 55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.
- Divide the dough into 8 pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 12 inch rope. Using a sharp knife, cut rope into 1 inch pieces.
- Take one piece of dough and flatten to a square/rectangle with your fingers. Then spread some peanut butter on about half of the square/rectangle (about 1/4 tsp of pb). Make sure you don't reach the edges of the dough or else you can't completely seal the dough. Seal the dough back up to resemble the piece you originally cut, so it looks like a soft pretzel bite. You can shape it a little between your fingers. Repeat with remaining dough.
- Preheat the oven to 450°F.
- Using a large sauce pan, fill with water. Bring the water to a boil and add the baking soda.
- Place the pretzels into the boiling water for 30 seconds. Remove them from the water using a large flat spatula. Place pretzels on baking sheet lined with parchment paper or silpat mat.
- Beat one egg. Brush the top of each pretzel bite with the beaten egg (I've found that using just an egg yolk wash creates a darker golden shiny exterior which I prefer. Sometimes an egg wash with egg white ends up being too pale). Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 6 minutes.
I love this idea! I’d eat a dozen of them if you put them in front of me!
I think i ate about a dozen after I took these pictures. =)
Made better by the fact that you used skippy.
Lol. I havent eaten enough peanut butter to know which one is best. I should do a taste test one of these days
these little bites looks so inviting…
I love any kind of pretzels…
me too!
OMGOSH, I am SO glad you made these! When I made your soft pretzel bites, I also had the idea of putting PB in the middle and then having some kind of fruity/jelly dipping sauce. PB&J? Yum! But when I made them, I obviously put way too much peanut butter in because while they were in the water, all of the bites split open and tasted completely like baking soda. Bad, bad, bad. I was still convinced it was a good idea but hadn’t tried anything since because my friend and boyfriend made so much fun of me! I passed this post on to both of them, so thank you 🙂
Ah, PB&J sounds like a cool combination! Yeah you can’t put too much peanut butter or else they won’t seal properly. I kept thinking there was too little peanut butter on mine, but once they finished and I ate it, there seemed to be a good amount of PB taste inside.