Auntie Anne's Copycat

As a foodie, some of my fondest memories of going to the mall are of eating the deliciously trashy food only sold at the mall and state fairs. My mom and I always joked that we have to get Cinnamonster cinnamon rolls when we go to the mall because they're calling our names ("Nea...Nea..."). Another favorite of ours is the cinnamon sugar Auntie Anne pretzel, which comes coated in butter, then dipped in cinnamon sugar. My mom and I say, " Okay, we each get half," and then we would both secretly try to get more than half (or at least I did). I do remember that my mom always gave me the last bite, which is why I love her (among other reasons).

As a college student, I don't get to go to the mall often, so I had to find out a way to make these pretzels without having a car to get to the mall. I looked online and found a recipe that I tweaked from The Well-Traveled Wife.

Y'all. I was really worried with the baking soda bath for these that they would end up being like those weirdo bagel-texture soft pretzels, and don't even act like you don't know what I'm talking about! Those bagely soft pretzels are icky!

This recipe makes super soft cinnamon sugar pretzels (or you could skip the cinnamon sugar and replace it with coarse salt) and cream cheese dipping sauce. I'm in love with this recipe.


I'm afraid it will bring on the freshman 15 in just the last two weeks of my freshman year.

Auntie Anne's Copycat Soft Pretzels 

Yields 6-8 large pretzels, or you could honestly probably make them HALF the size I did, so it could make about 14-16 small pretzels

1 1/2 cups warm water
1 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
2 tbsp light brown sugar
1 1/4 tsp salt
4 cups bread flour (original recipe calls for 1 cup bread flour + 3 cups AP flour)

2 cups really warm water
2 tsp baking soda

5 tbsp melted butter
about 1/3 cup sugar
about 1 tbsp cinnamon


1. Activate the yeast in the water for 5-10 minutes. Add the sugar and salt and mix. Add the flour and knead until elastic (7 ish minutes). I honestly just threw everything in the bread machine and to knead it for me, then I put it in a bowl in a warm oven (170 degrees fahrenheit) for 30 minutes or until it doubled. While it's rising, mix the warm water with the baking soda and stir until it dissolves. Put it in a dish that's shallow but still has sides so you're not spilling everywhere.

2. Pinch off a fist of dough and roll it into a 1/2 inch thick snake-- don't roll it out! Roll it into snakes! Slithery snakes!

3. Twist it up so it looks somewhat pretzel-like and then dip it in the baking soda water mixture. Put it on a greased or silpat-lined cookie sheet. Repeat with all the dough and let it rise for about 20-30 more minutes in a warm place. I put them on top of my oven while it was heating up.

4. Bake at 450 for 10 minutes.

5. Dip the pretzels in butter, then in cinnamon sugar.

Cream Cheese Dipping Sauce

3 oz cream cheese

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

2 tbsp milk

2 tsp vanilla

Beat it. 

Bon appétit!