Free Recipes & Cooking Tips: Auntie Anne’s Copycat Cinnamon Sugar Pretzel Bites (2024)

1 (1/4 oz) pkg active dry yeast

1 cup warm water, 110 degrees

2 Tbsp granulated sugar

2 Tbsp packed light-brown sugar

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups bread flour

1 to 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

3 cups hot water

1/4 cup baking soda

Coating

1/2 cup butter, melted

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 Tbsp ground cinnamon

Cream Cheese Dipping Sauce

4 oz cream cheese, softened

2 Tbsp butter, softened

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 Tbsp heavy cream

Directions :

Restaurant Quality From Your Kitchen Made Easy

Let's face it--many people do not know how to cook. This could be because they were never taught or they never had time to learn. But learning to cook is not as hard as people think it is. In the following article, you are going to be given advice that will make cooking simple.

As with many other things in life, one of the keys to making great meals for your family is preparation. Ensure that you aren't missing important ingredients before you start cooking. Get everything set to cook the next day. Determine if you have you got the right utensils, etc. With a good plan and everything in place, you will feel far less anxious.

Olive oil is one of the most important investments that you can make during the course of your cooking career. Find a high quality brand of olive oil and add this ingredient to a variety of different foods. This oil will help bring out the taste in pasta, fish and meat.

If you want hard boiled eggs that peel easily, then you need to cool your eggs before you peel them. Boiled eggs that are fresh out of hot water have no separation between the egg and its shell. By refilling your pot with cold water before peeling the eggs inside, you encourage the eggs to compress, thereby creating a layer of air between the eggs and their shells, making it easier for you to peel them.

When you are cooking for your family, try not to stick to one style. If you cook the same meal over and over, it can get boring and your family will become jaded with the dishes that you make. Change things up every night so that you can introduce new meals and cuisines to your family.

If you are making meatloaf or meatballs, it is important to taste the meat before you cook it. You want to make sure that it has the perfect amount of seasoning. You can taste it by making a small patty and frying it on a pan, almost like a hamburger.

Have you ever had to eat a cauliflower that was more off white then actually white? It can make people turn away from this wonderful vegetable. To keep that white color in your produce, add some milk to the water when cooking. This will not change the taste, just the look.

It is essential to remain organized when cooking, so that you do not burn food or make other blunders. Your time spent cooking will also be more productive if you are organized. Unorganized cooking stations may mean you lose money and valuable food that is better suited to eating.

If you want to have perfectly cooked bacon that does not curl up when you cook it, then you should soak it in cold water before putting it in the pan. You should also make sure to place the bacon in a cold pan because heating the pan too soon will cause it to stick.

When a sauce is too thick or too thin, it's useful to add either flour or water. Flour should be pre-mixed in a little bit of cold water to prevent it from clumping when you add it to a sauce. Water can just be added and stirred in. This is helpful when you want the consistency of your sauce to combine with your meal. Thicker sauces will tend to stick to noodles better than their watery counterparts.

Tenderize meat before cooking it. Especially tough portions of meat are best tenderized or braised, due to the stringy consistency of the meat. Identifying the correct cut of meat and matching it with the correct method of cooking can be very important, as you may end up with an extremely stringy "roast" steak.

Add salt when boiling pasta. Not only does it shorten the cooking time by increasing the temperature of the water, it also adds great flavor and keeps the pasta from tasting bland. A general rule is to add one and a half tablespoons of salt to each pound of pasta.

While it is easy to just grab a spoon to scrape prepared, wet cake mix from the mixing bowl to put into pans for baking, do yourself a favor an invest in a good rubber scraper. A rubber scraper is made to be pliant, is curved on one side and straight on the other, just perfect for scraping the bowl of every last drop of cake and brownie mix. Using a rubber scraper gets all of the mix where it belongs in your baking pans and that quantity is what the baking time on boxes of mix are based upon. Too little mix in the pans leads to burnt goods when relying on the stated baking times.

Roasted meat with vegetables is a versatile and easy meal. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a roasting pan with foil. In a large mixing bowl, combine seasonings of your choice and olive oil or melted butter. Add meat pieces and coarsely chopped vegetables. Coat evenly. Pour mixture into roasting pan, cover and cook for about an hour. Enjoy your one pan meal!

When it comes to cooking, be sure that you know the allergy concerns of all of those who will be eating your meal. This is extremely important because the effects of food allergy can range anywhere from mild discomfort to death - both of which you want to avoid at all costs.

When you are adding food to a slow cooker make sure that you add tender vegetables like mushrooms, peas, fish, and squash during the final half hour. This is important because adding them too early will cause them to disappear in to the dish. You will be able to taste them, but you might not be able to see them.

As was stated in the beginning of this article, it is common for people these days to not know how to cook, no matter what the reason may be. By reading this article, you have begun the process of becoming educated on cooking. Who knows, you may have what it takes to even become a chef!

Advice For Making The Best Food You Ever Tasted

You will find that cooking can be an exciting venture when you have an accumulated set of skills. The information and tips from this article can give you the skill and confidence to be a great cook. All you need is a little confidence to have fun in the kitchen!

Make soup stock in large quantities. Soup stock can be used in many different recipes. If you make a large portion of it once, it is easy to store for later use. Just put it in baggies that can be sealed. Put it in the freezer and thaw it out when you need to use it.

When cooking stock, make it in a large quantity and store it in smaller bags in the freezer. Stock has a long freezer life and can be useful in so many recipes. Making a larger batch is no more difficult than making a small batch. You'll save yourself time later by having a freezer store to turn to.

Garlic is one of the more pungent odors that you will ever experience, and you will want to have tricks to get rid of it as soon as possible. Here is a suggestion, after you cook something with garlic, rub your hands on the base of your stainless steel sink for a minute to eliminate the pungent odor off of your skin.

A sharp knife is imperative when preparing food. Knives that have not been sharpened in a while can not only pose a threat to your health, but also a threat to smashing your food. When you use a dull knife, you often have to force the blade through whatever you are cutting. Using a sharp knife is much easier and safer.

After you have cooked a piece of food in the oven, you should give it several minutes to rest before serving. The last thing that you will want to do is serve any part of your meal that is too hot, which will ruin its overall quality for the person you are serving.

If you want hard boiled eggs that peel easily, then you need to cool your eggs before you peel them. Boiled eggs that are fresh out of hot water have no separation between the egg and its shell. By refilling your pot with cold water before peeling the eggs inside, you encourage the eggs to compress, thereby creating a layer of air between the eggs and their shells, making it easier for you to peel them.

To get the best sear and the crispiest crust on everything from fish to meats to other pan fried foods, the secret is a hot pan. Getting a nice brown color on your food requires a pan that is as hot as possible before the food hits its surface. Because the exterior of the food cooks first, you get only one chance to create that perfect golden color and crispy texture, so heat your pan and oil for several minutes prior.

To maintain a vegetable's quality, cook it quickly. Vegetables which are cooked slowly can lose their taste and valuable nutrients. These cooking techniques are much healthier. The less time you take to cook them, the better your vegetables will be.

If you are cooking for someone special, do not try a recipe that you have never tried before. Because you are trying to impress this person, you want to make sure you make a satisfying meal. Try something you are very familiar with, and make sure you have all the ingredients you need to make it.

When cooking with raw meat or eggs, it is very important that you keep your hands and cooking station very sanitary. This is because the raw form of these materials can spread illnesses, such as salmonella, to you. If you do contract an illness, you will be very sick and won't be cooking for a while!

Store herbs and spices in your cabinet or pantry if they offer a cool, dry area. Many people keep their spice rack out near the stove or on the wall over the stove. These locations offer too much light, humidity, and heat, which can deplete the flavor of the seasonings. Avoid these exposed areas, and look for an optimal location out of sight.

When cutting fresh herbs, sprinkle salt onto the cutting board. This keeps your herbs on the cutting board and can add a bit of flavor, as well. To avoid serving a dish that is too salty, do not add extra salt to the meal you are preparing. The salt you put on the board will stick to the herbs and add a bit of flavor.

When you're making a sandwich, especially for company, be certain to spread the mayonnaise evenly on both sides of bread, covering every square inche. Take your time spreading mayo. Don't just dump a spoonful of mayonnaise into the center of a sandwich. Spreading the condiments evenly is the best way to create a sandwich full of flavors.

Make homemade vinaigrette dressings instead of purchasing them from the store. Your homemade dressing not only tastes better, but it uses fewer ingredients and is often healthier. You can easily whip these up by just dumping all the ingredients into a sealed contained and shaking it up vigorously, and voila! You have delicious tasting dressing for marinades and salads.

Buy your Thanksgiving turkey fresh not frozen! The frozen birds taste ok but who has the time or energy to thaw one out? A fresh turkey often costs little more than the frozen variety. When you calculate in the time you have to spend just getting it ready to go in the oven it's just not worth it!

As you've seen here, learning to cook is an accessible skill for everyone, with the ability to constantly improve. It only takes patience and a willingness to learn. When you implement the advice this article provides, you will become a more proficient cook in not time. Use a positive attitude to raise your level of enjoyment in the culinary world.