Ham & Cheese Pretzel Bites
Source: Pennies on a Platter adapted from Pink Parsley
Yield: 42-48 bites
Ingredients:
1 package (1/4 oz) active dry yeast
2 Tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon packed brown sugar, divided
1/4 cup warm water (110-115˚F)
1 cup warm milk (110-115˚F)
2 1/2 to 3 cups flour
1/2 cup finely chopped ham (about 3 ounces)
1/2 cup shredded cheese of choice
6 cups water
4 teaspoons baking soda
4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1-2 Tablespoons coarse salt
Directions:
In a large bowl, combine the yeast, 1 tsp. brown sugar & warm water. Let stand until foamy, about 5-8 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a small bowl, stir together 2 tbsp. brown sugar and warm milk until brown sugar is dissolved. Once yeast is foamy, add 2 1/2 cups flour & the milk mixture to the yeast. Stir with wooden spoon until a soft dough forms. Add remaining flour if dough is too sticky. Turn the dough out to a floured surface and knead a few times, forming a smooth ball. Alternatively, you can knead in a stand mixer with a dough hook briefly until dough is smooth.
Lightly oil a large bowl with olive oil and place dough in bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and allow dough to rise in a warm draft free area for 2 hours, until dough doubles in size and bubbles appear on the surface.
Once dough has risen, lightly flour a surface for rolling the dough. Turn the dough out and divide into four equal pieces. Roll one section of the dough into a 12×4 inch rectangle. With the long side facing you, press 1/4 of the ham & cheese into the bottom third of the dough. Roll the dough up tightly as possibly, starting with the filling end. Cut the dough roll into 1 inch pieces and place on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining 3 sections of dough.
Once all pieces are cut, let them rest uncovered at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees.In a medium sized pot, bring 6 cups of water to a boil. Once boiling, add in baking soda and reduce heat to a simmer. Add pretzels in batches and boil for 20 seconds each, turning once. Pretzels should be slightly puffed. Use a slotted spoon to transfer pretzels back to baking sheet.Once all pretzels are boiled, place baking sheet in oven and bake until golden brown, approximately 15 minutes. Brush the warm pretzel bites with melted butter & sprinkle with salt.
If preparing these ahead of time, you can place the pretzel bites in a 200 degree oven and warm them up for about 10-15 minutes prior to serving. You can keep them in the warm oven until your guests arrive.Serve with honey mustard or your favorite dipping sauce.
Welcome! I'm Stephanie, a thirty something girl loving life with my husband Adam and our two little miracles living in gorgeous Southeast Tennessee. I'm passionate about Jesus, traveling, sports (Go Titans!), and of course food! Read more about me 
That looks so yummy.
Those look really good. I don't love ham but maybe I could try another meat center or jalapenos!
oh. my. god. they look like heaven.
These look DELISH.
I love making these with pepperoni as well. 🙂 Ben is always asking for these for what seems like every get together. If I gave in, we'd never try new things! These are definitely a winner!
These look great! Have you ever tried them with cream cheese in the center? Disney World have these cream cheese pretzels that I LOVE! Can’t find them anywhere else, so I’ll just have to make them myself 🙂 Also, do you use all-purpose flour or self-rising?
Thanks! I haven’t ever tried that! Sounds amazing though! I use all purpose flour. Hope they turn out great!
Oh my good heaven–I am SO using these for my one year old’s birthday party this weekend! Thanks!
Let me know how you like them. Hope the birthday party goes great!
Made these last night and they are so delicious!! I did brush a mustard mixture onto the dough before adding the ham and cheese since it wasn’t easy to take along a sauce. I went on the idea of the ham and cheese party rolls that uses a spicy mustard/butter/onion/poppy seed mixture (didn’t use near as much butter as most of those recipes call for) and froze the rolls before cutting into pieces. Just thawed the rolls about 30 minutes, cut them into pieces and let rest another 30 minutes before boiling and baking. Mine needed to bake about 20 minutes at 425 to become golden brown. Definitely a favorite and am worried I’ll be making them a lot just to eat at home! Thanks for a great recipe!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed them! Great idea to brush them with a mustard mix! I love those party rolls-they are my favorite thing to take to a party.
Being that my time in the kitchen is limited with a new baby, do you think I could use store bought bread dough? And do you think the dough recipe would be about one loaf? Obviously, the taste would be a bit different…
Congratulations on your new little one!:) I definitely think you could use bread dough or you could even do crescent roll dough or those crescent roll sheets. And I think it would probably be about one loaf. Let me know if you try it and how it works out!
I made the ham & cheese bites for my family to enjoy during the football games this past weekend, and I have to let you know they were delish! Seriously gone if 15 minutes….and everyone (kids too) loved them and wanted more. Thank-you for sharing!
Thanks Emily! So glad everyone loved them!
I really want to make these! Do you recommend any type pre-made dough for these?! Thank you!!!
You could try using crescent roll dough or premade pizza dough. Let me know if they work!
Am i missing something or are the prezels missing out of the list of ingredients
No you aren’t missing anything, the dough makes a soft pretzel bite like the kind they sell at the mall. Hope that helps!
Yum, these look so delicious! I found this recipe on Pinterest and would love to invite you to share this, and any other posts, at my Creative Thursday Link Party (open through Monday each week) at http://www.michellestastycreations.blogspot.com. Have a great week.
Michelle
Thanks so much for the invite! I will definitely check it out!
Thanks for sharing a GREAT recipe. I made these last christmas for our office Christmas party. There is always way too many items, I wanted to make something a little different. They turned out perfect and What a hit! I made a double batch and glad I did. I’m making them again this weekend for our annual Cousin Party. Looking forward to bringing a unique & delis app again.
Thank you.
Can these be frozen and reheated after thawing?
I would think that they could be frozen but I’ve never tried it. Let me know if they work frozen.
I haven’t tried it, but I would think you definitely should be able to do that. Let me know how they do from frozen if you try it!:)
I tried these and you DO NOT need to boil them. I have had no trouble with skipping that step and just baking them and brushing them with melted butter. So if these look good to you but you don’t want all the hassle, skip the boiling part. They are even good cold!!!!
Great tip! So glad to know they work well baked instead of boiled!
I love this recipe. My kids loved it too. I served them for my daughters tea party and got rave reviews.
So glad everyone loved them!
These take a bit of time but soooooooo worth it. These are my next “big thing” for my next bash. omg – these are so awesome. And there really is NO replacement for making this dough. Are these as puffy if you skip the boiling? Just curious – don’t see how these can be the same without boiling to expand them??? Thank you so much for this recipe…..
So glad you enjoy them! I’ve never tried skipping the boiling, but one commenter above did and said they turned out just as good. Hope that helps!
Can you just use frozen dough? They sound and look yummy but sounds like too much work for me.
I’ve never tried it with frozen or refrigerated pre made dough, but I bet you could definitely use that instead of making it from scratch. Let me know how it works if you try it!
Do you have problems with the ham and cheese falling out while boiling?
I haven’t, but some of the other commenters have had success with skipping the boiling part if you are concerned about it falling out.
Thank you for sharing with this recipe I just made it and this is how they turned out —-> http://borrowidea.blogspot.com/2013/03/ham-cheese-pretzel-bites-recipe.html
Not as perfect but they sure taste good!!!
Yours look great! I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
I made these today and the pretzel itself was really yummy! I wasn’t crazy about the filling and may opt to make plain pretzels and serve with cheese dip next time. They were a bit time consuming to make but worth the effort in the end.
Glad you loved the pretzels! I bet they would be great plain with cheese dip! sounds wonderful!
These definitely were good, but took a VERY long time. I don’t plan on making them again due to the length of time. The cheese, and some ham, came out while boiling, but they still turned out good. I wouldn’t use all butter on top, just made them a little greasy. Good recipe, but not if you are 7 months pregnant and have a 2 and a 4 year old due to time!
I’m so glad they turned out good for you, I know some previous commenters have mentioned they were able to skip the boiling part and go straight to the baking with great success. Also, you could try using pre-made dough like crescent rolls or pizza dough instead of making the dough to save time.
these were yummy. Tried both boiling first and skipping the boiling. We liked them better boiled. Dough is softer and chewier vs breadier. Probably want to bake for a shorter time if you skip the boil. First batch unrolled a bit. Second batch I remembered to press the cheese and ham into the dough, pinched the seam tighter, and rolled it after pinching and they didn’t unroll. If they do unroll while boiling, wrap them back together and they’ll most reseal during the baking process. Thanks for the recipe!
Thank you Trina!! I’m so glad you enjoy them and thank you so much for sharing your tips! 🙂