The fact that I scaled down soft pretzels to serve two proves my love for the city of Philadelphia. I’ve eaten my way through that city 3 times this year so far. Yet still, there are so many things to eat left on the list! When I land in Philly, I hit the ground running. And by running, I mean run to the nearest pretzel place. Yes, a stall at the airport. There’s only one terminal with hot fresh ones, and yes I will use inter-airport transportation just to get there. With a hot fresh pretzel in my hands, I take off for Reading Terminal Market. What a gem that place is! My goal in life is to eat at all of the stalls at least once. After I eat either a Philly Cheesesteak or some other concoction with as much cured meat as possible, I sniff my way towards dessert. When Joy said a Termini Bros. cannoli was one of the best things she’s ever eaten, I assumed it was good. I assumed wrong. It was FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC. I don’t have an ounce of Italian heritage, so I’ve never been super crazy for Italian desserts (except tiramisu!). But, man (and woman), the cannolis were breath-taking. I literally stopped in my tracks. The cookie is crisp yet still crumbles perfectly, but not so much that it falls apart with each bite. Take note, Little Italy of San Francisco and St Louis, your cannolis are too crumbly and messy. Now that I’m home, I still need my pretzel fix. So, I scaled down Alton Brown’s homemade soft pretzel recipe to make two giant pretzels. I suppose you could make 4 smaller pretzels, but then you’d have to share…
You can go about this pretzel business two ways: dunked in butter and rolled in cinnamon sugar (obvi), or dunked in butter and sprinkled with salt. Since this recipe makes two giant pretzels, I say go for both. One of each. One for each hand! Take both paths in life!
*One time I didn’t ensure the two ends were twisted together and when I dropped it in the boiling water, it unraveled. No worries if it does that, just slice it up and bake pretzel bites. They’ll still taste delicious.
