Cinnamon and Sugar Soft Pretzels

These past few weeks I have been blessed with a bounty of almond pulp.  I have two girlfriends who enjoy nut milk but don’t take the time to make it for themselves.  So, I offered a trade.  I told them that I would make fresh nut milk for them if they would buy the nuts and I could have the nut pulp.  I thought this was rather brilliant of me since I don’t drink a lot of nut milk and I was finding it hard to create all my recipes where I wanted to experiment with nut pulp.  Problem solved for now.  But even these two amazing ladies can’t keep up with my addiction need for nut pulp and can only drink so much milk before it is coming out of their….ears! hehe  But in the meantime, I am not going to complain, but only rejoice in my little goldmine of almond pulp.

Just in case you are new to raw foods, nut pulp is the by-product of making nut milk.  You can read more about it here.  And if you are one who drinks commercial almond milk, I beg you to try making your own.  It tastes light years better!  You can make it as creamy or thin as you want.  You can sweeten it and tailor it to where it will make your taste buds sing.  And when your taste buds sing, you can’t help but dance and when you dance you can’t help but smile and when you smile…there is joy in your heart.  Who knew all that could come from making nut milk. :)  I don’t mean to be silly here,  just trying to encourage you to really enjoy your time  preparing healthy foods in your own kitchen.

One of the key ingredients in this recipe is cinnamon.  I have talked about cinnamon before but I think it is important to point out a few things about it before I let you go.  Not all cinnamon is created equal.  Depending on the type of cinnamon you use, it can make or break a recipe.  There was a time in my life where I had no idea that there was a difference in cinnamons.  Cinnamon was cinnamon, right?  Wrong.  If you are scratching your head thinking, “What’s the big deal?”  I ask you to read this post  that I did on cinnamon.   Trust me, it makes a difference.

These pretzels were designed to remain slightly soft when they are done dehydrating.  If you want to make them crunchy, keep them in the dehydrator until that is achieved.  Keep in mind that this recipe isn’t a really sweet one.  You can make  adjustments while making the batter if you have a sweet tooth.  I was delightfully surprised when I took them out the of the dehydrator and found that they had naturally darkened… just as if they had been baked.  To much fun!

Ingredients: yields 12 large

• 2 cups moist almond pulp
• 2 Tbsp ground flax-seed
• 1 Tbsp ground Ceylon cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 cup cashew butter
• 3/4 cup almond milk
• 5 tsp Braggs Aminos or Tamari
• 3 Tbsp raw agave nectar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Preparation:

1. In a food processor, fitted with a “S” blade, pulse together the almond pulp, ground flax-seed and salt.
2. Add almond butter, water, Braggs Aminos, agave and vanilla.  Process until everything is well combined.
3. Piping bag ~
   • I highly recommend this method.  I used a disposable piping bag and a 1/2″ piping tip.
   • Once you have the tip in place, put the bag in a tall glass and fold the edges over the glass.   This will create a stand and it will make it easy to fill it with the batter.  I posted photos below.
   • Fill the piping bag with batter (I had to refill the bag a second time).   Work all of the air bubbles out of the bag so that it doesn’t “burp” while creating a line of dough.
   • Place a teflex sheet on the mesh sheet that comes with the dehydrator.  I printed out a template of a pretzel and slid it under the teflex sheet so that I would have a guild to create the shape.
   • Use consistent pressure on the bag throughout the process and don’t go to fast.
4. Dehydrate at 145 degrees for 1 hour to set the “outer crust”, reduce temp to 115 degrees for 4-6 hours or until they reach the level of dryness that you prefer.  Remove from dehydrator when they are still a tad soft but hold their shape.
5. Mix the coconut crystals and cinnamon together in a small bowl.  Spritz the pretzel with a little water or quickly dunk in water, shaking off the excess water.  Then sprinkle the cinnamon mix over the top of the pretzel.  Be sure to have another container or plate underneath to catch the excess.
6. Enjoy!

Posted on Sunday, March 10th, 2013 at 10:41 pm. Filed under: Snacks Tags: Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Nut Free, Refined Sugar Free, Soy Free, sugar-free RSS 2.0 feed.