I spent this past weekend pregaming for Part I of The Shawnda Super Bowl (not yet trademarked). Because nothing makes watching football more fun than a last-second-thriller between your two favorite teams and stuffing your face with bacon- and cheese-stuffed carbs.
The closer the game and the bigger the special teams implosion? The more you eat.
True story.
The idea behind those beautifully delicious and incredibly addictive pretzel rolls came from my friend Tara. She’s the gal behind one of my all-time favorite blogs, Smells Like Home. In addition to enabling my Stuff-Yo’-Face-Sunday habit, she’s also the creator of one of our favorite dinners in rotation right now: Creamy Chicken Sausage and Spinach Pasta.
That 1/2 cup of white wine needed for the pasta recipe is the perfect excuse to crack open a bottle on a Monday night. You know, if your fantasy – or real – quarterback didn’t break his collarbone and you need an excuse.
And then the justification to go ahead and polish it off because WTH is “leftover wine” and why, Aaron Rodgers, WHY?!!
I made just a few minor changes to the original recipe:
– I made smaller rolls, which actually worked out to a perfect 2-dozen because:
– I was forced to scale down the recipe after knocking the flour container off the countertop. And as a result:
– I used way more f-words than Tara had to (I don’t actually have any proof of this) but was thankful that:
– I didn’t get a letter from The Little’s teacher in her take-home folder yesterday, which means she didn’t repeat any “Mommy Words” at school.
– I filled the rolls with scrape-the-jar-and-lick-the-spoon bacon jam and brie. Which probably explains why:
– I’ve had to lay on the bed to zip up my jeans this week.
Hopefully those things zip a little easier by the time Part II of The Shawnda Super Bowl rolls around next month.
If you’re not up for making your own, HEB currently has BOGO jars of “Better Than Good” Bacon Jam. It’s a bit more savory (hello, Worcestershire!) than the popular Martha Stewart recipe than was everywhere on the internet last year and, well, some days you just can’t beat the convenience of open-jar-insert-spoon.
The ultimate fancy tailgating food: soft pretzel rolls filled with bacon jam and brie.
Ingredients
- 1 package dry active yeast
- 1 cup warm water
- 1 1/3 cups warm milk
- 2 tsp oil (I used olive)
- 1 1/3 tsp salt
- 5 - 6 cups all-purpose flour
- 8 oz wheel of brie, cut into ~1/2-inch x 1-inch blocks (you need 24)
- 9 oz jar (or a generous 1 cup) of bacon jam
- 6 cups water
- 3 Tbsp baking soda
- 2 tsp sugar
- Coarse salt
Instructions
Notes
Yields: 24 rolls
Adapted from Smells Like Home and Mel's Kitchen Cafe
Estimated time: 3 hours