Auntie Anne's For More Than Great Pretzels

If you live near an Auntie Anne's then consider yourself lucky. The closest store to me is over 120 miles! That sort of puts a damper on a pretzel craving.

Luckily I was sent an At-Home Baking Kit to make my own warm pretzels. Yum! The kit contains enough to make 10 original or cinnamon sugar pretzels. Of course the blogging twist is that I was asked to make anything but the standard pretzels. AuntieAnnesRecipes.com has a wide variety of recipes that came be made from this same standard kit. From appetizers, entrees, breakfasts to desserts there is something to fit any situation.


I was excited the kit wasn't your standard "add water and stir" mix. It contained a bag of dough mix, yeast, baking soda, pretzel salt and cinnamon and sugar mixture.

With all the choices it was hard to decide. I went with a family favorite, pizza!

We usually make our own crust at home, just a simple dough, and I thought a pretzel like crust would be a great change.

So, first I got out the yeast, some room temperature water and game it a few minutes for the little yeasties to work their magic in my Kitchenaid mixing bowl. It takes about 5 minutes.

After it blooms, add the dough mix

Then with the dough hook work the dough till a ball forms. Give it a few minutes and it will come together.

My dough was a little dry, so I added a few tablespoons of water till I had a smooth and slightly sticky dough. Form it into a ball.

I like to drizzle my pizza dough with a little olive oil so it doesn't dry out while it rests.

After the dough has rested, top a baking sheet or your pizza peel with corn meal. I usually form my dough to fit whatever pan it is going to cook on. Don't feel like it has to be a circle. Mine was more like an oval.

I roasted an assortment of veggies in the oven to top my pizza with. On a baking sheet uniformly cut your veggies of choices, I used zucchini, eggplant, onions, sundried tomatoes and bell peppers, and toss with olive oil on a baking sheet. Bake at 425 degrees till they start to caramelize. Turn and flip the veggies as needed so they don't burn.

Turn down the oven to 400 degrees to be ready for your pizza. I like to precook my pizza dough for 10 minutes before I put any topping on. I detest soggy dough.

I made a simple tomato and basil sauce to brush my dough with. Then I added a layer of finely shredded mozzarella and Parmesan cheese, topped with veggies some freshly sliced tomatoes and olives and dusted with a touch more cheese.

Simple, delicious and fresh is how we do pizza.

Pop the pizza in for about 13 minutes, make sure it is warmed through and the cheese is melted.

Yum! It was really good. The crust was slightly sweet and went well with the veggies. It was easy to make and a great change from our usual dough.

Want to see more recipes and creative ways to use Auntie Anne's At-Home Baking Kit? Check out their Youtube channel for more baking inspiration.

You can also connect with the company on Facebook and Twitter to learn about upcoming products, get coupons and use their store locator.

So many options for one little kit, what would you make?

*Disclaimer - I wrote this review while participating in a Blog Friendly PR campaign on behalf of Auntie Annes. I received a sample for my participation, all opinions are my own.