dreaming@echonyc.com

behold the mighty pretzel! these are made from a recipe for light spice cookies in the king arthur flour cookie companion. the dough rolled and cut beautifully, and if my pretzel cookie cutter clung a little bit too stubbornly to the interior scraps where there should have been holes, i was in a forgiving mood. (i'm pretty sure i was high as a kite from the stupefying waft of anise and cinnamon.)

i brushed each pretzel with egg white, then sprinkled them all with coarse white sanding sugar. i wanted them to have the look of real pretzels. unfortunately, the sugar wasn't as opaque and white after baking as pretzel salt would have been. maybe i'll use that next time instead.

special bonus cookie: after rolling and cutting four dozen pretzels, i was pretty sure i had enough, so i used the remaining dough to make animal cutouts. i doubt they'll get decorated any more than this, but what's not to like about a giraffe with a necklace?