I love soft pretzels, but I do not like hard pretzels. Ryan eats both constantly and actually prefers the hard variety on most occasions. It’s one of the few foods we don’t agree on, and we’ve had to compromise on road trips (because in Ryan’s opinion, hard pretzels make the most perfect traveling snack). Enter: Trader Joe’s. Only recently have we been blessed with Trader Joe’s here in Colorado. But snack lovers across the country know that Trader Joe’s is the place to go to stalk up on all things sweet and salty.
A few months ago, we discovered their peanut butter stuffed pretzels. And surprisingly, I fell for them fast. We’ve bought two bags, both of which have stayed in our car. Despite my strong will, I cave EVERY SINGLE TIME. I simply can’t stop eating them. And while they aren’t necessarily unhealthy, they’re still full of ingredients and preservatives I’m not too thrilled about.
So when Lucy started to reach her hand out for a peanut butter stuffed pretzel, I knew I had to try to recreate them at home. Not surprisingly I took the HARD out of the equation and made these beautiful peanut butter stuffed soft pretzels. And they are out-of-this-world good. The key is to use cold peanut butter when shaping the pretzel balls. If your peanut butter is too warm, this recipe gets messy fast. But because I buy all natural peanut butter, it’s in the fridge already, which made for an almost effortless adaptation to one of my favorite soft pretzel recipes. Everyone–mama, papa, and baby–enjoyed these!
Peanut Butter Stuffed Soft Pretzels
1/2 cup peanut butter, chilled
Coarse sea salt
After dough has risen, preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an 8-quart saucepan or roasting pan.
Working with one piece of dough at a time, break off small balls of dough and stretch out to form a 2-3 inch flat disc. Scoop 1-2 teaspoons of chilled peanut butter in the center and wrap dough around peanut butter, forming a smooth ball. Set aside and repeat with remaining dough.
Drop balls into boiling water. Allow to boil for 30 seconds, turning once. Remove balls with slotted spoon and allow to drain on cooling rack. Sprinkle balls with coarse sea salt, if desired and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 10-12 minutes, or until pretzel balls turn a deep golden brown. Best enjoyed the same day.
These are amazing, and what a cute picture of your little girl. So cute. I need to make these for my boys!
Oh my gosh this looks amazing!! I’m with you – I prefer soft pretzels to hard … and then you went and filled them with peanut butter??? I need to make these!
How fun is this?! Looks great friend!
I love those peanut butter-stuffed pretzels and think I would love this soft version even more!
This is such a creative recipe! I love peanut butter stuffed pretzels. Such a fun and tasty snack!
This is pure genius, Monet! My son would love this. Of course I have to go there and say he’d love it with Nutella, too. Your little one is one lucky girl!
I can never resist peanut butter. Or pretzels (which I like hard of soft — both are good). So you know where I’m going with this, right? 😉 Perfect recipe for me — thanks so much.
I can’t buy those peanut butter pretzels. They disappear waaaay to fast, and eating an entire bag in one sitting can’t be good for me.
I heart both peanut butter and pretzels of all kinds (okay, not the huge hard stick kind, but all the rest), but I’ve never seen a pb-stuffed SOFT pretzel before! What a great idea! YAY.
Way to go, Monet! No wonder Lucy is crazy about them, they sound and look delicious!
Yum! These sound fantastic Monet! I have a peanut butter obsesses 13-year old boy that would love these! : )
This looks amazing, Monet! I prefer soft pretzels too and filling them with peanut butter is such a great idea! Yay, so glad Lucy loved them! Pinning! My lil guy would absolutely go nuts for these too and I can’t wait to try them 🙂
Wow, wow, and wow! That’s a totally brilliant and inspired recipe–especially since I’m of the soft pretzel camp myself. I love the genius in adapting this and will most definitely be keeping it on record for future snacking marathons!
What a terrific idea! And they sound perfect for little ones 🙂
Peanut butter anything just gets me! And thanks for the pretzel recipe. I always thought that you needed lye and some chemistry knowledge to make them (someone once told me that it was dangerous!) but clearly you don’t need lye at all. They look fantastic!
Monet, what a lovely treat you re-created – I have never seen or heard of peanut-butter filled pretzel, soft or hard, ever – but these look too delicious to pass up!
Woah! Peanut butter IN the pretzel. I can see why she’d just gobble that up.
I’m usually not a hard pretzel fan either… except I’m OBSESSED with the honey wheat ones. Eric and I always buy a bag to nibble on whenever we’re traveling somewhere.
These look amazing, Monet! You’ve combined my two favourite foods! 🙂
Oh my gosh, WHY have I never heard of pb stuffed pretzels before?! More importantly, why are these not in front of my face right now?! Seriously, these look totally to die for-good. Stunning photos too! 🙂
YUM Monet! I love that picture of the PB pretzel cut in half! It made my mouth water seeing all that delicious creamy PB in there wrapped in a pretzel type ‘bun’. 🙂
I could easily devour these in no time! Peanut butter is a big weakness of mine, plus I love the salty/sweet combo.
Is it wrong that I want all of your little one eats snacks for myself? I love peanut butter pretzels, and I agree homemade is always best! I love this soft pretzel version — they look amazing!
I’m with you, Monet – I’ll take a soft pretzel over a hard one anyday! I love that you created a homemade version of the recipe for Lucy to enjoy….although I’m sure you snuck a few as well 😉 This looks delicious! What a brilliant idea filling the soft pretzel with rich creamy peanut butter.
These are AWESOME!!! And your little girl is so so so cute!!! Beautiful picture!
OMG, I love Trader Joe’s peanut butter pretzels! (And I’m not even that crazy about peanut butter…). I will have to give those a try! 🙂 Love your blog, btw! I’ll be following!
I’ll take a dozen of these little pretzel bites, please! Stuffed with peanut butter, these wouldn’t last longer than five minutes in my house!
I absolutely love peanut butter stuffed pretzels! I’ve never made a homemade version before, but I love the soft dough you used for these. Pinning these for sure!
Oh my goodness, peanut butter AND pretzels in one?! These look amazing, and I’m pretty sure I could polish off a whole batch by myself 😉
I just melt every time you show us a picture of Lucy. She is just so precious! And these peanut butter-stuffed pretzel rolls are seriously calling to me! I LOVE the PB!
oooooh I need to make these for Michael!! I prefer hard pretzels-he prefers soft and, like you, makes an exception from pb filled pretzels. So these would be perfect for him!
This is totally genius! You can’t go wrong with a creamy peanut butter and a salty pretzel combo! Just perfect!
How fun!
My husband eats TJ’s pb pretzels with his lunch every.single.day. I’m with you though…i def prefer soft to hard pretzels. These look great, and Lucy seems to be enjoying them 😉
Trader Joes is definitely the mecca for all snacks! I used to hate hard pretzels as a kid, but I love them now and I especially love them when they are filled with peanut butter! Being a soft pretzel lover too, I am really loving these stuffed ones! What a great idea!!
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