Recipe: Jalapeño Popper Stuffed Soft Pretzels

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I love jalapeño poppers and I love soft pretzels, so I thought, why not combine them into the ultimate stuffed gooey snack?

To my German friends and bretzen fans, sorry not sorry. These (like my pretzel buns which have the exact same dough base) have a texture which resembles something you’d more likely find at an American mall than an Oktoberfest tent. I like soft, fluffy doughy things. I also think the soft dough is necessary because you don’t want the molten cheese to simply squeeze out when you tear in to one of these babies.

I wasn’t going to share a recipe for these but then I posted a photo of the leftovers in my Insta stories and got multiple people asking me when the recipe is going to be out, so here we are. I fully admit that the process for rolling and stuffing the pretzels could use some visuals for better clarity; I will update this recipe the next time I make these with more illustrative aids. But I am hoping what I wrote below makes sense. You basically want to roll out the dough so that it is really tapered to a point on the ends, and much fatter in the middle—about a 1-inch diameter or even more. I often see recipes call for dough to be rolled into a “rope” or a “snake” but really you want these to resemble the shape of a long slug (minus the antennae, of course). You need enough volume in the middle two-thirds of your dough slug so you can roll it out flat, fill it with a line of filling, and pinch it closed. You don’t want the filling to leak out when boiling (though some melty spillage in the baking process is not a bad thing). You also don’t want the ends to be as fat as the middle because that will make it look clunky and awkward when you are twisting into a pretzel shape.

I have only tested it with crushed chicharrones for the coating, but I am quite confident it will work with regular panko. Next time I made these I will try it with panko to make sure the panko doesn’t brown too quickly, but in the meantime, just keep and eye on them as they are baking if you choose to go that route.

Finally, these are plenty cheesy and gooey on their own but if you want to dunk them in cheese sauce like I did, I will be the last to tell you that is not a good idea. I use this recipe from Serious Eats when I make cheese sauce.

How to Make Jalapeño Popper Stuffed Pretzels

(Makes 5 pretzels)

Ingredients for the Dough

3/4 cup warm water
1 tsp (slightly heaped) active dry yeast
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp butter, melted and cooled
2 tsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups AP flour, plus more for dusting
nonstick cooking spray

Jalapeño Popper Ingredients

5 oz cream cheese, softened
pickled jalapeños, chopped
~ 1 1/2 cups freshly grated mozzarella
crushed chicharrones or panko breadcrumbs

For the Water Bath

9 cups water
1/2 cup baking soda

Procedure

Combine warm water, yeast, and honey in the bowl of your stand mixer and stir gently. Allow yeast to bloom and foam up for 5 minutes.

Add butter, brown sugar, and salt, and stir together. Fit stand mixer with the dough hook and turn on to the lowest setting. Begin adding flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until a dough starts to come together. Use a rubber spatula to scrape everything together. If the dough is sticky, add a little bit more flour.

Turn the mixer to medium high and knead the dough for about 5 minutes until it feels smooth and bouncy. Turn the dough onto a clean worksurface and roll into a smooth ball. Grease the inside of the mixing bowl, and place the ball of dough back inside. Cover with a damp towel and allow to rest in a warm place for 20 minutes.

In the meantime, make the filling. Combine the cream cheese, pickled jalapeños, and mozzarella cheese into a homogenous mixture. (The amount of jalapeños and mozzarella cheese can be to your taste, but keep in mind it needs to fit inside the pretzels.) Set aside.

On a lightly-floured worksurface, divide the rested dough into 5 equal pieces and roll each piece into a ball. Then roll each into a long slug-like shape that is fatter in the middle and tapers off on the ends. These should be about 20–22 inches in length.

Then, take one of your long tapered pieces of dough and, using a small, lightly-floured rolling pin, roll out the middle two-thirds of the dough. The midpoint should measure about 3–3.5 inches when it is rolled out. Spread roughly one-fifth of the cream cheese mixture in a line along this rolled out section of dough, leaving some dough exposed above and below. Then overlap the exposed edges together over the filling and pinch together tightly, making sure the filling is sealed in well. You should end up with a long dough slug again, that is similar in size and shape to when you started. Twist this into a pretzel shape. Set aside and repeat with the other dough slugs.

In a large pot, combine water and baking soda for water bath and bring to a boil. Preheat oven to 425°F. Line 1 or 2 large baking trays with parchment paper.

Place each pretzel in the boiling water bath for 10 seconds on each side, then place on the parchment-lined tray. (I find it easiest to put them in face-down in the water first, flip, and then lift up with a spatula.) Give plenty of space in between, as they will puff up as they bake.

Pack on the panko breadcrumbs or crushed chicharrones onto the wet dough. Brush with additional water from the water bath if necessary for more adhesion.

Bake for about 15 minutes in the middle rack of the oven. Eat them as soon as you can manage without burning your fingers!

Orange Chicken Wings

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Sweet, sour, glossy, sticky wings! I’m sharing this as an idea for a fun Chinese New Year party idea (within your household) even though I am fully aware that “orange chicken” is a Chinese-American invention—not at all a traditional dish to serve at a new year celebration. However, there is so much rich history to the Chinese-American restaurant industry, so much to be said about the way Chinese immigrants adapted to make a living here, that I think the cuisine that developed is worth celebrating. Something especially unique about orange chicken that I learned from Chinese Cooking Demystified is that its orange sauce has also since somehow been adapted back to suit Chinese palates in China, and is now served on ribs in some areas in the south. That’s how special orange chicken is.

I also thought this would be a pretty good Chinese New Year dish because oranges are such a prominent part of the celebrations. I remember my parents exchanging oranges as gifts with their friends during Chinese New Year, as oranges—especially mandarin or satsuma oranges—are supposed to represent gold, wealth, and good fortune.

For Chinese-Americans like myself, this recipe should be super easy as the sauce really only requires 3 ingredients. Plum sauce and hoisin sauce are total staples in our pantries. But if you are someone who is not familiar with these ingredients, or maybe you know them from Chinese takeout but you have never purchased them yourself before—my hope is that you will be inspired to go to your local Chinatown if you have one and pick these ingredients up. You’ll find that they are incredibly delicious and versatile condiments, even straight out of the jar.

This isn’t a precise recipe below because I really don’t think it needs to be. Give that hoisin sauce and plum sauce a try first, and that will allow you to gauge how much you want each ingredient to contribute to your version. If you want more tang, use more plum sauce. If you want more deep umami, use more hoisin. They both have enough sweetness to make your wings super snackable and addictive, and really any combination of those three ingredients—freshly squeezed orange juice, plum sauce, and hoisin sauce—will be delicious on these delicately crusted, fried wings.

Awkwardly Vague instructions for Orange Chicken Wings

Ingredients for the Wings

~ 18 party wings, a mix of drums and flats
salt
cornstarch
neutral oil, for frying

Ingredients for the Sauce

2 oranges
plum sauce
hoisin sauce
red pepper flakes (optional)

optional Garnishes

dried red chilies
sesame seeds, toasted
scallions, sliced

Procedure

Season wings on both sides with salt. Coat them thoroughly in a thin layer of cornstarch, making sure to get cornstarch into all crevices. Shake off excess and place in a single layer. Set aside.

Zest 1 of the oranges. Then juice 1.5 of the oranges, reserving half of the unzested orange. Cut that half orange into semicircles and set them aside for the garnish.

Deep fry the chicken wings (in batches, if necessary) and allow them to drain on a rack or paper towels while you prepare the sauce.

In a pan large enough to hold all the wings, add the orange juice and zest and bring to a simmer. Add a couple large dollops of plum sauce, a big squirt of hoisin sauce, and a couple pinches of red pepper flakes (if using). Stir everything together until homogenous. When the sauce starts to thicken and look syrupy, add the fried wings and toss to coat. Add red chilies and toss to combine.

Plate the wings and garnish with the orange slices. Top with sesame seeds and scallions.