Authentic Soft Cinnamon Sugar Pretzels (Martinsbrezeln)

German Cinnamon Sugar Pretzels. 5 layed out on a white surface. A bowl of cinnamon sugar next to it. A basked with more pretzels

5 from 1 vote

Authentic Soft Cinnamon Sugar Pretzels (Martinsbrezeln)

These sweet and soft cinnamon sugar pretzels are deliciously moreish and very hard to resist. These are known as Martinzbrezeln in Germany and are eaten traditionally in November during St. Martin's Day.

Course Dessert

Cuisine German

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 15

Resting Time 1 15

Total Time 1 45

Servings pretzels

Calories 348kcal

Author Marita

Equipment

Ingredients

150 ml lukewarm milk 5 fl oz
80 g sugar 2.8 oz
1 sachet yeast (7 g/0.2 oz or 2 teaspoon)
1 egg medium size, at room temperature
50 g butter (unsalted and very soft)
150 g sour cream 5.3 oz (at least 10% fat)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pinch salt
500 g flour 17.6 oz (Germany type 405, UK plain flour, USA Pastry Flour)

For the cinnamon sugar coating

50 g butter melted
50 g caster sugar
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Instructions

Preheat your oven to the lowest setting (mine is 50°C or 122°F ) Once it reached that heat turn it off but leave your oven door closed.
Add the sugar into the luke warm milk, and empty the sachet of yeast. Stir and then leave to rest for 10 minutes. You should see small bubbles appear on the suface. (If the mixture was not bubbling, the milk was too hot, and you should start again)
In a bowl, mix together the sour cream, soft butter, egg and vanilla extract to a homogenous mass.
Add in the flour and knead the dough by hand, or with a standmixer with a dough hook, for approximatley 10 minutes.
Place the dough into a bowl and cover with a tea towel.
Place in the oven and leave to rise for about 1 hour.
In the meantime prepare two baking trays and line them with baking parchment.
Remove the dough from the oven and knead it again briefly.
Now divide your dough into 8 equal portions. In order to do this accurately, I suggest weighing the dough and then dividing it by 8.
Roll each portion into a ball and then form it into a roll, about 45 cm (17.7 inches) long. Make your that the ends of the roll are tappered to a point.
To form pretzels take each roll and lay it in a "U" shape (see picture A). In the middle take both and twist them around each other twice. (see picture B) The ends get pressed against the pretzel-belly (the lower part of the pretzel). (see picture C)
Preheat the oven to 180°C or 356°F top to bottom heat.
Cover the sweet pretzels again with a tea towel and let them rise for a 15 minutes on the baking trays. Finally brush them with quarter of the melted butter.
Bake them for approximately 15 minutes. The exact baking time will depend on your oven. Check with a skewer if they are done. If it comes out clean,- they are finished but you can leave them to brown a bit longer if you like.
In the meantime, you can mix the sugar with the cinnamon and place it in a bowl. Melt the remaining butter.
Once you removed the pretzels from the oven, brush them, while still warm, with the melted butter and then generously cover them in the cinnamon sugar.
If you want you can serve warm or cooled off.

Notes

I would strongly recommend for you check out the recipe pictures in the main post. It also has some recipe variation suggestions.

Storage Instructions:

These cinnamon pretzels are best eaten the same day they are baked. This is when they taste the best, but they will stay good for up to three days. Just make sure you store them in an airtight container.

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