Cinnamon Sugar Pretzels

24 Servings
Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 18 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 3 minutes

Cinnamon Sugar Pretzels are the ultimate chewy soft pretzels with instant yeast, instant dry milk, and the perfect cinnamon-sugar coating.

Cinnamon Sugar Soft Pretzels make an excellent party Appetizer that you can serve during the holiday season or for a game day viewing party. If you’d prefer a less filling, bite-sized version of this homemade pretzel recipe, be sure to check out Cinnamon Sugar Pretzel Bites.

Cinnamon Sugar Soft Pretzels are gooey, delicious, golden brown and perfect for sharing with friends and family. They’re the ideal sweet treat to serve at a party, or even to give as a homemade holiday gift. It’s no wonder that these sugar-coated cinnamon pretzels have quickly become a favorite treat with for the entire family. 

If you’re serving delicious Cinnamon Sugar Pretzels at a party, try putting together a pretzel bar. Just put out the fresh Cinnamon Sugar Soft Pretzels along with some extra toppings and dipping sauces. Try dessert favorites like powdered sugar, melted chocolate, Fudge Sauce, and Strawberry Sauce. This way, each of your guests can enjoy customizing their delicious dessert. 

If you’re not an experienced baker, don’t panic: this soft pretzel recipe is easy even for beginners. You’ll love how easy it is to combine the dough, then shape and let it rise for just a few minutes before baking. Even though it’s super simple, you still get the classic pretzel texture and amazing flavor with these baked pretzels. 

Cinnamon Sugar Pretzel collage shaping pretzel dough
Why is my pretzel dough sticky? 

If your dough is too sticky to work with, add a little more flour, starting with 1 tablespoon at a time and adding more as needed.

How to make Cinnamon Sugar Pretzels from frozen pretzels? 

If you want to skip making the dough, you can pick up some store-bought frozen pretzels. Put them directly into the oven on a pan without thawing them. Keep an eye on them in the oven. Once the dough has thawed, take the pretzels out and brush them with melted butter, then sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top. Continue baking the pretzels until they’re golden brown. 

Cinnamon Sugar Pretzels ingredients and finished pretzels

Cinnamon Treats

Key Ingredients

  • Yeast: For the pretzels to rise adequately in just 15 minutes, you’ll need to use rapid-rise yeast.
  • Dry milk: Using dry milk in this recipe gives the Cinnamon Sugar Pretzels a soft texture and mellow flavor. 
  • Cinnamon sugar: To give the pretzels a flavorful cinnamon coating, all you need is ground cinnamon and granulated sugar. Brush the pretzel dough with melted butter before adding the cinnamon sugar so that it sticks to the dough. 

Cinnamon Sugar Pretzel dough shaped on baking sheet

How to Make

  • Prep work: Start by greasing two baking sheets with butter or shortening, or line with parchment paper. Combine ¼ cup granulated sugar and ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon in a small bowl, and set the cinnamon-sugar mixture to the side. 
  • Yeast mixture: Stir together the instant yeast and warm water in another small bowl. 
  • Pretzel dough: Add the all-purpose flour, dry milk, the remaining 3 tablespoons of granulated sugar, and kosher salt to a large mixing bowl. Add ½ cup unsalted butter and the yeast to the flour mixture. Stir until the basic ingredients have blended into a sticky dough. 
  • Knead: Prepare a clean work surface with a light sprinkling of flour. Transfer the dough to the floured surface. Knead the dough for 6-8 minutes until it’s smooth and elastic. You can add more flour as you go if necessary. 
  • Shape: Cut the pretzel dough into 24 even pieces. Roll each piece of dough into a 16-inch long rope. To make the classic pretzel shape, form dough into a U-shape with the pretzel rope. Then hold both ends, cross them over each other and press them onto the bottom of the U.
  • Cinnamon sugar coating: Place each shaped pretzel onto a prepared baking sheet. Brush the pretzel dough with the remaining ¼ cup of melted butter and coat with cinnamon sugar. 
  • Rising time: Allow the dough to rise in a warm place for 15 minutes. It should only rise slightly in that time. 
  • Cooking time: During the rising time, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Then, put the pretzels in the oven for an 18-20 minute baking time. Take them out when the pretzels are golden brown. After baking pretzels, remove them from the baking sheets and allow them to cool on wire racks before serving. 

Cinnamon Sugar Pretzels baked on cooling rack

Variations

  • Toppings: Instead of cinnamon sugar, try topping the soft pretzels with a dusting of brown sugar,  or flaky salt. Before serving, you can also drizzle Caramel Sauce, peanut butter, or Chocolate Ganache over the baked pretzels. 
  • Chocolate Cinnamon Sugar Pretzels: You can also add delicious chocolate morsels to the cinnamon pretzels by mixing in mini chocolate chips or hot cocoa mix to cinnamon sugar mixture.
  • Pretzel shapes: Instead of forming the dough into a classic pretzel shape, you can make them into pretzel sticks, pretzels twists, or mini pretzels. 

Cinnamon Sugar Pretzels baked on cooling rack

Other Delicious Desserts

How to Store

  • Serve: Keep Cinnamon Sugar Pretzels at room temperature for up to 2 days. Once cooled, put pretzels in an air-tight container or cover with plastic wrap to keep them fresh longer.
  • Store: You could also keep your pretzels in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
  • Freeze: Soft pretzels are good for up to 6 months in the freezer. Before storing them, put the pretzels in a Ziplock bag with wax paper between each one to keep the frozen pretzels from sticking together. 

Cinnamon Sugar Pretzel propped up on cooling rack

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Cinnamon Sugar Pretzels

Cinnamon Sugar Pretzels are the ultimate chewy soft pretzels with instant yeast, instant dry milk, and the perfect cinnamon-sugar coating.
Yield 24 Servings
Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 18 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 3 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder

Ingredients
 

  • 3/4 tablespoons sugar , divided
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons instant rapid rise yeast , ¼ ounce
  • 1 1/4 cups warm water , 110 degrees
  • 4 1/2 cups flour , plus more for rolling
  • 1/2 cup powdered milk
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup unsalted butter , melted (divided)
  • 9 cups water
  • 1/2 cup baking soda

Instructions

  • Line two baking sheets with parchment paper
  • Mix together ½ cup sugar and cinnamon in shallow bowl.
  • To your stand mixer add the yeast and warm water, letting it sit for 5 minutes.
  • Sift together flour, powdered milk, ¼ cup sugar, and salt.
  • With a beater attachment on the lowest speed setting add in the flour mixture, then add in the melted butter until it makes a well formed dough ball.
  • Switch to a dough hook and on medium speed knead the mixture for minutes, until the dough has pulled away from the sides of the bowl.
  • Let the dough rest for 10 minutes, then cut it into 24 pieces.
  • Bring a large pot of water to a boil with the 9 cups of water and ½ cup of baking soda
  • Set oven to warm, then when it reaches temperature turn it off.
  • On a floured surface roll each piece into a long rope, about 18 inches long.
  • Holding the edges of the rope cross them over each other then bring the ends back down over the bottom of the pretzel shape (see pictures above).
  • Carefully place the shaped pretzel in the water baking soda mixture for 30 seconds then remove with a slotted spatula and place on baking sheets
  • Place the sheets in the warmed (off) oven and let them rise for 20 minutes.
  • Remove the sheets from the oven and turn it on to 375 degrees.
  • Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
  • Brush the freshly baked pretzels with ¼ cup butter and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.

Nutrition

Calories: 171kcal | Carbohydrates: 23g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 19mg | Sodium: 139mg | Potassium: 83mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 215IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 43mg | Iron: 1mg
Keyword: Cinnamon Sugar Pretzels

Cinnamon Sugar Pretzel collage

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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