Are you a sweet or salty person when it comes to snacks?

Typically, I'm a sweet person.  But I needed a salty snack for a recent demonstrator meeting.  As always, Pinterest to the rescue!

I remember a friend making these pretzels that had seasonings on.  They were simple, but everyone liked them.  I went on a hunt and found them, or at least something very similar.  

What I liked about this recipe was the fact it gave several variations of the original.  One variation had a quicker way of finishing the pretzels, and the other variation was with oyster crackers, not pretzels.  

Ranch Pretzels

12 oz bottle Orville Reddenbacher's Popping Topping Buttery Flavor Popcorn Oil
Hidden Valley Ranch Mix Packet (Dry), 1 packet
1 teaspoon onion powder
2-3 teaspoons garlic powder

Mix 2-3 pounds of pretzels in a large bowl with most of 1 bottle of Orville Butter popping oil (I always use most of the bottle, but stop when the butter is at the bottom of the label (about 1 inch left in bottle). Pour the contents of Ranch Dressing Mix. And garlic powder, onion powder.

Stir. Cover, (or transfer to large plastic bags with extra room and shake) and mix every so often (every hour or so, it doesn't have to be exact) for 24 hours until oil is absorbed.

Variation 1:

1 Packet of ranch dressing mix 20 ounces of mini-twist pretzels
3/4 Cup of vegetable/canola oil
1 tablespoon of dill weed
1/2 teaspoon of garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon of onion powder
1/4 teaspoon of ground cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 250. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper for easy clean up. Gently pour pretzels into a large bowl and add remaining ingredients. Stir very gently to mix well, being careful not to break pretzels into little pieces. Pour pretzels onto the sheet pan and spread into an even layer. Place pretzels into the oven and stir every five to six minutes, baking for a total of 25 minutes. Remove from oven and cool.  Store in an air tight container


Variation 2:

3/4 c. popcorn oil
1 (1 oz.) envelope Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix
1/2 tsp. dill weed
1/4 tsp. lemon pepper
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1 1/2 lb. pretzels, broken sm.

Directions:

Bake at 250 degrees for 40 minutes, turn over in 10 minutes.For oyster crackers, use 12-16 oz. plain oyster crackers. Bake at 275 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Place on baking sheets and bake. Drain on a brown bag to cool.

 

I used the original version.  There was plenty of time for the pretzels to dry and I was home all day, so I stirred them periodically throughout the day.  My daughter wasn't happy that I made them.  Megan, especially, loves them, but aren't exactly the healthiest snack, but could definately be worse.  She snacked on them all day.  Good thing I made almost two bags of pretzels.

And by the way, I did have enough for my meeting.

You can find the original recipe here from http://bethanysrecipes.blogspot.com/2010/11/ranch-pretzels.html

Until next time...Stampin' Always,

Cheryl, HomeStyle Stamper