I have to admit, quarantine started making me crack this weekend. Mainly because I couldn’t stop thinking about two of my favorite foods: Starbucks Bantam Bagels & the infamous Disneyland Jalapeño Cheese Pretzel.

Disneyland has closed indefinitely & I’ve avoided going to Starbucks for the past month. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, countless restaurants have shut down. And because of the stay at home orders in various states, most of us are left to our own devices in the kitchen.

As I was craving cream cheese loaded bagel bites, I also realized that we don’t have any yeast and most stores are sold out of it. So, I did what any hungry girl would & figured out a way to make them at home with 3 ingredients. Who knew you could transform ready made pizza dough into pretzel dough with one simple ingredient!?

The good news is, my recipe hack tastes just as good as the real thing. BOTH to be exact… it’s oddly like Starbucks & Disneyland had cheesy pretzel babies. You can make your own Starbucks cream cheese bagel balls at home – and make them taste just like the Disney Jalapeño Pretzels, or any flavor you want!

Let’s make STARBUCKS CREAM CHEESE BAGEL BALLS AT HOME!

Mixing and kneading dough isn’t hard work, but it is work. Not to mention, you need yeast to make dough rise. And I haven’t seen yeast in stock on Amazon or at any grocery store in a month. Luckily, picking up a pre-made pizza dough is easy!

Most supermarkets stock ready made pizza dough in the prepared food section or the refrigerated aisle.Once you have your dough, take it out of its package and let it come to room temperature. It’ll be more elastic and hold its shape better than chilled dough. 

I have two tricks for getting that authentic pretzel look and flavor I know you want using pizza dough:

1. Dip the dough in a mixture of baking soda and hot water before baking. The baking soda creates an alkaline wash that helps set the outside of the pretzel, creating a chewier, crispy crust.
2. Brush the pretzels with a beaten egg, butter or olive oil before baking. This helps salt or bagel seasoning stick, increases the browning and creates a bit of shine.

Ingredients

• pre-made pizza dough
• 8 cups of water
• 1 cup baking soda
• 1 egg, melted butter or olive oil
• salt or bagel seasoning
• Jalapeño Cream Cheese

Directions

If you’re on a gluten free diet, use gluten free pizza dough. If you’re dairy free, opt for a dairy free Jalapeño Cream Cheese like Kite Hill.

Open your dough out onto a lightly oiled surface. Knead or roll it out.

Using a dough cutter or a knife, chop the dough into 2″ squares.

Using a spoon or a small scooper, place a dollop of cream cheese in the center of the dough. Stretch the dough out and around the cream cheese ball. Pinching the edges very firmly to seal.

Add the baking soda to your boiling water. Drop each pretzel in, one at a time, for 45 seconds. Then place them on a baking pan lined with parchment paper.

Beat your egg, and brush each bite with a bit of the wash. You can also substitute this step by using melted butter or olive oil. Top with salt or bagel seasoning and bake in a 450 degree oven for 15 minutes.

OTHER FLAVOR COMBINATIONS

Did you know that Starbucks Bantam Bagels skyrocketed to success after being on Shark Tank? Some other fun cream cheese stuffed bagel balls you can make:

• maple cream cheese
• cinnamon sugar French toast
• veggie cream cheese
• spinach & artichoke
• pumpkin spice cream cheese
• honey pecan cream cheese
• chive & onion cream cheese
• cheesecake cream cheese
• creamy churro cream cheese
• classic / regular cream cheese

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