Buttered Soft Pretzel Bites

Instructions

1. To make dough with a mixer: Place all of the dough ingredients into a bowl, and beat until well-combined. Knead the dough, by hand or machine, for about 5 minutes, until it's soft and smooth. Spray a large bowl with cooking spray and place the dough inside and turn over once so the dough is coated in oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow it to double in size by letting it sit for 30 minutes to an hour.
2. Preheat your oven to 500°F. Prepare two baking sheets with parchment paper and spray the paper with cooking spray. Just to be sure. We don't want anything to stick!
3. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased work surface, and divide it into about four strips of equal length. Set the strips aside to rest for a bit.
4. While the dough is resting, combine the 1 cup boiling water and the baking soda in a liquid measuring cup (deep enough to dip the pretzel bites into). Make sure the baking soda is almost dissolved. It won't dissolve all the way. Set the solution aside until its warm to touch.
5. Cut each strip of dough into about 6-8 pieces, about 1 to 1 ½ inches in width.
6. Dip each pretzel bite in the baking soda solution because this will give the pretzels a nice, golden-brown color! Then place them on the baking sheets.
7. Sprinkle them lightly with sea salt or pretzel salt. Allow them to rest, uncovered, for 10 minutes.(optional if your pressed for time)
8. Bake the pretzels for 7-8 minutes or until they’re golden brown.
9. Cheese Dip
10. Combine 4 oz of Velveeta, 1/4 cup cream cheese and 2-3 tablespoons of milk (more or less as needed) Combine all ingredients in a microwave safe bowl. Heat for 1-3 minutes and mix until smooth and combined. Add more or less milk for desired consistency.
11. Remove the pretzels from the oven and drizzle them with the melted butter. For extra soft pretzel toss the butter and pretzel bites in a bowl and cover with a towel for 5 minutes. Serve warm with cheese dip or not!