What better option than to publish both the successes and failures of my baking endeavors?

Yesterday I was looking for a quick snack that I could make without inciting too many “please stop baking” looks from my mother.  I ended up making a few changes to this recipe for Caramel Pretzels.  I also tried the “Zesty” variation from here.

I think they turned out decent, but next time I’d use a higher Pretzel-to-Sugar ratio.  I had some lovely chunks of pure zesty sugar.  (Not necessarily a bad thing!)  The cayenne added a lovely kick.  So here’s my amended recipe:

Caramel “Zesty” Pretzel Pralines.

1 cup sugar
4 cups pretzels, any variety
1/2 tsp salt
2 tblsp cold butter, cut in small chunks
1/3 tsp cayenne pepper
Fresh ground pepper
3 shots Worcestershire sauce

1. Heat sugar, pretzels, and salt over high heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon.
2. When the sugar is amber colored but still sandy, turn down the heat and add butter, cayenne, Worcestershire sauce, and plenty of pepper.  Continue cooking until ingredients are fully incorporated into the sugary mass.  Stir to ensure that all the pretzels have some candy (and avoid the massive caramel chunks that I ended up with!)
3. Turn the pretzels onto a buttered sheet pan, stir with your wooden spoon to make sure they do not cool into one large pretzel praline.
4. Wait until cool before eating.