Ingredients

2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast (1 packet)
1 1/4 cups warm milk
2 tbsp honey
4 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup baking soda
1 egg
1 tbsp coarse sea salt

Preheat oven to 450°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

Pour warm milk into the bowl of an electric mixer. Top with honey and the yeast and stir to combine. Allow to sit for approximately 10 minutes. The yeast will become like a foam, which means it's ready.

Fill a large pot about 1/2 full with water and allow to come to a boil over medium/high heat. Meanwhile, beat egg in small bowl and set aside.

Add flour and 1 teaspoon salt to mixer. Mix on low with paddle attachment for a few minutes until the dough comes together in one ball. Add more flour if needed. The dough will stick together, but will not be sticky on your hands.

Place dough on counter top and form dough into a ball. (This dough doesn't stick to the counter either so no need to flour it first.) Section the dough into 4 parts and roll each part into a long strand. Cut each strand into 1 inch sections using a butter knife. You should be able to make about 12 bites per strand.

Carefully add baking soda to boiling water. The baking soda will bubble up, so add slowly! Place dough bites into boiling water about 10 at a time, and "flash cook" for 20-30 seconds for each batch. Using a slotted spoon, take dough bites out of water.

Arrange all flashed cooked pretzel bites on parchment lined baking sheet so they are not touching. Brush each bite with egg wash and sprinkle with course sea salt. (We used Celtic coarse grey sea salt which was nice and chunky. See notes below.)

Bake for approximately 10 minutes or until the tops are browned. (It took a few more minutes in our oven.)

We made a cheese fondue to dip these in and saved some to make a cinnamon sugar coating later after coating the bites with melted butter first. Pairs well with chocolate, too. So delicious!

Notes:
We looked up Celtic grey sea salt to learn more about it and this is what we found: it's mineral-rich, whole crystal, unrefined and hand harvested. Dried by the sun and wind, it retains the ocean’s moisture and locks in a vast array of vital trace elements. Grey Celtic gets its light grey hue from the pure clay lining of the salt beds where it is harvested in the coastal regions of France. This salt is also non-GMO, Kosher and lower in sodium. We could do an entire edition of JAM just on salt.

Scones are the quintessential afternoon tea accompaniment. We received a gift snack box delivery to go along with a virtual wine tasting party one evening and saved the lemon curd for what we love most spreading it on and decided to create our own simple midday tea-with-scone snack. Of course, feel free to go all out and add little sandwiches, mini tarts, small cookies, chocolates to make it even more proper.

Below is a basic blueberry scone recipe we made recently - with a little lemon zest for the right balance between a tiny bit sweet and tart. We cut some of them in half before baking to make bite size scones for a smaller portion to enjoy whenever a pastry craving hits. Lemon curd not necessary nor is traditional clotted cream if they're not available. These buttery scones taste delicious on their own, too.

Ingredients

2 cups flour
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
6 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 cup fresh blueberries, rinsed and dried
1 tsp lemon zest
1/3 cup heavy cream, plus more for brushing
2 eggs

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Sift flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Using your fingers, combine butter with the dry ingredients until largest pieces are pea size. Stir in blueberries and lemon zest.

Whisk together cream and eggs in small bowl. Make a well in center of flour mixture. Add cream mixture and stir lightly with a fork just until dough comes together.

Knead dough a few times and place on lightly floured surface. Pat into a 6 inch square about 1 1/2 inches thick. Use knife to cut dough into four squares and then cut those squares into diagonals. (Scones can be any shape you want.) Transfer to baking sheet. Brush tops with cream and sprinkle with a little sugar.

Bake for 20-22 minutes until golden brown.

Classic English Breakfast, Earl Grey or even the many green tea varieties are such good choices but for something different without caffeine, we've been drinking the lovely tart Hibiscus tea using dried petals which steep beautifully and quickly in hot water, no strainer needed as they fall neatly to the bottom of your cup. There is a long list of health benefits but we just like drinking because it tastes so good. We steep extra to cool and drink on ice as well for elevated, tasty hydration.