Two years ago, I decided to try to make an non alcoholic version of the Everything Bagel Beer Pretzel Knots from The Cottagecore Baking Book. At that time, the book was full of recipes I wanted to learn how to make. Most, if not all, the recipes in the book are made from scratch the way I’m most familiar with. (Such as cinnamon rolls that have to go through three rises to create the perfect texture) Back then, I needed to learn how to make more recipes from scratch, so this book was a perfect book for me to try.

Today, The Cottagecore Baking Book has become one of my most favorite cook books. I have made cinnamon rolls, cakes, breads, and many other foods using it. Everything I make using the book requires time and effort, but the taste of the food is completely worth it!

Back when I purchased the book, I discovered a recipe for pretzel bagels. At that time, I needed to omit bagels from my diet due to certain ingredients used in commonly available in bagels sold in my area. I missed eating them, so I decided to use the pretzel bagel recipe to see if I can create my own bagels at home.

Here is what the pretzel bagels looked like after I finished making them…

 

 

 

 

And this is what the bagels look like on the inside…

 

If you are familiar with the way these bagels look like in the cook book, then you’ll probably see there is a difference between my bagels and the ones in the book. First, the bagels are supposed to have Everything Bagel seasoning. I didn’t have any at that time, so I decided to make them without the seasoning.

They look really good and even smelled really good, but they didn’t taste really good. This is because I used an incorrect replacement ingredient in this recipe. In addition to all my food allergies, I am also allergic to alcohol. I do have a certain amount of tolerance to alcohol, but this is only for certain foods made with certain types of alcohol. (For an example: Yankee pot stew with a low alcohol content wine in it) I can’t drink alcohol and I can’t eat foods with alcohol.

The pretzel bagel recipe calls for light beer or apple cider. Because of my alcohol allergy, I can’t use light beer. So, I decided to use apple cider. Yet, there was a problem. I couldn’t find apple cider for sale in my area. I don’t know why my large local grocery stores don’t carry apple cider, but they don’t. So, I decided to use apple juice. This was a bad decision. Apple juice is sweet and didn’t blend well with the rest of the flavors of the bagels. It didn’t taste as bad as other food I’ve made and eaten in the past, but boy. I really didn’t like it.

Since then, I began to use apple cider more and more in my fall recipes. Since my grocery stores still don’t sell apple cider, (I keep thinking the apple cider is located in a different part of the stores, but I haven’t found it yet) I ended up ordering my apple cider online. I have used apple cider to make other recipes and it works really well. I have plans to try these bagels again for fall, but this time with apple cider and Everything Bagel seasoning, which I also ordered online. (My grocery stores sometimes carry Everything Bagel seasoning, but I needed a higher quantity of seasoning than what is available at the stores. So, I just order it online and have it shipped to my house.) It is my plan to write another post about these bagels, but only if they turn out right!

 

That’s all for now! Thank you for reading!