Schneckels Pretzels, St Albert, AB - Awesome hand stretched freshly baked prezels!

Posted by While shopping at St Albert Centre, we came across something unexpected in the food court. Pretzels!!! Not the dry oversalted ones that used to spin around in a red heated container for god knows how long... but ones that are hand stretched and freshly baked right in front of you in an open kitchen you can see from, well the food court.  Along with the plain Jane coarse salted pretzel, there's a variety of cheese topped ones, a few dipping sauces and even pretzel sandwiches! Mmmmm.  How can we pass up freshly baked pretzels? (Of course not!!.. especially since this is the first brick and mortar bakery in Alberta!!!)

Having sold for a number of years at a stall in various Farmer's Markets, I'm glad they finally opened a bakery back in early December... I can finally get my hands on a fresh out of the oven pretzel!  Just the smell of the salty freshly baked dough smell brings back childhood memories of noshing on a pretzel after skiing.. or more accurately wiping out on ski trips.  The pretzels are hand stretched and batches are baked fresh throughout the day. (Sorry for scaring the heck out of one of the bakers as I snapped this pic of her handcrafting what will soon be a yummy pretzel!)

First up, passed on the plain as the friendly cashier steered us towards the cheesy pretzels, as some just finished baking and were smoking hot. Went with the Havarti pretzel, and we made it disappear despite the pretzel being crowned in glorious amounts of molten hot cheese. The pretzel exterior had a nice crisp crust, with a slightly chewy tender interior that became the characteristic soft-pretzel chewy as it cooled down to room temp.

After polishing off the first pretzel, well, for quality control sake, we went back for another. The Jalapeno cheddar pretzel wasn't as delectable as the Havarti pretzel, partially because it was baked a while back, so while it was warm, it wasn't hot, and there wasn't much cheese to be seen, or tasted on it. Still, a tasty soft-chewy snack to be had, with plenty of jalapeno slices dotting the soft-crisp exterior!

the Verdict
Great addition to the snack food scene, and at about $3 a pretzel its an affordable freshly baked snack. And if you've had the pretzels before at the Farmer's Markets... then you definitely have to try these babies fresh and hot out of the oven. Nom!

Schneckels Pretzels
Address 375 St Albert Trail, St. Albert, AB T8N 3K8
Phone (780) 417-9704
Hours Mon–Fri 10am–9pm, Sat 9:30am–5:30pm, Sun/Stats Noon–5:00pm


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