Bring your water to a boil in a medium-large pot. Preheat oven to 350F. Line two cookie sheets with silicone baking mats, or use parchment paper that’s been sprayed with cooking spray. (I highly recommend the silicone; the pretzels even stuck to those a little, parchment will be worse!)

Unroll and separate the breadstick dough. Use kitchen scissors or a serrated knife to cut each breadstick into four pieces, for a total 48.

When the water boils, add the baking soda and salt. Working in batches, place 4-6 pieces of dough in the boiling water for about 15-20 seconds. After a few seconds, flip them over. The dough will change slightly in color. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon, tap to remove all water, and place on prepared cookie sheets. Continue until all pretzels are boiled.

Bake for 12-14 minutes, until they start to turn golden on top. (Mine took 13 minutes.)

Melt butter in a small bowl. You should use salted butter for this step; if you only have unsalted, then add a pinch of salt to the butter. Add half the sugar and half the cinnamon to a gallon size ziploc bag, seal, and shake to combine. Dip pretzels into the butter and place in the cinnamon sugar (a few at a time) and shake carefully to coat. Place on a cookie sheet and repeat until all pretzels are done, replenishing the sugar/cinnamon about halfway through. (I found that my cinnamon sugar mixture started to get clumpy partway through because of the butter, which is why I suggest doing it in two parts.)

Serve warm or room temperature, with optional chocolate ganache for dipping. Best served the day of.

These didn’t taste as great on day 2! To make the ganache, add cream and chocolate chips to a microwave safe bowl (I use a glass measuring cup) and heat for 30-45 seconds. Whisk until chocolate melts and let sit at room temperature until it thickens slightly. You can do this before making the pretzels, or while they are in the oven.