Ingredients

• For the filling:
• 1 recipe vanilla pudding
• For the pastry:
• 9 oz all purpose flour
• 1 oz fresh yeast
• 1/2 cup cold milk
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 egg
• 4 oz softened butter

Directions

1. Prepare the pudding, cover with plastic wrap to keep a skin from forming, and chill in the refrigerator.
2. Dissolve the yeast in the milk.
3. Pile the flour in a mound in a large bowl or on a floured countertop. Create a well in the middle, and add the sugar, egg, and milk with yeast. Knead together until smooth.
4. On a floured countertop, roll out the dough into a rectangle about 17 by 13 inches in length and width, and 2 inches thick.
5. Leaving a border of about 1 inch around the rectangle, gently spread the butter on 2/3 of the dough to the right, leaving the remaining third to the left uncoated.
6. Fold the unbuttered left portion into the middle, then the right part into the middle on top of that. Wrap with plastic and place in the fridge to cool for 30 minutes.
7. Repeat Step 4, rolling the dough out again, and folding as you did in step 6. Then start over and repeat the process of folling and folding again.
8. Roll out to a thickness of about two inches once more, and cut into 15-18 strips about 1/2 an inch in width, with a knife or a pastry wheel.
9. Roll the flat strips into ropes with your palms on a floured countertop, and form into pretzels. Transfer carefully to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, with some room in between to expand during baking.
10. Using a pastry bag with a star-shaped piping attachment, pipe the cooled pudding into the two holes of each. Leave to rest on the counter for 30 minutes.
11. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
12. Bake the pretzels for about 15 minutes until lightly golden.
13. Take the pretzels out of the oven and leave to cool on the parchment paper for at least 30 minutes. It’s important not to lift them while they’re still hot, because the warm pudding can easily stick to the paper. Once cool, gently transfer from the sheet and enjoy!