Sourdough Pretzels (topped with chocolate-covered sunflower seeds)

it's a day of experimentation. i saw chocolate-covered sunflower seeds at whole foods and remembered peabody making cookies with them once, so i thought i'd buy some and play around with them. i was planning to make sourdough pretzels, so i thought "how about topping the pretzels with some of these?" the pretzels have a mix of all-purpose and whole wheat flour, so i thought the sunflower seed would compliment it nicely, and hoped that the chocolate (and nice autumn-colored candy coating) would be diminished by the flavors of the sourdough, whole wheat flour, and sunflower seeds since i am generally not a fan of chocolate breads. alas, it was not. fortunately for me (and the other adults), i only topped half of them with the seeds; the others got a simple sprinkling of salt. as far as the pretzels themselves are concerned, they were quite good, with the sourdough evident but not overpowering. i tinkered with the recipe some, substituting 1 Tbsp. of the sugar with 1 Tbsp. of malted barley syrup (any excuse to use that stuff!) and retarded the dough in the fridge over night after the initial rise, then took it out and let it sit at room temp again for about 5 hours before shaping them into pretzels. the kids liked the chocolate sunflower seed-topped pretzels, though, so it wasn't a total loss. tomorrow, i'm gonna try 'em in sourdough waffles. the kids like chocolate chip pancakes (yuck), so they should like these. i think peabody's cookies may be the best application for these pretty things, though.