In a small bowl, add the water, sugar and yeast together and mix. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, mix together the flour and kosher salt. Create a well in the middle of the flour and slowly add the yeast mixture. Mix well until a dough forms, then add in the butter. Knead for 5 minutes. Add in the sprinkles,  gently working them into the dough. You can also add the sprinkles in when forming the dough, but I find this method prevents the sprinkles from bleeding into the dough.

Place the dough in a bowl and cover with a tea towel and leave it to rise in a warm, dry place for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, heat a large pot with water and bring to a boil.

Deflate the dough (don't punch it) and break the dough into 12 large pretzel sticks, or 24 smaller pretzel sticks. Do not add flour to your surface when rolling out the pretzel sticks. The friction, helps form a smoother pretzel. Bring down the water to a simmer and add the baking soda. Be careful! The baking soda will bubble up! Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Boil the pretzel sticks 3 - 4 at a time for about 30 seconds on each side and set aside on a greased baking sheet. Sprinkle each of the pretzels with pretzel salt.

(Optional) Place the pretzels in the fridge for about an hour to form a skin. If you do this step, you can skip adding the salt until after your chill the dough. Make an egg wash (1 egg, plus 1 tablespoon of water) and brush the tops of the pretzels then add the pretzel salt.

Bake the pretzels for 12 - 14 minutes. They should be a nice medium-dark brown. While the pretzels are baking, make the icing.

Drizzle icing on the pretzels and top with more sprinkles.