I believe that I have mentioned before that my grandmother was born and raised in Mississippi. So far south, in fact, that she has always joked that my great-grandmother would go to New Orleans just to buy a spool of thread. Yep, they were just that close to the Big Easy.
When I was 10, the whole family (with the exception of my poor father, who had to work) took a week-long vacation to New Orleans. My grandmother showed us the sites, took us to all of her favorite restaurants, and – of course – made sure we indulged in all of the foods famous to the city.
My most poignant memories of the trip (not including an accidental walk down Bourbon Street at 10 pm) include mountains of beignets at Cafe Du Monde (I clearly hit culinary nirvana early in life), being freaked out by my uncle trying to get my cousins and I to suck the juice out of the crawfish heads at brunch (my cousin Liz, who was 9 at the time, thought this was perhaps the best thing she had ever done), and watching pralines being made on big marble slabs at Aunt Sally’s.
So when I saw a recipe for Pecan Pralines in Joy the Baker’s cookbook, I knew immediately that I wanted to make them and send them to my grandmother for Mother’s Day.
Now, I have only faint memories of how Aunt Sally’s pralines actually tasted, and this recipe tasted wonderful to me, but I knew my grandmother would be a much tougher critic, having grown up eating pralines.
Folks, they passed the Grandmommie test. In fact, she told me later that she simply could not stop eating them. I’d call that one a success.
One last note: You will need a candy thermometer for this recipe. Don’t be freaked out by all of the “soft ball”/”hard ball”/”hard crack” candy-making terminology. Just find yourself a well-marked candy thermometer, watch your temperature closely and you will be fine. This is an easy-peasy candy recipe, that I promise.
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 cups pecan halves
- Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Place a medium saucepan with a candy thermometer over medium heat. Make sure the thermometer is not touching the bottom of the pan. Add everything except the pecans. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. When the mixture reaches 238 to 240 degrees, or the “soft ball” stage, remove the pan from the heat.
- Add in the pecans, stirring for about a minute or until the mixture cools just enough to spoon onto the prepared pans. Working quickly, using a tablespoon to generously spoon pralines onto the prepared pans. Ideally, the pecans will be piled on top of one another and the sugar will spread slightly. (If you allow your mixture to cool too much before portioning out, your candies will not spread as much, if at all, though they will still taste the same – they just might not look as pretty.)
- Allow candies to cool and harden at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before removing from pan. Pralines will keep, in an airtight container, for up to a week.
I have always wanted to go to New Orleans. It is very high up there on my travel bucket list!
These pralines look delicious – somehow I failed to notice them in Joy’s cookbook, but now I think I have to make them!
You’ve got to! They’re so easy and good.
Without a doubt, that was my favorite vacation/trip ever. We had so much fun, and I’m glad you got to share Grandmommie’s love for New Orleans and the food. I’m also (sort of) glad you chose to send the pralines to her instead of me, because I wouldn’t have shared and I would have to lose even more weight than I do. Maybe we could make them for Christmas. :)
Yours look much better than mine–yours look appetizing! I think I need to try them again…and congrats on the pepperoni rolls making it into the top 9. :)
Wanna know a secret? This was the second batch I made. The first batch cooled a bit too much and didn’t spread out as much as I had wanted. I worked a lot faster on this batch and they turned out much prettier =) And thank you!
oh i love pecans.. and love pecan pralines too. love nuts in general. I wonder if I can substitute whole milk for the cream?
I’m honestly not sure. Every recipe I looked at used cream. You could possibly try it with half and half if you are really against using cream, but, again, I can’t guarantee any outcomes. Let me know if you try it!
Whole milk is what Stephie’s great-grandmother used to use–also known as “sweet milk”, so I *think* you would be fine.
Thanks for sharing this recipe! I actually never even tried pralines until about one year ago, when I visited Savannah (a beautiful city!) And I loved them so much! :)