Today is a great day!
I am cooking my all time favorite southern candy, Pecan Pralines.
The wonderful people at Schermer Pecans sent me a delicious box of pecans.
Pecans are my all time favorite nut!
When you have an abundance of pecans what better food to make then delicious sweet pralines?
Let me give you a little backstory on my Pecan Praline making days!
It all started when I was a very little girl visiting my grandma in Louisiana.
All I remember is my aunt stirring and stirring and stirring…she must of being stirring for hours.
Then I remember her dumping loads of pecans into the pan and stirring some more!
Lastly, I remember her dumping out the candy on a buttered cookie sheet quickly.
You have to dump quickly or you want have pretty pralines but instead you’ll have some space looking planet mars type rock looking candy.
It’ll still be edible but not pretty like you get in Louisiana.
From the moment my aunt made the candy I just remember her handing it to us to eat warm.
No one could wait for the candy to cool and when I bit into those warm pralines it was the best candy eating experience I’ve ever had!
Think buttery, sweet, nutty, and just darn delicious!
From that moment on I was hooked!
My California cousin Stephanie eventually learned how to master the art of Louisiana Praline candy making and she taught me.
We would be in my aunts kitchen trying to recreate our favorite Louisiana treat and we didn’t give up until we got it right!
As I got older I would often call back to Louisiana because I felt like I wasn’t being told all the family secrets to making this candy 100% perfect.
Delicious as it was I felt like we might have been given a California version instead of the Louisiana version my aunts used.
My aunt eventually told me the secrets and I am sharing it with y’all!
The secret is real butter, fresh pecans, and real vanilla!
You can’t skimp on the ingredients if you want a perfect outcome.
And I sent a bunch of batches of these pralines to my aunts in Louisiana and they said it’s perfect!
Yes, I received the Louisiana country women approval that my Pecan Pralines are just as good as my aunties!
My aunts are very honest, if they didn’t taste right they would’ve told me to fix it before I ruin the family name, lol!
Enjoy.
Pecan Pralines
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 20-30 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Servings: about 5 dozen
Ingredients:
8 cups pecans, chopped
7 cups white sugar
4 1/2 cups light brown sugar
2 sticks butter, unsalted
2 cans evaporated milk
1 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon cream of tartar
Prepared buttered cookie sheets about 6
Directions:
Add all ingredients to a large pot minus the pecans and vanilla.
Stir mixture over medium heat until the temperature reaches 230 degrees.
Fold in pecans and vanilla and stir until mixture reaches 245-250 degrees on a candy thermometer.
Immediately scoop mixture onto buttered cookies sheets quickly.
Allow candy to harden and cool before serving.
Make them as big or small as you like.
Two people doing this process would help.
If the candy begins to harden to quickly before removing from the pot I often found adding a little more cream and stirring bought me a little extra scooping time.
Mine didn’t form into clumps. When we got to the proper temperature we scooped them out and the sugary stuff just puddled! I think we can make a bark-like praline candy, but I wonder what could have caused it.
Hello Laurel, you can try whipping them with a wooden spoon prior to scooping them out. My mother said it’s like fluffing them up first, then scoop to prevent them from “dropping.”
garlic clovers lol
Wow this is superb!Looks yum.
Thank you Ruxana
Why Cream of Tartar? I’m from Louisiana and we have never used this.
Jamie my aunts taught me how to make this different ways when I was a kid. Some use tartar to help harden the candy and some don’t. I’ve made it numerous times without tartar and it came out perfect to me.
Go for it Averie, you could do 7 eggs, LOL.