Delicious candy popular in New Orleans. Pronounced 'PRAH-leens' or 'PRAW-leens', not 'PRAY-leens'. The recipe below is from my Great Grandmother, but has been modified to include accurate measurements beyond "about this much of.." and temperatures for candy themometers.

Ingredients

3/4 cup of dark brown sugar
3/4 cup of white sugar
1/2 cup of evaporated milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons butter (margarine is *not* an appropriate subsistute)
1 cup pecans (I prefer halves, but chopped also works)

Instructions

Combine the sugar and milk and cook slowly in a heavy pot over a low flame until it reaches the soft ball stage (this occurs at around 238 degrees Fahrenheit on a candy thermometer). Remove from heat and add butter, vanilla and pecans. Beat mixture with a wooden spoon until it is smooth and creamy. Drop by spoonful onto waxed paper. If the candy does not harden in ten minutes, you may cook it some more

It makes approximately one dozen.

It shames me to say I had never made pralines. Much as I like to cook, and as Southern as I am. It's not like they're hard; there's other confections far more difficult to make. Divinity. Fudge. I sail through those. I've yet to have a batch of either one fail.

So shame on me for not trying pralines, and shame on me twice for the hours I've wasted scrolling through recipe boards on Pinterest. But there's so many there and it's all pics, you see; it's the pictures that do it. They lure you in, like a guy on the street in a coat with big pockets.

That's more or less how I found this recipe. I was scrolling along, clicking away, and a Pinterest pin for pecan pralines said, psst. Hey. C'mere little girl.

Crunchy outside, creamy inside, pralines have a wonderful toffee-like flavor. The recipe dates back to 17th century France, and pralines, originally, were made with almonds. Here in the South, we make them with pecans because pecans are more plentiful. It ain't like we're choosy. We deep fry butter down here, for gosh sakes.

Got a candy thermometer? Got a pot? And a stove? You do? Great, then let's go.

Take:

1 1/2 cups of white sugar

1 1/2 cups of dark brown sugar

1 cup of cream

4 tbsp butter

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 cups pecans (I prefer mine chopped, leave 'em whole if you like)

Line two sheet pans with wax paper. Spray the wax paper with cooking spray or cover it lightly with butter.

To the pot, add the white sugar, dark brown sugar and cream. I suggest a large pot, this bubbles up quite a bit. Boil, stirring often, until the candy thermometer reads 235 degrees, the soft ball stage.

Remove from heat, add the butter and vanilla and stir, stir, stir, 'til you see that it's thickening. Drop by tablespoonfuls on your wax paper lined pans.

Tap your foot, lick the spoon. Wait, if you can. I did. Ten minutes. Good enough, I said. I had so many more recipes to scroll through on Pinterest.

Until today, I'd never made pralines before in my life. Pecan or otherwise. It's those pictures, I'm tellin' ya. They lured me in. I whipped up one batch. Then made another.

Pecan pralines are a mind-bending thing. I might make more. Or I might not; I don't have to, you know. I can stop any time. It's not like the hard stuff. Divinity. Fudge. Pralines are easy.

Alas, so am I.

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