Pralines

Today was my roommate's birthday, so I told her I would make her a treat. Being from South Carolina, she requested pralines. Not only had I never made these, but I'd also never tried one, seen one, nor even knew what they were. Needless to say it was an adventure. Good ol' Paula Deen helped me out though. Everything actually went pretty smoothly until it got to the end when you transfer the mixture from the pan to the wax paper. The stuff hardened much quicker than expected. Then it got interesting. I added some water to soften if like the recipe suggested, but that didn't really work as well as you might expect (sure didn't help like I expected). Somehow though, I got most of the stuff out of the pan onto the wax paper to make the pralines. I still don't know exactly what they're supposed to look like, but I'm sure they're not supposed to look like mine. I also don't know what they're supposed to taste like, but mine tasted fine. They're a lot too sugary for my taste, but not bad if you're into that sort of thing. One thing I will say about the whole process is that if you don't have a candy thermometer you're going to have a tough time making pralines. The recipe said to heat the mixture while stirring until at the soft ball stage (a candy-making term), and then gave an approximate temperature, but never suggested the idea that a candy thermometer would be an essential piece of equipment. But let me tell you, it is. Luckily I bought a candy thermometer along with the rest of the ingredients because I thought it may be nice to add to my kitchen collection. There is no way this would have gone well without that! The stuff didn't look any different from the time it started boiling until about 10 minutes later when it was at the correct temperature. Anyway, enough of my rambling. Below is the recipe if you're daring enough to try it yourself. Have fun!!

Ingredients:
1 ½ cup pecan halves
2 tbsp butter + a little more
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup evaporated milk
3 tbsp dark corn syrup
1/8 tsp salt
1 ½ cup packed light brown sugar
1 ½ cup granulated sugar

Directions:
Butter the sides of a heavy 2-quart saucepan. Place the sugar, salt, dark corm syrup, milk, and butter in a saucepan. Over medium heat, stir mixture constantly with a wooden spoon until sugars have dissolved and mixture comes to a boil. Continue to cook to a soft ball stage, approximately 236 degrees on a candy thermometer. If you do a cold water test, the ball of candy will flatten when you take it out of the water (I ignored this sentence and just measured the temperature of the mixture). Remove from heat and allow to cool for 10 minutes.

Add the vanilla and nuts, and beat with a spoon by hand for approximately 2 minutes or until candy is slightly thick and begins to lose its gloss (I recommend no longer than a minute). Quickly (very quickly) drop heaping tablespoons onto waxed paper. If the candy becomes stiff, add a few drops of hot water.

(Recipe courtesy Paula Deen)
8-10 servings
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 25 min

Suggested special equipment: a candy thermometer.