Pralines from a New Orleans Cookbook

  Hubby and I recently enjoyed a long-awaited trip to New Orleans.  We went with a group of friends and had a wonderful time!  It wasn't a long trip, but we fit a lot of sightseeing and eating into our limited stay in,"The Big Easy"!

  We sampled a couple of their best restaurants and brought home pralines from Aunt Sally's.

  While we were out shopping, the husbands spent the afternoon at the WWII Museum.  We followed our shopping with lunch at Red Fish Grill;  I recommend their BBQ Shrimp Po Boy!

  When I got home from the trip, I passed out the pralines that I bought (for gifts) at Aunt Sally's.  (They are very delicate and only last for about 2 weeks before they turn to sugar.) I think our sons ate them quickly and so they were still fresh!  But, after the pralines were gone...I really missed New Orleans.  I got out the cookbook that I brought home and decided to give praline-making a try.

  My pralines weren't as pretty as Aunt Sally's, but they had that wonderful taste of butter, brown sugar, vanilla and pecans, so we were very happy.  Not bad for a first try.  

Here's the recipe I used for Pralines.  I made part of the batch without pecans...just for hubby.

Here are some photos of the process, in case you've never made pralines before. Good luck!

You need a heavy pan that's deep.

Dissolve that sugar and have your candy thermometer close by.

Have your butter, measured pecans and vanilla ready and set aside.

Butter a surface or spread out waxed paper.

It's important to keep scraping any crystals from the sides of the pan and keep an eye on your temperature.

Here's the part with pecans.  Stir it until creamy.

And, here's the separate non-pecan part

Drop them off the end of a large spoon.

So good!