Last night, I had a hankering for pralines. I don't know what triggered it, but I went online and tried to see if I can get some shipped to my house. Holy crap, were they expensive! Just a small tin from my favorite praline store, Savannah Sweets, ran about $30! Granted, I could just drive down to St. Augustine in Florida to go to onne of their stores, but I didn't really feel like driving an hour and some minutes just to get candy. And anyway, it was also the middle of the night.
My only other option? Well, I guess I can make them myself.
But I remember all too well what happened the last time I tried to make pralines . . . they were a disaster. Okay, well "disaster" might not be an accurate term. But I still messed them up, no matter how tasty they were anyway. So this time around, I opted to try a different recipe that I found before that had lots of good visuals in the tutorial. Boy, did they help! Not only was I able to see how to mix the ingredients, but the author also had video on the consistency of the candy! There was no way I would be able to mess this up!
And guess what? I made an almost perfect batch of pralines! Huzzah!
How could I have made this better? Surprisingly, just a couple of things. For one thing, I found them to be a tad sweet. The original recipe called for 1 cups each of white and brown sugar. I could tell already that that was going to be too sweet for me. So I reduced the amount to 3/4 cup each, but I still found them too sweet. Next time I make these, I'm going to further reduce the brown sugar to maybe 1/2 a cup and see where that is.
The other thing I was slightly unhappy about was with the fact that the pralines slightly bloomed. The trick for avoiding bloom (in other words, the sugar from crystallizing), is to make sure that all the sugar crystals melt in the cooking process. So, since I didn't really follow the directions and use a brush to get the crystals on the side, that affected my candy's appearance. Thankfully, they stayed creamy and didn't get crumbly and hard.
Other than that, I'm super happy with the way I made these. And a bonus? I used light butter and fat-free half and half and it still worked! Not only that, I used roasted and salted pecan pieces from Kahler Pecan House down the road. The pecans really made a difference! It was just enough salt to balance out all that sugar. The pralines themselves were melt-in-your-mouth and creamy despite the lighter butter and dairy used. As for me, all I can say is, yay, I found my prefect praline recipe! :D
Creamy Pecan Pralines
(adapted from Snapguide: Jada's DIY's & Recipes)
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
1/2 to 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup fat-free half and half or evaporated milk
4 tbsp light butter (cubed)
2 tsp pure vanilla paste or extract
1 1/2 cups roasted and salted pecan pieces*
(*or substitute with: 1 1/2 cups roasted pecan pieces and 1/4 tsp kosher salt)
Prepare a piece of non-stick parchment paper (about 12-15 in. long) and place on counter next to cooking station.
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, add both sugars and the milk into the pot and mix well with a wooden spoon until sugars dissolve. Dip a pastry or any kind of small cooking brush in cold icy water then brush the sides of the pot to melt away any sugar crystals that may have formed.
Put in your candy thermometer. Make sure the tip is not touching the bottom but is in the actual candy liquid. The mixture should begin to froth at this point. Cook the candy, stirring occasionally, until it reaches it's proper temperature of 240F degrees.
Turn the heat completely off and take it off the burner. Add in the butter, vanilla, and chopped pecans.
Stir mixture until it becomes thick and start to turn opaque. When the candy starts to hold together, quickly spoon it onto the parchment paper. Make sure to not over crowd and make them touch, otherwise the pralines will dry stuck together.
Let the pralines set at room temperature for 30 min. Afterwards, if not serving right away, store in a air-tight container for up to 2 to 3 days. Makes about 9 to 12 pralines.
No comments:
Post a Comment