Pecan Pralines Recipe | Homemade Pralines | What's Cooking America (2024)

FAQs

Why won't my pralines get hard? ›

If you beat too long, the candy will seize and start to crumble. If you don't beat it long enough, then pralines won't set properly and will stay soft and sticky.

Aunt Sally's Original Creole Pralines | World's Best Praline.

Pralines should be cooked to 236°F (soft ball stage) so that it is still pliable when it cools and so it maintains the smooth sandy texture typical of pralines. This is impossible to determine without a thermometer, and if you overheat the sugar, you are guaranteed to make pralines that are too firm and grainy.

Pralines will keep well for 1 or 2 weeks at room temperature. After that, the sugar will begin to crystallize and the candy will get harder and gritty. To ensure they stay fresh, proper storage is key. Pack them in an airtight container as soon as the candy hardens and use parchment or wax paper to separate layers.

sometimes I have no idea why they won't harden. But if your pralines are still gooey after 30-40 minutes, you may have to scrape them back into the pan and heat them again. Add a tablespoon of milk, melt the sugar, and as before, stir constantly while you bring them to a boil.

Since the problem is mostly that the sugar in the pralines gets hard and crystallized, you might try softening them the way you'd soften hard brown sugar. Place a terracotta sugar saver in the container or something else that's slightly damp, like a few slices of apple or a slice of fresh bread.

Pralines are a major part of culinary New Orleans. Where they came from, and how they got here is another fascinating tale of the city. Let's begin with the no doubt apocryphal tale of the origin of the candy that became synonymous with the Crescent City.

A praliné is a paste that is a mixture of nuts, chocolate and sugar. While in Belgium, a 'praline' is defined as a filled chocolate candy. Note that the term 'praline' is of Belgian origin.

But they get it done, somehow. Plan to make your pralines on a cool, dry day. If it's humid or rainy, as it was the first time I made pralines, the candy might end up with a more sugary, grainy texture. While delicious, my first batch never did fully harden.

Don't Stop Stirring Until the Pot Talks – Here, she's referring to the step of cooling the syrup before dropping the candies to harden. It starts off very loose and liquidy. As you stir, sugar crystals start to form and the syrup will start to feel thick and grainy against your spoon.

Why is my praline bitter? ›

Just make sure you buy your nuts raw and not already roasted. The main reason for that is that we will cook the nuts in a pan for 10-15 min. If you do this with roasted nuts, they will end up being over-roasted and your praline will taste very bitter.

Pralines are a much-appreciated festive treat, but come to think of it, they're simply delicious at any time of the year. When your pralines turn white, you are seeing the recrystallization of sugar. And you are right that honey does technically slow down the rate at which crystals form in candy.

Adding a pecan praline treat to your mid-morning brunch will do wonders for your taste buds and your mood. After all, pecan pralines are considered one of the healthier options to indulge in. Pecans are considered a superfood, packed full of vitamins and minerals most people aren't even aware of.

They never go “bad,” but after a week or so the sugar starts to crystalize and they lose the characteristic snap that you enjoy when biting them.

To freeze pralines, wrap them in aluminum foil and place them in a zipper top bag or freezer container. The pralines are still a bit delicate when frozen, so don't stack other things on top of them and make sure they're in a part of the freezer where they won't get smashed.

In hard candy making, it is important to cook all the water out of the sugar/corn syrup/water mixture. If the sugar mixture is not cooked to the proper temperature (the hard-crack stage 300-310° F {149-154° C.} or if you are working in a kitchen with high humidity, chances are your candy is retaining too much moisture.

It's all about moisture. Soft food gets hard because the water in it evaporates. Hard or crisp food gets soft(er) because it absorbs water from the atmosphere.

A little crystallization in pralines is inevitable but adding a bit of corn syrup can help keep crystals from forming. In this recipe I also butter the sides of the pot and only stir before the sugar comes to a boil. After the candy reaches soft-ball stage, it is left to cool for 10 minutes without agitation.

235° F–240° F

At this temperature, sugar syrup dropped into cold water will form a soft, flexible ball. If you remove the ball from water, it will flatten like a pancake after a few moments in your hand. Fudge , pralines, and fondant are made by cooking ingredients to the soft-ball stage.