Pralines (Doris's)

Five cups of pecans in one batch. Doris wasn’t playing around. These are Louisiana pralines the way they’re supposed to be: more nut than candy, with a creamy, crumbly sugar coating that melts on your tongue.

The base is sugar, sweetened condensed milk, corn syrup, and water cooked together to the soft ball stage. That’s the point where a drop of the hot mixture forms a soft, pliable ball when dropped into cold water. If you have a candy thermometer, you’re looking for about 236°F (113°C). Undershoot and the pralines won’t set. Overshoot and they’ll be hard and grainy instead of creamy.

Once off the heat, butter and vanilla go in with all those pecans, and you beat until the mixture starts to lose its gloss and holds its shape when spooned. Work fast. The window between “ready to spoon” and “too hard to work with” is narrow.

Chef Tips

• Keep the heat low and steady. High heat causes crystallization along the sides of the pot, which makes grainy pralines
• If the candy hardens before you finish spooning, add a splash of water and warm it gently. It’ll loosen back up
• Lay newspaper under your wax paper to insulate and slow the cooling so the pralines set evenly
• Each praline should be about 2 to 3 inches across. Spoon quickly and don’t fuss with the shape

Variations

• Toast the pecans lightly before adding for a deeper, nuttier flavor
• Add a pinch of sea salt on top of each praline right after spooning for a salted praline
• Use brown sugar in place of half the white sugar for a darker, more caramel-forward praline