Pralines
3 cups light brown sugar
1 cup rich cream
1 tablespoon unflavored gelatin
2 cup pecans divided use
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
Mix sugar and gelatin in a pan. Pour
in cream. Cook on a med burner and stir constantly,
letting it cook until thick with big bubbles and forms a soft ball 234 degrees. This
takes about
25 minutes. Cool to 210 degrees, this takes about a minute. Add butter and
vanilla and beat hard.
Quickly add 1 cup pecans and beat some more. When strings form and glaze dulls, drop
by
spoonfuls on waxed paper. Quickly add the rest of the pecans to the tops. Wrap
individually in
foil when done.
Notes about making these pralines from women
who made them many times:
These notes are from Madeleine McAdow Rogers, my mother-in-law, referring to
her Mother Arline Burden McAdow:
Mother's pralines were outstanding.
Even though some of us have tried to duplicate them,
I don't believe we have truly succeeded. I've tried over and over with some success
and I've
jotted down these notes, which might be helpful. As I remember Mama, she had a good
many
failures too and was always putting them back in the pan to cook a little longer.
1. Use the exact proportions as
stated.
2. Soften the gelatin in about 1/4 cup of cream first.
3. Cook on #3 front burner on an electric stove and turn down to low
after candy cooks down.
4. Add butter and let set in cool water until it thickens only
(not until it is cool)
add vanilla, beat a while, then add nuts. Takes only a few minutes of beating by
hand.
These notes are from Ella Philips,
Madeleine's sister, in response to the above notes:
"However, Madeleine, I made it several
times and found it was better to cook it until just
before the strings start to form. If you wait for the full-fledged strings it
hardens too fast
and too much. Takes about 30 minutes. I found at this point I took it off,
added vanilla
and butter and beat close to the time it would hold shape and then put in the nuts and
beat
a little more. I use oiled paper and an electric mixer before I put in the nuts.
