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PECAN-PRALINES - Texas-style creamy pecan cookies
My family is from Texas, and we dearly love ``authentic''
Mexican food. Authentic as defined by my father: home-style
Tex-Mex. (On a trip to Acapulco, he complained that he
couldn't find any real Mexican food in the whole damn town.)
We feel that the perfect ending to an orgy of tacos, enchi-
ladas, tamales, beans, rice and Dos Equis beer is pralines.
However, we have been consistently disappointed by the pra-
lines served at restaurants. They are always either crys-
talline and crunchy, or sticky like undercooked taffy. Both
are equally unacceptable.
At the age of 10, I decided to try my hand at making pra-
lines, and happened on a recipe in a current (1958) issue of
The Ladies Home Journal, which I accidently adapted to make
the perfect praline-not gooey, not crunchy, but of a solid
consistency that becomes creamy in texture as it is eaten.
The secret is to first screw up the recipe (at this point
you are tempted to throw the whole thing out, including the
pot) and then rectify the mistake into a wonderfully sinful
sugary concoction. Now, no Mexican dinner or Christmas
candy plate at our house is complete without them.
240 ml milk
190 g white granulated sugar
200 g dark brown sugar, firmly packed.
5 ml vanilla extract
45 ml dark corn syrup
225 g pecan halves
180 ml boiling hot water
24 cupcake papers
(1) Place the white sugar, brown sugar, milk and corn
syrup in a heavy 3-liter saucepan over medium-high
heat. Stir to thoroughly dissolve.
(2) Measuring the temperature with a candy thermome-
ter, stir constantly with a long-handled wooden
spoon. When the mixture reaches ``jelly'' tem-
perature on the thermometer (104 deg. C) it will
bubble furiously. Splattering is a danger (this is
why you want a spoon with a long handle). You may
wish to wear heavy rubber gloves for further pro-
tection. Continue stirring until mixture reaches
124 deg. C (``medium ball'' stage).
(3) Remove from heat, add vanilla and let it sit for
10 minutes. During this time, set out the cupcake
papers on the countertop and place 3 - 4 pecan
halves in each paper.
(4) Beat the mixture by hand with the wooden spoon,
while it is still in the pan, until it loses its
glossy sheen. This can take up to 10 minutes or
more, and calls for a strong arm.
(5) At this point, the mixture will very quickly begin
to form lumps and harden in the pan. As this
begins to happen, return the pan to low heat; add
boiling hot water a tablespoon at a time, and beat
out the lumps until nearly all are gone. Add just
enough water so that the mixture is somewhat runny
and has lost much of its previous lumpy con-
sistency (no more than 180 ml of water, and often
much less.) Leaving a few lumps is permissible
and often unavoidable.
(6) Remove from heat and spoon it into the cupcake
papers. Let it harden for 20-30 minutes, then
remove papers. Be sure not to let the papers
remain on after the candy has hardened somewhat or
they will be difficult to remove later.
I prefer Karo brand corn syrup.
Store the pralines in an airtight container.
Difficulty: moderate to hard. Time: 30 minutes cooking, 30
minutes cooling. Precision: Measure the ingredients and the
temperatures.
Pamela McGarvey
UCLA Comprehensive Epilepsy Program
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| Last modified: 9 May 2006 | 22 hits in May 2012 |
