You'd think it would be easy to find great pralines at every turn when you live in New Orleans, but my own pickyness has hindered this ability time and again. I just hate pralines made with evaporated milk!

I originally got this recipe from The New Orleans School of Cooking, but I've seen it plenty other places too. It's a classic New Orleans style recipe and by far my favorite--I love the texture. Texas style recipes are of the chewier variety and to me they just seem like they should accompany something else, like a topping on a cheesecake or ice cream, rather than standing alone.

Also, if you've never made pralines before, don't get discouraged if they aren't picture perfect the first time around. Even a great praline recipe can yield less than ideal results; it takes practice to perfect your timing and technique. As many times as I've made them, every once in a while I still make a batch that has to be thrown out.

New Orleans Pralines from Class Act
Makes 1-50
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar
6 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cups pecans
1/2 cup whole milk or half and half
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Prepare a buttered piece of parchment or wax paper on a clean, flat work surface.
2. Mix together all ingredients in a heavy saucepan. Cook over high heat, stirring to keep bottom from scorching, until it registers as softball on a candy thermometer (238-240F). 
3. Remove from heat and continue stirring until thick and cloudy and pecans remain suspended in the mixture. 
4. Quickly spoon mixture onto parchment paper and let cool. 

Crumby Notes:

• Stir, stir, stir. Seriously, don't stop stirring. I even prep my workspace with a trivet and spoon rest ahead of time so I'm not frantically looking for one when I should be stirring. 
• Step #3 is crucial. If you just start spooning them out as soon as you take them from the stove, they'll just be a hot sticky mess and they won't set properly. As you are stirring, you should feel the mixture getting thicker and somewhat cloudy.
• Under no circumstances should you attempt to double this recipe. If you don't spoon the pralines out quickly, you'll end up with big hardened mess in your pan. There isn't enough time to double up the ingredients and still spoon them out quickly enough.
• I like using pecan halves and smashing a handful of them into smaller pieces. 
• The recipe says "makes 1-50" but I usually get somewhere between 20-25. It all depends on how big or small you want them to be.

Locavore Update:
-For a strictly locavore praline, use local sugar, pecans and milk.
-You can make butter from heavy whipping cream if unsalted local butter is not available. (check out this post on Hungry Mouse for deets.) I also tested them with salted Kleinpeter butter and although I wasn't a big fan of the taste, everyone at the Locavore Swap was overwhelmingly a fan of the salted variety.
-Omit vanilla and use either milk or Old New Orleans Rum in its place.

~Enjoy!~