Sweet treats for the holidays

[joiei]

In today's Times-Picayune eG member Marcel Bienvenu has an article about one of my favorite holiday treats from south Louisiana. Pralines, my preference is for the traditional creamy praline.

Culinary history tells us that pralines originated in France at the Chateau of Vaux-le-Vicomte, where the cook of 17th century sugar industrialist Marshal du Plessis-Praslin made the candies by coating whole almonds in caramelized sugar.

In the 19th century, French aristocrats in New Orleans gave the candies a new twist.

There was an abundance of sugar in Louisiana but no almonds. There were, however, lots of pecans. The confection was adapted by adding cream to the sugar mixture, and pecans were folded into the delectable combination.

it's during the Christmas season that many locals get out their pots to make a few batches of their own.

When I worked at the Windsor Court Hotel, we were making pralines for the housekeeping staff to use as turn down treats. We made several hundred a day. It reached a point I didn't need a candy thermometer, I could tell just by looking at the size of the bubbles when it was ready to scoop onto parchment.

Now, besides making gumbo this weekend, I will be making pralines.

[HungryC]

Please share your method: do you use heavy cream, evap milk, or just plain sugar? Brown sugar or white sugar? I know what you mean about cooking a dish frequently enough to know the exact moment when a sugar mixture has reached the appropriate temp based on appearance....I make toffee this way. The few times I've bothered with a thermometer, the results were inferior to my usual "eyeball" method.

[joiei]

Please share your method:  do you use heavy cream, evap milk, or just plain sugar?  Brown sugar or white sugar?  I know what you mean about cooking a dish frequently enough to know the exact moment when a sugar mixture has reached the appropriate temp based on appearance....I make toffee this way.  The few times I've bothered with a thermometer, the results were inferior to my usual "eyeball" method.

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I use white sugar and heavy cream and I like the chopped pecans lightly toasted. And the pot I use is an older restaurant style aluminum pot. I scoop with an ice cream scoop onto parchment, I don't have the marble slab Marcel talks about, would be nice though.

Edited December 17, 2008 by joiei (log)

[ruthcooks]

My recipe calls for buttermilk--and rum. Milk will caramelize much faster than cream, but I don't know why buttermilk in particular. The rum is added at the end, just about the time it gets away from you (too thick, too soon), and helps tame the beast.

Next time I'm going to chop the pecans because it should be easier to equalize the amount in each piece.