Pralines for the Holidays

Decorate all the sugar cookies you wish this holiday season. For me, nothing says "Christmas treat" like the old-fashioned praline.

My Grandmother Mimi had an incredible affinity for chemistry (and taught it). Her method of praline-making is unlike most you'll find today. As kids, we eagerly awaited the arrival of her pralines. She made them in Texas and would drive across the country to our snowy doorstep in Connecticut, box in hand.

When Mimi made pralines, she always melted some of the sugar separately until carmelized, then mixed it into the milk and sugar combination already on the stove. Why this step is important I don't know, but her pralines were always perfectly turned out and the first to disappear if we also had spritz cookies, divinity and those fried dough confections known as "rosettes."

There is a temperamental chemistry to pralines. For instance, a lesser grade sugar can ruin a batch. If you don't cook your mixture all the way to soft-ball stage, it can turn into syrup. Wait too long to spoon it out of the pan, and you can be stuck holding a fine batch of crystallized sugar. It's chemistry, it's timing, it's patience you need to get the feel for it.

My sister Mary believes she did not inherit the "feel," but she always gives me a big bag of shelled pecans every Christmas. My sister Charlotte did inherit the knack, and she's quite the family expert now. Here is her recipe, which doesn't require the separate carmelization step.

Charlotte's Pralines

2 cups of sugar (we recommend Imperial)
3/4 cup milk (Charlotte uses 5/8 cup Half and Half and 1/8 cup skim milk; Mama Mia has tried 2/4 cup of whole milk and 1/4 cup whipping cream, why not?)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 and 1/2 cups pecan halves or pieces
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon of butter

1. Combine sugar, milk and baking soda in a 2- or 3-quart saucepan.
2. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Keep your eye on it as mixture will rise to top of pan.
3. Continue cooking to soft-ball stage (about 238 degrees on candy thermometer).
4. When a little mixture forms a soft ball when dropped in cold water, remove from heat.
5. Add pecans, vanilla and butter. Beat until candy starts to take shape and lose its gloss.
6. Drop quickly by tablespoons on wax paper.
7. Allow to cool. Store in airtight container. Makes 18-30

Here's another version, pralines from Paula Deen, using more ingredients like brown sugar and dark corn syrup, which to me could get exceedingly sweet when sugar is already the largest ingredient in the pot. I think I will try it, though, since I've never heard of allowing the cooked mixture to cool 10 minutes before adding the nuts, butter and vanilla. Again this is a chemistry thing - vanilla can evaporate if you add it into hot liquid, but letting it cool? My concern is getting the mixture out of the pan before it can harden like a rock.

Today I didn't have pecans on hand, but almonds I've got, and they do well. In fact, if you read this history of the praline, you'll see that "sugar almonds" were an ancient, early form of the praline.

Be sweet now.

(Photo of almond pralines with vintage Santa Claus mug made by the Holt Howard company, getting along nicely together atop Mimi's marble turtle table.)