Back on Wednesday an email from Marla popped up, the delightful semi-retired executive chef (Savannah mostly) I had the pleasure of meeting (and jousting a bit with) over Southern Skillet Cornbread a few weeks ago.
She had misplaced the recipe I gave her for our damned good great southwestern corn muffins and asked if I’d consider trading it for a few of hers. She was scheduled to cater a lunch fairly close by and I met her at an old plantation mansion (yep, it was, or at least was built to look like one) about 15 minutes from home.
She was busy, commanding a small army of staff, though welcomed me in and chatted over the shrimp salad appetizer course she was plating up.
Marla had a catering box with my name on it sitting on the counter – it was stuffed to the brim with creamy, freshly made, toasted pecan pralines with four hand written recipes tucked in a corner. And I thought the pralines Jake and I scored in Savannah a few years back were good…Marla’s were smooth as silk, not cloyingly sweet and filled with crunchy pecans.
She had made 40 dozen for a Halloween event (damn!) and said we needed to have a genuine Southern treat for our first Deep South Halloween.
Her parting tips were don’t make on a very humid day (they don’t set up as well) and toast the pecans for 7-8 minutes in a 350 degree oven. And she thinks they’re better with Bourbon.
1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup whipping cream
2 tbsp. light corn syrup
1/4 tsp. salt
4 tbsp. butter
1 tbsp. Bulleit bourbon or dark rum
2 cups chopped pecans, toasted
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Melt things down. Combine the two sugars, the cream and corn syrup in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring all the while. Cook for another 6-8 minutes (stir intermittently) to 236 or soft ball stage on your handy candy thermometer.
Butter makes it better. Remove from heat, add the butter but don’t stir it in. Cool to 160 before you touch it again.
Get ready. Set out some wax paper to drop the molten candy on.
Stir the rest in. Stir in the toasted pecans, bourbon or rum if using and the vanilla. Stir constantly until the mixture beings to thicken then drop (heaping tsp. vs. tbsp.) onto the wax paper. Don’t dally – as the mixture cools it begins to set up, faster in lower humidity too.
Don’t touch for a while. Let the pralines set up well before moving.
Enjoy.
