Authentic Southern-Style New Orleans Pralines Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is a Louisiana praline? ›

In Louisiana, especially New Orleans, the name praline applies to candies made with pecans in a coating of brown sugar sold by Creole women known as pralinières.

Pralines have a lot in common with nut brittle, with the difference being mostly in the addition of cream and the cooking temperature––the sugary syrup used to coat pralines is heated to a soft-ball consistency, a lower temperature than the hard-crack stage of peanut brittle.

You are not cooking to the correct temp. Get a candy thermometer.

After three weeks, the pralines will not go bad but the sugar will begin to re-crystallize and so they will lose their delicious creaminess and will get a little harder to chew. Are pecan pralines gluten free?

A praliné is a paste that is a mixture of nuts, chocolate and sugar. While in Belgium, a 'praline' is defined as a filled chocolate candy. Note that the term 'praline' is of Belgian origin.

Keep an eye on the batch, the caramel must not become too dark, otherwise it will be bitter. (The ideal is to have a pan large enough so that the sugar is distributed in a thin layer.) Pour the hot caramel over the hazelnuts and almonds and coat them. Then let cool completely.

Letting the sugar dissolve before boiling, allowing the candy to reach 235°F, letting it cool and beating it long enough will all ensure you get a perfect praline that isn't crystalized. Don't skip the 10 minute cooling. This cooling step allows the candy temperature to lower without agitating the sugar molecules.

In the 18th century, a Lyonnais pastry chef was apparently inspired by the rose gardens in the Rhône region and tinted his pralines in a similar pink in his copper-mixing machine. This proved to be a hit with customers and the rose-coloured praline tart was born.

Pralines should be cooked to 236°F (soft ball stage) so that it is still pliable when it cools and so it maintains the smooth sandy texture typical of pralines. This is impossible to determine without a thermometer, and if you overheat the sugar, you are guaranteed to make pralines that are too firm and grainy.

The white spots are a natural process called crystallization. Because our pralines are made with NO preservatives, the white spots occur over time as the cooked sugar returns to its original crystal form. The process begins as soon as the candy leaves the pot, and does not affect flavor.

What is the soft ball stage for pralines? ›

235° F–240° F

At this temperature, sugar syrup dropped into cold water will form a soft, flexible ball. If you remove the ball from water, it will flatten like a pancake after a few moments in your hand. Fudge , pralines, and fondant are made by cooking ingredients to the soft-ball stage.

Legend has it that the praline was introduced to the south by French settlers in the seventeenth century. Back then, the original treat featured almonds coated in sugar, however, pecans quickly replaced almonds due to their abundant availability in the south.

Plan to make your pralines on a cool, dry day. If it's humid or rainy, as it was the first time I made pralines, the candy might end up with a more sugary, grainy texture.

How should you store pralines? They need to be kept around 60°F, at a relative humidity no more than 65% (Lesly Berger recommends 50%).

Pralines (US: /ˈpreɪliːn/; New Orleans, Cajun, and UK: /ˈprɑːliːn/) are confections containing nuts – usually almonds, pecans and hazelnuts – and sugar. Cream is a common third ingredient. American pralines cooling on a marble slab. Unlike European pralines, American pralines are made with cream.

A pecan is a type of nut while a praline is a type of candy that is made with sugar and nuts. While pecans are the most common type of nut used in pralines, almonds or hazelnuts will work too.

What Is the Taste of Praline? Pralines are a sweet, creamy and nutty confection that tastes like caramelized nuts with a soft, fudgy texture.

It is believed that pralines were brought over from France by the Ursuline nuns, who came to New Orleans in 1727. They were in charge of the casket girls¹, young women sent over from France at the request of Bienville to marry New Orleans' colonists.