The Oregon Louisiana Chef

Last night I attempted a New Orleans tradition, the great and mighty pecan praline.  Pralines, essentially, are a semi-hard little brown candy made with everything good on this earth that will kill you (butter, sugar, cream) and studded with pecans.  As a coworker called them today, they are “crystalized deliciousness”.  They are creamy and should just melt in your mouth upon impact.

I haven’t tried to make pralines for the last 6 years for two reasons:  one, I am HORRIBLE at making candy, absolutely horrible.  I don’t know what it is, because I am pretty spot on when I bake, but I cannot get the candy thing down.  I usually end up with sugar soup, no matter what I attempt, and then it has to go in the garbage while I go sit and sulk.

Two, my mother makes to die for pralines without looking at a single recipe or sweating anything, so I typically just wait until I go home so that I can eat hers.  Why get angry and end up with a mess when you can just eat mom’s right?

Well, I was prompted to make these because I have really been hankering for recipes from home, AND because I overheard a co-worker claim to be an expert at pralines (which she didn’t even pronounce correctly…for the record it’s pronounced PRAW-lean or PRAH-lean, NOT PRAY-lean).  This just really made me mad, so as a real Southern girl, I had to claim back the title.

The first batch I turned out, inevitably, I had to throw in the garbage with much ugly language and fanfare.  I waited a few hours and attempted a second batch that turned out much better and at least became hard when I dropped it on the wax paper.  They were not creamy like my mom’s, but they were still pretty darn good.

The best part is, I took them into work today, and they were a total hit.  Two co-workers (also Louisiana people) were super excited by them, which made me happy.  And the extra best part?  The “praline expert” co-worker walked in and didn’t even know what they were.  It had to be explained to her.  It was quite beautiful, and I haven’t been able to stop grinning all day.

(Innocent) Revenge truly is sweet!

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