A Pecan Candy Story

I dare you to try this at home...

I'm talking about making Pecan Candy or Pralines, depending on where you are from.

My husband is from Louisiana and his people call it Pecan (Pah-Khan) Candy.

I'm from South Carolina, and only knew of Peanut Brittle. I had never heard of Pecan (PEE-Can) Candy.  

I can't remember my first taste of Pecan Candy. I am sure my husband was showing off when he made it. That's how he does. He makes something so delicious ONE time and then I have to beg for it. That'll teach you how to make it yourself.

I think I asked him one too many times to make it and then there was that one Christmas season.....

One day close to Christmas, it was my bright idea that we should make it for all of our neighbor friends. We were living on base at the time, and he probably made 4 double recipe batches. That's four successful batches. Some in between came out too hard, too soft or scorched.

There are 5 essential rules to making Pecan Candy successfully:

1. You have to be in the mood
2. Don't double the recipe
3. You have to be in the mood
4. Don't double the recipe
5. Don't stop stirring (even if you catch a cramp) which only happens if you double the recipe.

So anyway, that one Christmas season, and a few batches later, my husband was not in the mood. An unsuccessful batch after stirring forever 45 minutes will do that to you. He passed over the spoon, I caught a cramp (we catch cramps in the South), I gave him the spoon back, he told me to switch hands and I learned how to make PEECAN Candy.

Recipe: 3 Cups of white sugar, 1 Tbsp of brown sugar, an Emeril amount of Vanilla - BAM, 1 can of Evaporated Milk, 1 cup and a few PEECANS and a half stick of butter.

You'll  need a large pot so that it can boil up, not over. Stir on high, when it boils up high, turn it down and keep stirring. This is what it looks like in the various stages. When the consistency is thicker, add the pecans.

Keep stirring and stirring and stirring. When the consistency is even thicker, put in the butter. This is where it starts getting sensitive, butter makes it scorch, so turn the heat down, and keep stirring. When it starts sticking to the side of the pot, (35 minutes or so) it is ready. You need to scoop it out fairly fast on to parchment paper. I use an ice cream scoop. The longer you leave it in the heat of the pot, the harder the candy will be. It will still taste good but it won't be pretty.

Just a Mother's General Warning: Eat little pieces at a time. This will give you a sugar rush to the 10th power. Espresso, Skittles and M&M's are not needed in the same 24-hour period.

Here's the thing...If you think making this candy is going to be hard, wait until you have to clean the pan.