I adapted this recipe from Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home. I found her recipe resulted in pralines that were more like candy with nuts than candied nuts, so I increased the quantity of chopped nuts to 1-1/2 cup (from 1 cup). If you'd like more candy than nuts, then just reduce the nuts to 1 cup.
Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C) and set a rack in the middle position.The ingredients you'll need are 2 tablespoons (42 g) honey, 2 tablespoons (28 g) light brown sugar, 1-1/2 cups (170 g) chopped pecans, 1 tablespoon (14 g) melted butter, and 1/4 teaspoon (1.5 g) table salt (not shown in photograph).
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl. When I make this at home, I don't bother measuring all the ingredients into separate bowls (as I've done here for the step-by-step photographs). It's faster to just weigh all the ingredients than to attempt to measure with dry and fluid measuring cups. I just put a bowl on a scale and measure out pecans and butter directly into it. If the butter needs to be melted, I microwave the pecans with butter for a few seconds until the pecans warm up and melt the butter after stirring. Then I put the bowl back on the scale and add the sugar, honey, and salt according to the reading on the scale. (I actually measure the salt separately since my main kitchen scale only has 1 g precision. Using a 1/4 teaspoon is faster than pulling out the precision scale.)
Stir the ingredients until well coated.
Place a sheet of parchment paper on a half sheet pan. (Aluminum foil also works, but don't use wax paper - the wax will melt and become part of the pralines. The result will still be edible, but not desirable.) Scoop the sugar, honey, and nuts mixture onto the parchment paper and spread out into a single layer. Place the sheet pan into the preheated oven and let it bake for 8 minutes.
After the eight minutes have elapsed, remove the sheet pan. The sugar and honey mixture should be melted and bubbling forming a giant puddle of hot, sticky pecan and caramel.
Using a heat resistant spatula, stir the candied nuts to evenly coat the nuts in the hot sugar syrup and spread it out again. Put the pan back in the oven for three more minutes, then stir it again. Place the pan back in the oven.
After another three minutes, remove the pan. The pralines will have taken on a darker, richer color and will smell of candy and toasted nuts.
Using your heat resistant spatula, spread the nuts out as much as possible and allow it to cool completely.
Once the pralines are cooled, pull the parchment paper together to form the pralines into a mound and to break up the larger chunks. Then break the individual pieces of pralines into smaller pieces. You can use a tool for this like a spoon or knife, but I find it easiest (and cleanest) to just use my hands. |
| Honey Pecan Pralines |
Pralines are best eaten immediately or blended into just made ice cream, but can be kept without much deterioration by freezing them in an airtight container. Leaving them out will allow the sugar mixture to absorb water and become soft and sticky again.
Honey Pecan Pralines (makes about 1-1/2 cups)
| Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C) | |||||||||||
| 1-1/2 cups or 6 oz (170 g) chopped pecans | mix until well coated | spread on parchment paper lined sheet pan | bake 350°F (175°C) 8 min | stir and spread | bake 350°F (175°C) 3 min | stir and spread | bake 350°F (175°C) 3 min | spread out | cool fully | break into small pieces | |
| 2 Tbs. (28 g) light brown sugar | |||||||||||
| 2 Tbs. (42 g) honey | |||||||||||
| 1 Tbs. (14 g) butter | melt | ||||||||||
| 1/4 tsp. (1.5 g) table salt | |||||||||||