My husband loves pecan pralines. His mother made this Louisiana treat for him in his younger days. Now that we live in the DC metro area, pralines are a rare sighting. When I was developing my salted pecan praline milkshake, I knew I wanted to make pralines from scratch. Except, both my mother’s version and my mother-in-law’s recipe requires quite a bit of stirring.

Right now it’s too hot to stand over the stove stirring until the pralines cook to the right temperature and consistency before spooning them out in little circles. Instead, I created a easy pecan praline recipe that takes minimal stove top time. They’re finished in the oven, but still taste just as good. They just won’t look like traditional pralines. They’re perfect to add on top of cheesecake, a bowl of ice cream, or blend into a milkshake.

It took me 4 batches to create a recipe I’m happy with. Here’s some tips I learned along the way:

• Prep your ingredients before you turn on the stove. Put them all in bowls, just like those tv chefs do. You’ll need to move fast for the stove top part of this recipe!
• Do not leave the kitchen once the pralines go into the oven. Not even to use the bathroom. Seriously.
• Let them cool completely. They need to finish cooking and cooling to get the right texture.
• As long as you don’t burn the sugar, it still tastes good! You can’t go wrong with butter, sugar, vanilla and pecans.

Your patience will be rewarded. Once they’re cool, you can store them in an airtight container for 2-3 days. Not that they’ll last that long.

Easy Pecan Pralines Recipe

Easy Pecan Pralines

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Spend less time stirring by finishing these in the oven.

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Ingredients

• 1/4 cup butter, cut into tablespoons or chunks
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup pecan halves
• 2 tsp heavy whipping cream
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• 1 tsp sea salt

Instructions

Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone mat. Preheat oven to 350F

In a medium pot, melt butter over medium heat. Once the butter is completely melted, add brown sugar.

Stir until brown sugar absorbs all the butter. Continuing stirring over medium heat until the mixture forms small bubbles, about 2-3 minutes.

Stir in pecans. While stirring, let mixture cook until bubbles form on the sides of the pot.

Add cream and vanilla extract. Stir vigorously until the cream is incorporated into the mixture, about 2 minutes.

Dump mixture onto parchment. Spread so pecans are in a single layer on the baking sheet.

Bake in the oven for 5 minutes. Without removing from the oven, check edges of bubbling mixture. If edges are cooking too quickly, fold them back into the mixture. Bake for another 5 minutes.

Remove from oven and immediately sprinkle sea salt over bubbling candy. Allow to cool completely before serving, about 30 minutes.