This Easy Microwave Pralines Recipe takes only minutes to make and creates a delicious candy treat for anytime snacking or gift-giving.
Do you have a favorite nut? Pecans are definitely one of my favorites. I lovedit when my sister lived in Texas and she had a big ‘ol pecan tree in her front yard.
She would get SO MANY pecans from that one tree that she would have plenty to send to me. I had them stocked in the freezer!
While I now have to buy my pecans from the store I still love them and love pecan recipes like my butter pecan cake, pumpkin pecan crisp and, of course, these pralines!
Jump to:
What Are Pecan Pralines?
Giving Pralines As a Gift
🧾 Ingredients Needed
🥣 How to Make
How to Store Pralines
More Pecan Recipes You’ll Love
📖 Recipe
Easy Microwave Pralines
What Are Pecan Pralines?
Pecan Pralines are a classic candy especially popular in the South. They’re a patty-shaped candy featuring crunchy pecans in a mixture including sugar, butter and cream.
They’re not too hard to make even the traditional way, but this microwave method is even easier. You can have them finished and ready to cool in about 15 minutes.
The hardest part is waiting for them to cool before you eat them!
Giving Pralines As a Gift
These pralines make a great snack and they look so special that they also make a great gift. Just package them in a mason jar or a cute tin.
Personally, some of my favorite Christmas gifts are the kind I can eat!! As long as its something delicious (like this fudge is), it makes me happy to know that someone took the time to put their own effort into making me a gift.
Food gifts are even more fun when they are presented in a special way. While I am happy to take yummy treats that are just on a plain paper plate or packed in an old cool-whip container, it’s a lot more fun when they are bundled in pretty packaging!
I did a little bit of browsing and found all of the fun food containers listed above that are perfect for gifting your microwave pralines.
Cover a baking sheet with wax paper and grease with butter. Combine sugar, cream, salt and butter in a large microwavable bowl. Microwave for 3 minutes, add pecans and stir. Microwave 6 more minutes or until temperature reaches about 240-245, stirring every 3 minutes or so. Let mixture sit for 1 minute before adding vanilla and stirring. Continue stirring for 2 more minutes. Drop spoonfulsof mixture onto prepared sheet. Let cool.
If you’re lucky enough to have a source of fresh pecans still in the shell (like we did when my sister lived in Austin), you will still have to shell them, which can be hard work!
A nut cracker can make that a lot easier and quicker. It protects you from beat-up fingers too. This is a pretty cool option that is particularly helpful for cracking pecans:
How to Store Pralines
Store pralines in an airtight container at room temperature for up to two weeks.
More Pecan Recipes You’ll Love
Easy Pecan Pie Muffins Recipe – Only 5 Ingredients!
Toasted Butter Pecan Cake Recipe – YUM!!
Scrumptious Pecan Pie Bars Recipe
Delicious Slow Cooker Butter Pecan Pear Cake – SO Easy to Make!
If you tried this Microwave Praline Recipeor any other recipe on my site, please please leave a 🌟star ratingand let me know how it turned out in the 📝commentsbelow. I love hearing your about your results and thoughts!
📖 Recipe
Easy Microwave Pralines
Chrysa
This Easy Microwave Pralines Recipe takes only minutes to make and creates a delicious candy treat for anytime snacking or gift-giving.
I am not a nutritionist. These values were calculated automatically with the Spoonacular Food API.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
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The simple answer is that there is too much moisture in your candy. One or more factors could be contributing to this problem. In hard candy making, it is important to cook all the water out of the sugar/corn syrup/water mixture.
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.
Since the problem is mostly that the sugar in the pralines gets hard and crystallized, you might try softening them the way you'd soften hard brown sugar. Place a terracotta sugar saver in the container or something else that's slightly damp, like a few slices of apple or a slice of fresh bread.
Pralines will keep well for 1 or 2 weeks at room temperature. After that, the sugar will begin to crystallize and the candy will get harder and gritty. To ensure they stay fresh, proper storage is key. Pack them in an airtight container as soon as the candy hardens and use parchment or wax paper to separate layers.
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.
Sometimes, as syrup boils, sugar starts to form back into crystals, which turn hard and cloudy. Crystallisation can be caused by stirring, or a grain of something other than sugar getting into the pan, or often just bad luck.
Why are there white spots on my pralines? 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.
Pralines are a much-appreciated festive treat, but come to think of it, they're simply delicious at any time of the year. When your pralines turn white, you are seeing the recrystallization of sugar. And you are right that honey does technically slow down the rate at which crystals form in candy.
Why are there white spots on my pralines? The sugar in these pralines cystallizes slightly as it cools, sometimes leading to a white-ish bloom on the surface. While they can look imperfect, the white spots in no way affect the texture or flavor of the candy.
Pecan pralines last up to three weeks. So it is better to consume the pecan pralines in the first two to three weeks after you make them. 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.
Butter pecan is a flavor combination of pecans, butter, and pure vanilla flavoring, making this a sweet treat you want to bite your teeth into. Pecan pralines are another popular treat option using pecans. However, pecan pralines are much sweeter and more sugar forward compared to butter pecan.
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.
Allow the pralines to cool completely, then store between layers of waxed paper in an airtight container. They will keep at room temperature, stored in a cool and dry place, for at least five days or longer.
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.
Nowadays most people are unaware of the candy's historical origin, and the praline is thought of as a southern confection not necessarily specific to New Orleans. Some believe the pecan praline is a Texan candy, whereas others assume it came from Savannah.
If your pralines don't set up, or they get dry and crumbly, don't toss them out! Eat them with a spoon, ball them up and dip in chocolate, or chop them up and use as a topping on cake or ice cream!
Southern Living, in their guide for making better pecan pralines, explains that it's best to choose a cool, dry day to make your candy. If the day you've chosen is too warm and humid, you're liable to end up with crystallized sugar, giving your pecan pralines a sugary, grainy texture that's undesirable.
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.
2) Altitude and humidity can impact your results. Higher altitudes may need to cook things a touch longer than lower altitudes. Don't try to make these if it's raining or snowing or overly humid outside–they won't set up. 3) Sometimes candy just doesn't work out.
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