| Orange Pralines
Ingredients:
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
3 cups sugar
Zest from 1 large orange
3 cups pecans
Equipment:
1 4 quart pot
Candy Thermometer (there is just no way to make this without a thermometer and the $20 you'll spend will be well worth it when you roll out the fabulous candy!)
2 sheet pans covered with parchment paper
Method:
Start by giving your orange a really good washing. Oranges are usually pretty clean but since you'll be providing the major flavor from the skin of this orange, lets make sure there is only the skin that goes into the pot.
Go ahead and get the zest off the orange now. I like to use a microplane for this, but originally grated the orange with a small box grater that had a very small but not micro grating surface. It made the candy a little more marmalade like, in that you'd get a little shred of zest now and then. If that sounds good to you, use that method. Set the zest aside.
In your 4 quart pot combine the cream, corn syrup and sugar. Place over Medium-High heat and cooking, stirring constantly until it comes to a boil, about 10 minutes usually.
Using a pastry brush, brush down the sides of the pan so that there are no sugar crystals present. If they are they act as seed crystals and you get very grainy candy.
Clip on your candy thermometer and cook, stirring constantly, until the candy reaches 238 degrees (subtract 12 degrees if you are cooking this above 5,000 feet).
Remove it from the heat and, just dump the orange zest into the pot. Do not stir it! Just let the zest land where it may. Let it stand at room temperature for 15 minutes.
Set up your sheet pans, this will be the landing space for the pralines.
Stir in the pecans. Keep stirring until the sugar mix thickens a little bit, about 1 ½ minutes. It will look like this when it is done:
Then using the wooden spoon make 2" patties. As the candy cools it will thicken even more, so you might want to just use your fingers to form patty's, just be sure the sugar is not too hot.
Let the candy completely cool then place in small paper cups and store in an air tight container for up to 2 weeks. Not that you'll have any that long, but we can dream, can't we?
This is a fast recipe that is a crowd pleaser! It is by far the most blidingly sweet candy I make and I always vow not to make it anymore but people keep asking for it year after year, so I guess sugar works sometimes.
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