New Orleans Style Pecan Praline Recipe with Splenda #SweetSwaps (2024)
Disclosure: This post is part of the SPLENDA® 365 SWEET SWAPS ™ blogger program by McNeil Nutritionals, LLC. and The Motherhood, who sent me products and compensated me for my time. Opinions and experiences shared here are my own, and I hope you enjoy them.
Did you know that average American can consume 22.2 teaspoons pf sugar daily? Experts recommend that women consume less than 6 teaspoons of sugar daily. Since I have a huge sweet tooth I try to make small, easy lifestyle changes that can encourage a healthier lifestyle. Splenda allows me to reduce the added sugar and calories by making a convenient, easy to use products. Whether I am baking for my family or creating a new co*cktail, I can have the sweet flavor I’m looking for without the added calories or sugar.
Since we are a short 30 minute drive from New Orleans my family enjoys pecan pralines. Do you know how many grams of sugar are in pralines? You don’t want to know! Today we are showing you how take a traditional pecan praline recipe and create a sweet swap using 2 different Splenda products.
The Splenda is a great addition to this recipe — the brown sugar blend adds great flavor with half the amount of sugar in the original recipe. The granulated sweetener has much fewer calories than an equal amount of sugar. For our recipe we used 2 different Splenda products- SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, Granulated and SPLENDA® Brown Sugar Blend. Conversion for the sugar blend is easy. For every cup of sugar or brown sugar your recipe calls for, you will use 1/2 a cup of any Spledna Sugar Blend. That’s pretty easy to remember! SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, Granulated stays the same.
It’s great for flavor, and great for your diet! So go ahead and indulge in our New Orleans classic with no guilt.
Ingredients: 1 1/2 c SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, Granulated 6 Tbsp SPLENDA® Brown Sugar Blend 1/2 c whole milk 6 Tbsp salted butter 1 tsp vanilla extract 1 1/2 c pecans
Directions: Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large saucepan, combine all ingredients on medium to medium-high heat and stir occasionally as you bring to boil.
Cook for about 3 minutes while stirring constantly, until the mixture reaches between 238°F – 240°F on a candy thermometer. Remove from heat immediately. Continue stirring. as the mixture will become cloudy and start to thicken. Once it starts to become grainy, it’s ready to be dropped.
Drop the pralines by the spoonful onto the lined baking sheet. The number of pralines will depend on how big your spoonfuls are. Personally I like smaller spoonfuls especially since my kids will be enjoying the special treat. Allow to sit and harden for at least 10 minutes before serving.
I have used this recipe and made gifts for teachers, bus drivers and church family. Pralines are hard to pass up and a few goes a long way. Think portion control when enjoying our pralines! Like any recipe or special occasion event, I generally make sure to bring half of my food home especially when enjoying dinner at a restaurant. The same goes for eating at home, enjoying smaller portions is one way you can adjust your lifestyle and eat food you enjoy without completely eliminating them out of your diet.
Tips: Using Splenda is not always an equal swap. If you are needing something rise, darken, or add extra moistness you may need to adjust the amount of Splenda you use. Baking with Splenda can be easy especially in custards, cheesecakes, muffins, sauces, fruit fillings, fruit pies and more. Baked goods using Splenda will stay fresh for 24 hours. You can add remaining baked goods in an air tight container and freeze to enjoy at a later time. Get Social with Splenda Homepage: www.Splenda.com Products: www.Splenda.com/products Recipes: www.recipes.Splenda.com 365 Sweet Swaps: www.365sweetswaps.com What kind of recipe can you make using less added sugar products like Splenda?
Maria is a wife & mother to a 7th grader & 4th grader. When not working on her own blog: Blogging, Babies & the Bayou she can be found working FT in Healthcare, shuttling her kids to their after school activities or on the road to her next journey. Blogging, Babies & the Bayou focuses on travel, local tourism, brand relations and much more.
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If you don't beat it long enough, then pralines won't set properly and will stay soft and sticky. Work quickly to drop heaping tablespoons of pecan praline mixture onto the parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
What are Pralines? A signature sweet of New Orleans, Pralines are unique candied treats adored by natives and visitors alike. Described as the nuttier cousin to fudge and known to melt in your mouth, pralines come in many shapes, sizes, colors and flavors.
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.
In Louisiana, especially New Orleans, the name praline applies to candies made with pecans in a coating of brown sugar sold by Creole women known as pralinières. Even before the Civil War and Emancipation, pralines were an early entrepreneurial vehicle for free women of color in New Orleans.
If the sugar mixture is not cooked to the proper temperature (the hard-crack stage 300-310° F {149-154° C.} or if you are working in a kitchen with high humidity, chances are your candy is retaining too much moisture.
A praliné is a paste that is a mixture of nuts, chocolate and sugar.While in Belgium, a 'praline' is defined as a filled chocolate candy. Note that the term 'praline' is of Belgian origin.
What is a beignet? Beignets were first introduced to the city by the French-Creole colonists in the 18th century. The concept is simple – dough is fried then covered with mounds of powdered sugar – but the result is extraordinary.
Don't Stop Stirring Until the Pot Talks – Here, she's referring to the step of cooling the syrup before dropping the candies to harden. It starts off very loose and liquidy. As you stir, sugar crystals start to form and the syrup will start to feel thick and grainy against your spoon.
sometimes I have no idea why they won't harden. But if your pralines are still gooey after 30-40 minutes, you may have to scrape them back into the pan and heat them again. Add a tablespoon of milk, melt the sugar, and as before, stir constantly while you bring them to a boil.
Perhaps more than anywhere else, New Orleans is a city filled with iconic dishes. Po' boys, jambalaya, gumbo, beignets — these dishes define the city's cuisine and culture to the outside world.
Most Expensive Dessert: For $3.95 million a true whale can purchase the Strawberries Arnaud (in a marinade of port, red wine, spices and citrus w/ vanilla ice cream) with a 7.09 carat pink diamond included from MS Rau antiques.
Hard candy is made up of sugar crystals that are held together by a small amount of water. When hard candy is exposed to humidity from the air, the surface of the candy begins to take in moisture, causing the sugar crystals to dissolve and the candy to become softer.
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.
A little crystallization in pralines is inevitable but adding a bit of corn syrup can help keep crystals from forming. In this recipe I also butter the sides of the pot and only stir before the sugar comes to a boil. After the candy reaches soft-ball stage, it is left to cool for 10 minutes without agitation.
The process of turning sugar into a hard, smooth, transparent confection involves heating a sugar/corn syrup/water solution to 300 – 310° F.{150 - 155° C.}, or what is known as the hard crack stage of sugar. The use of a candy thermometer is not essential, but highly recommended and accuracy is critical.
Introduction: My name is Annamae Dooley, I am a witty, quaint, lovely, clever, rich, sparkling, powerful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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