Earlier this  year I tested several praline recipes looking for just the right one that lived up to my favorite sort of praline. It took several tries to find something that fit my memory of what I wanted. Then, a few months ago, Typepad ate over 150 of my files and unfortunately, the post with the recipe was one of them. This month I’ve been testing again and I think I’ve found exactly what I want with a bit of the usual tweaking.

Pralines

2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 pinch salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cups pecan halves
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine sugar, buttermilk and salt in a heavy bottom saucepan and cook over medium-high heat to 210 F on a candy thermometer with occasional stirring. Add the butter and the nuts and continue to cook to 235 F on a candy thermometer. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and baking soda (it will foam like crazy at this point). Stir continuously until the mixture begins to lose it’s glossiness and then drop by spoonfuls onto a silpat or waxed paper.