Aunt Genevas Pralines Recipes

Steps:

• Mix light brown sugar, granulated sugar, heavy cream, butter, water and salt in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until sugar dissolves. Stir in pecans and cook over medium heat until mixture reaches the soft ball stage, 238 to 240 degrees F on a candy thermometer. If you spoon a drop of boiling syrup into a cup of ice water, it will form a soft ball that flattens easily between your fingers.
• Remove pan from heat and stir rapidly until mixture thickens. Drop pralines by the spoonfuls, 1-inch apart onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Let cool completely until firm. Store in an airtight container.

Steps:

• For the glacage paradis: Bring the cream to a boil. Pour the cream on top of the dark chocolate. Mix gently. In a saucepan, bring 8 3/4 ounces water and the superfine sugar to a boil. Add the cocoa powder and the double cream, then bring back to a boil. Delicately mix the dark chocolate and the cocoa powder mixtures together. Refrigerate for 24 hours.
• For the dacquoise: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F/190 degrees C. Mix together the ground hazelnut and the confectioners' sugar. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites using a hand mixer. When the egg whites have doubled in volume, add in the superfine sugar. Delicately incorporate the hazelnut mixture. Smooth into a circle on a baking tray covered in parchment paper. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar and bake for 10 minutes. Leave to cool. Then cut the dacquoise the bottom of the cake pan.
• For the praline: Preheat the oven to 320 degrees F/ 160 degrees C. Roast the hazelnuts then add them to the granulated sugar, in a blender. Blend until smooth, at least 5 minutes.
• For the feuillantine: Fill a pot with an inch or so of water. Bring to a boil and place a non-reactive bowl over the top to create a double-boiler. Melt the white chocolate and 14 1/8 ounces/400 grams of the praline together. Then add the biscuits and mix well.
• For the chocolate mousse: Whisk the cream to stiff peaks. Melt 9 1/2 ounces/270 g of glacage to liquid but still cold. Whisk the liquid glacage into the cream. Reserve the remaining glacage in the refrigerator.
• To assemble, place the dacquoise disk at the bottom of the cake pan. Fill with the chocolate mousse. Place the feuillantine in a very thin layer on top. Leave in the freezer for a minimum of 5 hours.
• Heat the remaining glacage to 104 degrees F/40 degrees C in a double boiler. Two hours before serving, remove the cake pan from the freezer and remove the cake from the pan. Immediately cover the whole cake with the glacage. Enjoy.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and 1 1/2 cups light-brown sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg and vanilla. Beat until fully combined. Add dry ingredients, and beat on low speed until combined.
• Drop batter in rounded teaspoons onto ungreased baking sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake until firm and barely golden, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes, then transfer cookies from pan to wire rack.
• In a small saucepan, combine remaining 1 cup light-brown sugar and cream. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Add confectioners' sugar, and whisk until smooth. (If frosting thickens, thin with cream.) Add pecan pieces. Place cookies on a cooling rack over a lined baking pan. Spoon about 1/2 teaspoon praline mixture onto each cookie.

Steps:

• Combine in a large pan the sugar, soda, buttermilk and salt.
• Cook briskly, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes.
• Add butter and pecans.
• Cook for approximately 5 minutes more, or until mixture reaches softball stage (234ºF).
• Remove from heat and beat until just creamy.
• Drop by spoonsful onto waxed paper.
• Store in airtight containers.
• NOTE: If you put newspapers under the waxed paper, it is easier to remove candy without breaking.

Steps:

• Mix sugar, corn syrup, baking soda, and buttermilk in large saucepan. Cook till candy thermometer reads 240 F. Remove from heat. Add butter and vanilla. When incorporated, add pecans. Stir until thickened and drop by teaspoonfuls onto waxed paper to cool.