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These Pecan Praline Cookies are a delightful twist on a popular southern candy! Grab the recipe and check out my tip for storing baked goods and ingredients.
Grab the recipe for Pecan Praline Cookies below or PIN IT for later!
I am so fortunate I was able to know my great-grandmothers. Even though I only knew them for a short time as a young child and adolescent; through their stories, life lessons and traditions I learned a lot. I learned what life was really like growing up in the depression. I learned more about how my grandparents and parents were as children themselves. And I learned why our family celebrates holidays certain ways.
From one great-grandmother I learned about traditional southern foods. I learned about classic southern chicken and dumplings and divinity and pecan pralines, her favorite candies. And to this day we still make my great-grandmother’s glazed carrot recipe for holiday functions.
My other great-grandmother was big on food storage/preservation. She taught my Mom how to can fruits and vegetables and make homemade jams and jellies. And in the past six or seven years, I’ve really gotten into food preservation myself, and so my Mom has taught me all she learned from my great-grandmother.
I love that the traditions and the way my grandparents lived theirs lives shapes how I do things today. That there are constant reminders of them in my day to day life, as I make toast with jam for breakfast or anytime I take a road trip and stop in a “Mom and Pop” store in a small Texas town.
Like I said, food storage and food preservation has become a big part of my home and kitchen the last few years. Since we have always lived in areas that can be affected by hurricanes and major flooding, my Mom always taught us to have “emergency kits” with food and supplies on hand at all times. She also taught us to have enough food in our pantry and freezers for at least six months, to rely on if we have unexpected things, like job loss or unexpected bills, like medial expenses or car repairs, and we can’t spend as much on grocery shopping.
So for the past few years, I’ve started buying a lot of things in bulk, not only to help stock up our pantry, but because it’s usually cheaper and it makes meal planning easier knowing I have meats and other things stocked in my freezer and pantry.
As I’ve gotten more and more into food storage, I’ve been looking to more ways to keep our food fresher for longer. My Mom and I will can and make homemade jam several times a year, but there are so many other foods, like meat and baking supplies, that I was looking for better storage solutions.
As seen on TV, I looked into getting a FoodSaver® FM5200 Vacuum Sealing System. I had heard from many people that the FoodSaver® FM5200 was a great solution to store MANY foods and that it keeps food fresh up to 5x longer* and helps prevent freezer burn (*compared to ordinary storage methods).
Since I do stock up on meats when they go on sale and because I bake and prep other ingredients ahead of time when I entertain and host my dinner parties, I decided that that it was time to get a FoodSaver® FM5200 system and now I want to vacuum seal EVERYTHING! LOL!
Sure, the FoodSaver® FM5200 system is a bit of investment up front, but I got so tired of wasting money on food because meats would get freezer burn or the specialty flours or pricey nuts that I get for baking would go bad before I could use them all. So in the long run, I figure I will SAVE time and money with the FoodSaver® FM5200 system by not wasting food. Plus, Walmart has an entire section of FoodSaver® supplies (located with the other food storage supplies) at great prices.
I have been using the FoodSaver® 11″ x 16′ Vacuum Seal Roll, 2 Pack to store things like meat and nuts, because their multi-layer, BPA-free vacuum-seal bags are flexible enough to tightly and effectively seal food without any gaps. Thus, making them preferred for long-term freezer storage to block out air and help to prevent freezer burn.
However, recently I decided to try the FoodSaver® FM5200 system to store baked goods. Since I am testing recipes all the time, we end up with a lot of baked goods that we can’t eat fast enough. Sometimes I’ll freeze things like cookie dough or banana bread to eat later, or other times I’ll give things away to friends and neighbors. But I wanted to test the FoodSaver® FM5200 system so that I could not only freeze baked cookies, muffins, bread, etc. to use later when I entertain; I like sending care packages to my brother who lives faraway. I’m always looking for better methods to ship him some homemade goodies and I’m happy to report that if using the FoodSaver® FM5200 system, cookies and other baked goods can successfully be stored for 3-6 weeks in the pantry or for 1-3 years in the freezer!
How to keep cookies fresh using the FoodSaver® FM5200 system:
- Install a FoodSaver® 11″ x 16′ Vacuum Seal Roll in the FoodSaver® FM5200 Vacuum Sealing System.
- Make a bag by pulling a bag from the dispenser area and turning the unlock/seal lever.
- Fill bag with about 6 cookies in a single layer.
- Insert the open end of the bag through the bottom of the vacuum view window and push and release the vacuum and seal bar.
- This is how you would not only seal cookies, but baking ingredients, like pecans, and other foods like meat!
Since my brother has been missing home, I decided to whip up these Pecan Praline Cookies to send him in a care package with some of his other favorite things from home. These cookies are inspired by my great-grandmother’s love of Pecan Pralines. She always made a classic New Orleans pralines recipe, which is a candy made from pecans, sugar and cream; but since my brother and I both love cookies, I decided to transform that classic pralines recipe into a Pecan Praline Cookie!
These cookies are rich and have those sweet and caramelly praline flavors. They remind me so much of my childhood and visiting my grandmother in Louisiana, and were a great addition to a southern themed care packaged!
Recipe for Pecan Praline Cookies:
Pecan Praline Cookies
These Pecan Praline Cookies are a delightful twist on a popular southern candy! Grab the recipe and check out my baking tips for storing baked goods.
Ingredients
- Pecan Praline Cookies:
- 1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
- 1 large whole egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
- --
- Pecan Praline Topping:
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3/4 cups dark brown sugar, packed
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 4-6 tablespoons heavy cream
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
Instructions
- For pecan cookies: Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.
- Meanwhile, place butter in a heavy bottom saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the butter begins to boil up and becomes foamy. Continue cooking and stirring until butter starts to smell nutty and turn golden or toasty brown in color, about 6-8 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
- Whisk brown sugar into browned butter in saucepan; whisking until well combined and mixture has cooled even more. Whisk in whole egg, egg yolk and vanilla, whisking until fully mixed.
- Using a wood spoon or large rubber spatula, stir flour mixture into butter and egg mixture; stirring until flour is incorporated and no white streaks appear. Stir in chopped pecans.
- Using a one-inch cookie scoop, scoop cookie dough onto prepared baking sheets. Bake in preheated 325-degree F oven for 8-9 minutes, or until the bottoms of the cookies are brown. Do not over bake!
- Remove from oven and let cookies cool on baking sheet for 2-3 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Once all the cookies are baked and cooled, prepare praline topping.
- For Pecan Praline Topping: In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt. butter. Whisk in brown sugar, salt and 4 tablespoons heavy cream.
- Whisking constantly, bring mixture to a boil and boil for one minute.
- Remove praline mixture from heat and whisk in vanilla and powdered sugar, whisking until smooth and no lumps or streaks of powdered sugar appear. Stir in ¼ cup pecans.
- Working quickly, spoon approximately 1-2 tablespoons of the praline topping over the cookies. Immediately sprinkle praline topping with remaining chopped pecans. Let praline topping harden before serving.
- Cookies can be stored using the FoodSaver® system for 3-6 weeks in the pantry or for 1-3 years in the freezer.
Notes
If praline topping begins to harden before you are finished frosting the cookies, simply reheat with ½ - 1 tablespoons heavy cream over low heat until frosting is pourable again.
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Nutrition Information:
Amount Per Serving: Unsaturated Fat: 0g
Caeol says
Sound yummy