Truth: Pralines are SUPER easy to make. Don’t be scared. They are YUMMY and can change all sorts of things into complete awesomeness. Here they are to use with my Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake but they are also AMAZING when served along side a big old hunk of Triple Cream Brie and Swedish Ginger Thins around the winter holidays. Trust me… that combo is mind blowing. Anyway… Pralines are easy. If you don’t want to use this whole batch for the Cheesecake you can put the left overs in a airtight ziplock and freeze them for another time.
MAPLE PECAN PRALINES
- 1/2-3/4 Cup Maple Syrup (the REAL kind… Vermont’s finest)
- 1 Cup Heavy Cream
- 1 Tblsp Unsalted Butter
- 8 Ounces Raw Pecan Halves
- 1 Tsp. Vanilla Extract
You can take an extra step here are ROAST your Pecans in a 350 degree oven for a few minutes until slightly more golden and toasty. This is NOT a necessary step (you can probably also just BUY the Pecan Halves Pre-roasted) but it does take the depth of your pralines up a notch when serving with the Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake.
Make the Sauce:
- Put your Pecan Halves in a mixing bowl and set aside.
- In a heavy bottomed small saucepan heat the Maple Syrup, Cream, Vanilla and Butter on Medium – High heat until it starts to simmer.
- Turn the heat to Medium low being careful that the mixture doesn’t bubble over.
- With a rubber spatula gently stir the simmering Syrup / Cream mixture every once and a while. Let the sauce simmer for about 15 minutes. You will see the color of the Cream mixture go from Ivory to more of a Caramel-like color by the end of this process.
- The sugars have been doing their job here so the mixture should be thicker than when you started and should now nicely coat the back of your rubber spatula.
- Carefully pour your HOT AS HECK Syrup Cream Sauce over the previously set aside Pecans.
- Using a spoon or your spatula (I prefer a spoon) completely combine the mixture until every single little Pecan beauty is coated in Sauce.
- If you are topping your Cheesecake with this you will want this mixture to slightly cool a little longer before spooning over the top of the cheesecake. If you are serving along side, you can go with it now and serve it up.
- Otherwise, Carefully spoon little mounds of this Mapley goodness evenly around the top of your cheesecake. YUMMMMM right?!
Enjoy!
XO,
Pippa