Flat, fudgy discs of brown sugar, cream and butter set round pecans — soft, sugary and grainy at once.
What makes it pralines
Pecans, lots of them.
Brown and white sugar cooked with cream and butter.
Beaten until just starting to set, then spooned out to harden.
Where it comes from
The French praline was a sugar-coated almond, said to be named after a French count whose cook made them. In New Orleans, pecans replaced almonds and cream went into the sugar, making something softer. In the nineteenth century they were sold in the streets, often by Black women vendors known as pralinières.