Texas Pecan Pralines

A decadent southern candy loaded with crunchy pecans, butter, and delicious brown sugar flavor. (photos updated in 2024). 

If you're from the south then you know what a Pecan Praline is. If you have never had a praline you're definitely missing out. Pralines are one of my favorite treats when dining out at a Mexican restaurant. All those yummy confections nestled in a basket by the cash register. I can never resist grabbing a few on my way out the door and eating a couple bites on the ride home. 

There are two varieties of pralines, the soft chewy ones and the crunchy ones. By far the crunchy ones are our favorite. Pecans are an agriculture staple in Texas and grow really well. Back in the day we were lucky enough to find a lonely pecan tree out in the fields or by business that just let the pecans fall to the ground. 

Fast forward to today and we now have two pecan tree's in our backyard. A Choctaw and Paper Shell which we actually grew ourselves from a pecan. The Choctaw is our big producer and we normally yield between 13-15 lbs of pecans a year, so there is plenty to bake with and plenty to freeze. 

I was a little nervous about making pralines for the first time because candy making can sometimes be a bit difficult. I found this recipe to be on point and the pralines turned out perfect! As you can see from the photo below, my pralines are perfectly round. You can drop them on parchment paper or use a muffin top pan like I did for perfectly round pralines. Just slightly butter the pan and the pralines will pop right our when cooled. 

Pecan Pralines are perfect for gift giving around the holidays. These will definitely be on my list this year to give over Christmas. If you have never made pralines, I hope you'll give this recipe a try.