← Nouns Cooking · Dessert Parlour

Ingredients

• 250 g Pecan halves
• 300 g granulated sugar
• 200 g light brown sugar, packed
• 240 ml double (heavy) cream
• 60 g unsalted butter
• ½ tsp Salt
• 1½ tsp Vanilla extract

Method

1. Heat the oven to 175°C (155°C fan, 350°F). Toast the pecans on a tray for 6–8 min, until fragrant. Line two trays with baking paper.
2. Put both sugars, the cream, butter and salt in a heavy saucepan over medium heat and stir until the sugar dissolves and the butter melts.
3. Clip on a sugar thermometer and boil, stirring now and then, until it reaches 115°C (240°F), the soft-ball stage, 8–10 min.
4. Take off the heat, add the vanilla and warm pecans, and stir hard with a wooden spoon for 2–3 min, until the mixture turns creamy, slightly cloudy and starts to thicken.
5. Working fast, drop heaped tablespoons onto the trays; they will spread a little. If the mix sets in the pan, stir in a teaspoon of hot water to loosen it.
6. Leave for 30 min, until firm and set.

Tips

• Timing the stirring is the trick: stop too soon and they stay runny, go too long and they turn crumbly.
• Store between sheets of baking paper in an airtight tin for up to a week. Contains nuts.
• The boiling sugar mixture is far hotter than boiling water and sticks to skin: keep children away while it cooks.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Once Upon a Chef Taste of Home