Aunt Mary Dillons Praline Cookies Food

AUNT MARY'S COOKIES

Steps:

• Place sheets of waxed paper onto a work surface.
• Stir sugar, cocoa, and evaporated milk together in a large nonstick saucepan over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil; boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir butter and marshmallow creme into cocoa mixture. Quickly stir graham cracker crumbs into mixture.
• Drop cookies by the spoonful onto waxed paper; let stand until firm. Store in airtight containers.

AUNT MARY DILLON'S PRALINE COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and 1 1/2 cups light-brown sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg and vanilla. Beat until fully combined. Add dry ingredients, and beat on low speed until combined.
• Drop batter in rounded teaspoons onto ungreased baking sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake until firm and barely golden, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes, then transfer cookies from pan to wire rack.
• In a small saucepan, combine remaining 1 cup light-brown sugar and cream. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Add confectioners' sugar, and whisk until smooth. (If frosting thickens, thin with cream.) Add pecan pieces. Place cookies on a cooling rack over a lined baking pan. Spoon about 1/2 teaspoon praline mixture onto each cookie.

MISS BROWN'S PRALINE COOKIES

Steps:

• For the cookies: Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment.
• Arrange the chopped pecans on half of the prepared baking sheet and place the pecan halves on the other half. Bake the pecans until toasted, about 10 minutes. When done, set aside to cool, keeping the chopped pecans and pecan halves separate.
• In a large bowl, cream the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar with an electric mixer. Add 1 egg at a time, beating to combine, then add the vanilla and mix well. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt; add to the creamed mixture in 2 batches, beating well to combine. Fold in the toasted chopped pecans.
• Line 2 baking sheets with parchment. With an ice-cream scoop, scoop 1 1/2-tablespoon rounds of dough onto the prepared baking sheets (making sure you leave at least 1 inch of space between each). Cover and chill the dough for at least 1 hour and up to overnight. Chilling the dough helps prevent it from spreading during baking.
• After your dough chills for at least an hour, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Allow the dough to sit at room temperature for 5 minutes, then bake the cookies until slightly golden brown around the edges, 11 to 12 minutes (12 to 13 minutes for crispier cookies). Add a pecan half to the middle of each cookie and cool to room temperature.
• For the praline sauce: While the cookies are cooling, add the brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter and milk to a medium saucepan. Bring to a rolling boil, whisking continuously. Boil and whisk for 3 minutes more, or until the sauce is thickened slightly and coats the back of a spoon. Remove from the heat. Let cool for 4 to 5 minutes.
• Drizzle the sauce over the cookies before serving. The cookies and any leftover praline sauce will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days stored separately. Spoon leftover sauce over ice cream or stir into hot coffee.

MARTHA STEWART'S MARY DILLION PRALINE COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375*.
• Have ready two clean baking sheets.
• Spread pecans on a rimmed baking pan, and toast in the oven until golden -- about 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.
• Reduce temperature to 350*. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
• In the bowl, of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and 1 1/2 cups light brown sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy., about 2 minutes. Add egg and vanilla, beat on low speed until combined.
• Drop batter by level tablespoons onto baking sheets, about 2" apart.
• Bake until firm and barely golden, 10-12 minutes, rotating halfway through.
• Transfer to a wire rack to cool 5 minutes on baking sheets.
• Remove cookies from baking sheet and transfer to wire rack until completely cool.In a small saucepan, combine remaining 1 1/4 cups light brown sugar and cream and bring to a full boil over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, about 1 minute. Remove from heat. Working quickly, add confectioners sugar and whisk until smooth. Add pecan pieces and stir until slightly thickened. If mixture thickens, return to heat and add cream 1 tsp at a time. Spoon tsp on each cookie and set aside until firm.

PAULA DEEN'S PRALINES

Steps:

• Butter the sides of a heavy 2-quart saucepan.
• Put the sugars, salt, corn syrup, milk, and butter in saucepan.
• Over medium heat, stir mixture constantly with a wooden spoon until sugars have dissolved and mixture comes to a boil.
• Continue to cook to a soft ball stage, approximately 236 degrees F on a candy thermometer.
• (If you do a cold water test, drizzle a drop of candy into a glass of cold water, the ball of candy will flatten between your fingers when you take it out of the water.) Remove from heat and allow it to cool for 10 minutes.
• Add the vanilla and nuts, and beat with a spoon by hand for approximately 2 minutes or until candy is slightly thick and begins to lose its gloss.
• Quickly drop heaping tablespoons onto waxed paper.
• If the candy becomes stiff, add a few drops of hot water.