While touring the French Quarter in New Orleans Dima and I walked past this small corner shop with this heavenly sugary smell wafting onto the sidewalk. The lure of the smell was irresistible and we found ourselves inside Southern Candymakers looking for the source. Inside they were busy making fresh pralines - something completely unfamiliar to me. Luckily for us, they weren't skimpy with the free samples and after a few bites of this creamy, sweet, nutty mixture we were hooked.
Unknowingly I had stumbled upon a popular Southern recipe that was brought from French settlers to Louisiana. The difference between the Louisiana and European recipe is that the South used locally grown pecans and carmalized them instead of using sugar coated almonds. They also added cream to create a wondeful creamy fudge consistency. At Southern Candymakers they make the original praline and other flavour variations - chocolate, rum, sweet potato and peanut butter. They are wonderful, highly addictive and give a great sugar boost when you're traveling on the road.
And remember, it's prah-line not pray-line. Apparently my tendancy to say pray-line makes me stand out as a Northerner.
