Brown Sugar Candied Pecans Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why are my candied pecans soggy? ›

If your pecans are soft, it's most likely because they weren't baked long enough and are still retaining moisture. The sugar needs to bake long enough to caramelize and form a brittle coating on the nuts.

Salt: 1/2 teaspoon of fine sea salt makes these taste salty-sweet. If you'd prefer to not taste the salt, reduce to 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Pecans too sticky: If your nuts are still sticky after cooling, heat your oven to 325°F (162°C) and bake for 5 to 10 minutes to help harden the candy coating.

What is the difference between candied pecans and pralines? Candied pecans are pecans coated in egg whites, sugar, and spices, then baked until crispy. Pralines are a drop-candy with a caramel-like base and crunchy pecans mixed in.

Add the pecans and cook, stirring, until coated, another 1 to 2 minutes. Spread the pecans in a single layer on the baking sheet and set aside to cool and crisp up. Stored in an airtight container at room temperature, candied pecans keep well for up to a week. Freeze them for longer storage.

Pecans have two sources of bitterness -- naturally occurring tannins in the kernel and pieces of corky material from the inside of the nut which can adhere to the kernel. Some of the tannin and all of the corky material can be removed by washing the kernels before cooking.

However, by soaking nuts and seeds in water, those anti-nutrients are neutralized, thereby resulting in a much more nutritious food. Nuts can be soaked in plain filtered water or water with a pinch of sea salt for a few hours or up to 12 hours.

Boiling pecans before cracking them can actually help prevent the shell from shattering.

Pecan varieties are generally classified according to their origin—Southeast, West, or Northern U.S. Cultivars grown in Oklahoma originated from all three areas. Many of the southeastern varieties grown in Oklahoma originated as discoveries of seedling trees in Mississippi.

Why are my pecan pralines gritty? ›

Avoid The Humidity

Plan to make your pralines on a cool, dry day. If it's humid or rainy, as it was the first time I made pralines, the candy might end up with a more sugary, grainy texture.

As their name suggests, paper-shell pecans have thin shells you can crack without a nutcracker. This accessible species is often sweeter than other pecans.

The candied nuts most likely didn't cook long enough on the stovetop. Sugar has to reach a certain temperature to achieve that brittle, candy coating state. Transfer parchment-lined baking sheet to 325ºF oven (do not put wax paper in the oven) and bake for 5-15 minutes, or until they are less sticky.

Storage Instructions: Candied nuts can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature or in the fridge for several weeks. Freezing Instructions: They freeze well in an air-tight container for up to two months. Nuts: use any kind of nuts with this recipe, like walnuts, almonds, peanuts, cashews, or pistachios.

If you happen to have pecans in their shells, remember that 1 pound equals 3 cups shelled, about 4 cups pecan halves, and about 3 3/4 cups chopped nuts. Equivalents to know when using shelled pecans are that 1 pound equals 4 cups and 1 cup of pecan halves equals 3/4 cup chopped.

Pecans should be stored in relative humidity of about 65-70%. Humidity higher than these values can cause the pecans to become soft and grow molds. Soft pecans are not good and should be discarded. Pecans with an air gap in their cross section will not storage as well or as long as a full meaty nut.

Just toasting them in a dry pan or oven should be enough to revive them, but they'll also go in any recipe that requires nuts.

Blind Bake

The most common way to ward off a soggy pie crust is by a process called blind baking. Blind baking means you pre-bake the crust (sometimes covered with parchment or foil and weighed down with pie weights to prevent the crust from bubbling up) so that it sets and crisps up before you add any wet filling.

Failing to bake your pie at a high enough temperature could result in a raw, soggy crust. Because it was not baked at a high enough temperature, the butter in the crust begins to melt into the dough. To avoid this, always start your pecan pie at a high enough temperature, such as 425 to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.