My pralines came out too hard

[abefroman]

My pralines came out too hard, they are like pecans inside rock hard candy.

What did I do wrong?

The sugar/water mixture is suppose to be heated beyond the hard crack stage, correct?

[Risque Cakes]

Originally Posted by abefroman

My pralines came out too hard, they are like pecans inside rock hard candy.

What did I do wrong?

The sugar/water mixture is suppose to be heated beyond the hard crack stage, correct?

you over cooked the sugar..

"Cook until the mixture reaches 239 degrees with a candy thermometer. If you don't have a candy thermometer, bring it to the soft ball stage."

[abefroman]

Thank you, that it what I thought.

The cookbook I have is incorrect and says to take the sugar past the hardcrack stage and bring it close to 375deg.

[Risque Cakes]

never trust a cookbook. I find many times there is a LOT of misleading information in them.

Makes me feel that they do it on purpose ...lol ( or maybe I'm just paranoid? lol)

[abefroman]

Originally Posted by Risque Cakes

never trust a cookbook. I find many times there is a LOT of misleading information in them.

Makes me feel that they do it on purpose ...lol ( or maybe I'm just paranoid? lol)

I find that too, lol, its like do they even try these recipes before they publish them?

[TapTapper]

Paul Prudhomme has a great tip in one of his early books: when the mixture makes strings on the side of the bowl it's ready (I use the cook, cool and beat method). I have always tested temps, and the only perfect pralines I've ever made have been when I stopped at his "string" stage. I'll see strings and still have the wrong temp, keep going to the correct temp, and have a failure. But every time I stop at strings I have a sale-able product.

-From "Not a candy maker but loves a good Praline" Pat