Making candy at home is always fun. Usually, it has the side benefit of being successful as well. After all, mixing sugar with various ingredients in various ways often turns out tasting pretty good, even if it isn’t quite as expected. Disregarding, of course, the possibility of burning the candy beyond repair…

In any case, it was with this adventurous spirit that my family and I decided to try our hand at making sweets this past holiday season. Our first attempt was making New Orleans style pralines (pronounced “prah-leans”.) These overwhelmingly sweet concoctions of sugar, butter, and pecans are deservedly famous in the South, where the recipe is derived from a 17th century French version consisting of single candy-coated almonds. Prior to Emancipation, selling pralines gave freed black women a way to earn money independently in New Orleans. Today, the entrepreneurial tradition carries on, with praline salesmen and women are supposedly common sights in the French quarter - and I say supposedly because an unfortunate Tabasco tour incident meant there was no time to explore the area in person on my most recent visits.

But I digress! Our plan was simple: pralines or bust. We used an internet recipe consisting of plenty of white and brown sugar and added some butter, cream, and vanilla before heating and later stirred in crushed pecans. Seriously, how could this possibly not be delicious? Anyways, we kept a close eye on the temperature so it would come out the appropriate consistency (although really, I think if it had turned out more gooey or more crunchy it still would have been excellent… perhaps an interesting experiment for next time!) Our sloppy but delicious (and sugar-coma inducing) results can be seen above. The candy was best eaten when warm and tasted much like it looks: soft maple flavored sugar encased around gobs of pecans. We all brushed our teeth extra carefully that night.

After the success of our Thanksgiving Eve pralines, I decided to try a different candy a few weeks later over Christmas. I bought a “Bubble Gum Fun” kit off the internet and brought it home to my brothers and sisters in anticipation of hours of excitement with the bonus result of as much homemade gum as I could stand to make. The kit consisted of powdered sugar, corn syrup (liquid sugar), artificial flavoring (mix of sweet cherry and bubble gum flavor I’d say), special high tech stirring rods (popsicle sticks) and of course the main ingredient: gum base. The gum base looked and smelled like little pellets of wax, and in the name of science I tried some before adding any of the sugar and it tasted like a little pellet of wax as well. I think at this point I was starting to have doubts about the bubble gum kit.

We spread all the ingredients out, supplemented with our purchase of additional flavoring (strawberry, lemon, raspberry, etc) and started the gum-making process! At this point, despite our nagging doubts, I think we were all fairly optimistic. After all, sugar can cure many ills - perhaps even waxy tasting bubble gum base? We started by heating the gum base in the microwave, and then added in the different types of sugar and flavoring. At this point, it looked and felt pretty much like already chewed gum - as seen in the picture to the left! Mmmm. According to the instructions, the secret to delicious, flavorful bubblegum was spending plenty of time and energy “kneading” the sugar into the gum base, so that was what we did. After what seemed like plenty of time, it was time to test our creation! There was some small struggle in cutting the gum, as it was quite tough, but eventually everyone had a small piece.

The results were, how shall I put it… disappointing. The first chew of the gum was acceptable - crisp and “bursting with flavor.” The problem was, all the sugar and taste dissolved by the second chew, and it was back to chewing on candle wax. Yum! Of course, my little brother Dietrich was ever the adventurer and decided to just add a few extra flavors to his gum to make the taste last longer. I’m not sure the “Strawberry-Almond-Coconut” gum that resulted is the next killer flavor!

Sadly, the gum wasn’t quite the success of the praline - although I suppose that was to be expected. It was, however, a fun experiment and interesting to make the crazier flavors of gum. An excellent team-building activity but not one I’d try again! The experience and “family-together time” were the best part of the gum for me - unlike the pralines where the candy were the best part. I won’t be seeing the whole family for some time due to the trip, so these memories are a nice final present. Hopefully while I’m traveling and eating gross candy I can just remind myself that it isn’t as bad as the Christmas chewing wax…

BONUS! New Orleans praline recipe! (Honestly, you should try it at home - it’s really easy and fun.)

 

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 1/4 cups of sugar
• 3/4 cups of brown sugar
• 1/2 cup of evaporated milk
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups pecans

PREPARATION:

Put sugars & milk in heavy bottom pan & cook to soft ball stage. Take off fire & add frozen butter, vanilla & pecans & stir until shine leaves mixture & then spoon on waxed paper. Very easy & makes the best pralines ever.