Hi everyone and please click on the title of this post to read more. Well, I made a mistake tonight. I am tired and have a cold, but had to keep up my reputation as the snack serving wife of my poker playing husband at the game he is hosting at our house tonight. Sure, everyone would have understood if just chips were served, but I could never let that happen-I have too much of a cooking ego. Besides, all these neighbors expect a little something and I need to deliver.
So, back to the mistake. Because I am not at the top of my game today, I started making my praline cookies without paying attention to the flame. It was too high and the praline liquid got too thin and the milk started to separate. Instead of crying over separated milk, I tossed the nuts into the liquid mess anyway, spread the whole liquidy, nutty mixture on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and saved the snack night by creating praline nuts. The crystallized ginger was an afterthought which I quickly minced up and added to the nut mixture. This is lemonade out of a lemon-I would have been very annoyed had I wasted my time and ingredients on a useless slop of carbs but my nutty experience shows how it can all work out in the end.
The following is an easier way to make the nuts with no mistakes. I hope you like them as much as the poker players did (check them out in the video below):
Praline Ginger nuts:
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1 1/2 cup pecans or walnuts (I used walnuts this time)
2 TBS minced crystallized ginger
In a medium sized saucepan over a medium flame, heat sugars and milk together. stir constantly. Once mixture is thick and you can see the bottom of the pan when you swipe a wooden spoon across the bottom, add the nuts and ginger, remove from the heat and stir nuts in until they are covered with the praline sauce. Spoon out teaspoons of the mixture on a wax paper lined plate and they will harden up. Serve and enjoy…
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2 Responses
Sorry i'm off the praline nuts subject, but i am so excited because tonight i took a risk & made quesadillas for all 4 members of my family and EVERYONE ate & enjoyed them. of course, my 12-years old's was made with Velveeta and no veggies, but i still consider it a huge success.
Go, Ellen! As Axel Rose says, “All we need is just a little patience…..”