By SAT week. I tested on Saturday morning at a site with limited seating due to distancing requirements and everyone masked, which made the testing room quieter than usual — no throat-clearing, no shifting, just the sound of pencils. I settled in and worked through the test with the focused calm I had built since summer. Reading felt right. Writing felt right. Math felt like work that I had done enough of to do correctly under pressure.
I walked out of the testing center at noon into the September sunlight and stood on the sidewalk for a moment. Mama was in the parking lot reading. I got in the car and she looked at me and I said, "Good." She said, "How good?" I said, "I think really good." She said, "Then we celebrate." She had brought a container of my pralines — she had made them herself, following the recipe I had written out for her, which she had never done before. She handed me the container in the car and I ate three pralines in the parking lot and thought that was one of the best things she had ever done for me. The attempt. The following of the recipe. The showing up with the right thing.
My score came in two weeks later: 1490 out of 1600. Reading and Writing 760, Math 730. In the ninety-eighth percentile nationally. I held my phone and looked at the number and felt the weight of everything I had put into it — the two practice tests in summer, the targeted reviews, the final full test — arriving in a number. That is a strange and specific satisfaction. Years of effort becoming a score that is also, in some ways, just a number. I tried to hold both truths simultaneously. I am good at that by now.
Pralines were already mine — a recipe I had written out by hand and never expected anyone else to follow. When Mama made them herself, measuring and stirring her way through my instructions just to have something right waiting in that parking lot, they became something bigger than candy. If you’ve ever wanted to make pralines or any homemade candy that carries that kind of weight, this collection is where I start — and the praline recipe I gave Mama is the one I keep coming back to most.
20+ Favorite Homemade Candy Recipes
Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 25 min | Total Time: 45 min | Servings: 24 pieces
Ingredients
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
- 2 cups pecan halves
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Prepare your surface. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats and set them near the stove. Have a tablespoon-sized cookie scoop or spoon ready.
- Combine sugars and cream. In a heavy-bottomed 3-quart saucepan, combine the granulated sugar, brown sugar, heavy cream, butter, and salt over medium heat. Stir continuously until the butter melts and the sugars dissolve completely.
- Cook to soft-ball stage. Clip a candy thermometer to the side of the pan. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring occasionally, and cook until it reaches 238—240°F (soft-ball stage), about 12—15 minutes. Do not rush this step.
- Add pecans and vanilla. Remove the pan from heat. Stir in the pecan halves and vanilla extract. The mixture will bubble briefly — keep stirring.
- Beat until creamy. Continue stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon for 3—5 minutes, until the candy loses its gloss and begins to thicken to a creamy, opaque consistency.
- Scoop and set. Working quickly, drop heaping tablespoons of the candy onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing them 2 inches apart. Let the pralines cool completely at room temperature, about 20 minutes, until firm.
- Store. Layer cooled pralines between sheets of wax paper in an airtight container. They keep at room temperature for up to one week — if they last that long.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 210 | Protein: 1g | Fat: 12g | Carbs: 27g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 35mg