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La Belle Cuisine
Unless otherwise indicated,
the source for all recipes
in this feature is:
My Mother's Southern Desserts:
More than 200 Treasured Family Recipes
for Holiday and Everyday Celebrations
by James Villas with
Martha Pearl Villas, 1998,
William Morrow and Company, Inc
 
Christmas
Whiskey Pecans
“During
the Christmas holidays, there are never less than three glass bowls of
these
boozy pecans that Mother began making decades ago and that literally
taste
like Christmas to me. And, of course, the same pecans turn up at cocktail
parties anytime between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. Since the pecans
freeze
so beautifully in freezer bags, I usually have some on hand
year-round.
A warning: They are utterly addictive.”
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons bourbon
3 cups pecan halves
In a large, heavy
saucepan, combine the sugar and evaporated milk and
bring to a low boil over
moderate heat, stirring constantly, till the syrup
registers 240 degrees F. on a
candy thermometer or forms a soft ball
when a small glob is dropped into 1/2
cup of cold water. Remove the
pan from the heat, add the salt, bourbon, and
pecans, and stir till the
nuts are thoroughly coated with the syrup. Pour
the pecans out onto
waxed paper and let them cool completely before storing.
Yield: 3 cups pecans
Martha’s Sweet Notes: To test
for the soft ball stage without a candy
thermometer, drop a small amount of
the hot syrup into 1/2 cup cold
water and roll the glob between your thumb
and index finger; if done,
a soft ball will form.
Or, if you prefer a pecan
confection without the booze…
Sugared
Pecans
“Pecans are almost a symbol of
Southern cooking, and nowhere do nuts
figure
more prominently than in our
numerous desserts… Nothing, of
course, is better than toasted, salted
fresh pecan halves at cocktail parties,
but when Mother
wants to
put out
bowls of treats for nibbling at bridge
games and book club meetings, these
sugared pecans are always at the
top of the list. Remember
not
to make these
pecans on a damp, humid
day, as they will not firm up
properly,
and be sure
to store them in
tightly closed tins. Also, stored in
sealed freezer
bags,
fresh pecans
prepared in any manner maintain their
integrity for up to a
year in
the freezer.”
1/2 cup granulated
sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon white corn syrup
Grated rind of 1 medium-size orange
1 tablespoon butter
2 cups pecan halves
In a small, heavy
saucepan, combine the sugar, cream, corn syrup,
orange rind, and butter and
bring to a low boil over moderate heat,
stirring constantly, till the syrup
registers 240 degrees F. on a candy
thermometer
or forms a soft ball when a small
glob is dropped into
1/2 cup of cold water. Remove the pan from the heat,
scrape the
syrup into a medium-size mixing bowl, and beat with a whisk till
cool.
Add the pecans and mix till well coated, then scatter them over a
baking
sheet and let them cool completely before storing.
Yield: 2 cups pecans
Or, perhaps a pecan treat somewhat
more on the
savory side is more to your liking.
Spiced
Pecans
Bon Appetit:
The Christmas Season
From the Editors of Bon Appétit, 2000,
Condé Nast Books,
Clarkson Potter
“Great to nibble on with
Champagne.”
Makes about 4 cups
1/4 cup (1/2 stick)
butter
1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons Chinese five-spice powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
4 cups pecan halves
Preheat oven to 350
degrees
F. Butter 2 large baking sheets. Melt 1/4
cup butter in a large skillet over
medium heat. Add brown sugar, 1/4
cup water, salt and spices; stir until
sugar dissolves. Add nuts to sugar
mixture and cook until syrup thickly
coats the nuts, stirring often, 5
minutes.
Transfer nuts to
prepared sheets. Bake until golden, 10
minutes. Cool. (Can be made 3 days
ahead. Store airtight at room
temperature.)
Santa
Claus Hand-Dipped Candy Balls
“When
my father’s Swedish mother died and the wife of one of his printing
customers brought this candy to the bereavement, Mother wasted no time
jotting down the recipe and making her typical adjustments. Eventually,
she
began including the candy in her Christmas gift tins, and the rest is
history…
Improbable as it may sound, she also puts out bowls of this candy
at holiday
cocktail parties after heating guests plead, ‘But, Martha Pearl,
where is
your
Santa Claus candy?’ In case you forgot, Southerners love
sweets with
their booze.”
1/2
cup (1 stick) butter, softened
One 14-ounce can condensed milk
[such as Eagle Brand]
Two 1-pound boxes confectioners’
sugar, sifted
2 cup finely chopped pecans
1 teaspoon extract flavoring [rum,
sherry, maple, vanilla, etc.]
1/2 pound chocolate
1/2 block paraffin
About 100 pecan of walnut halves
In
a large mixing bowl, combine the butter, condensed milk, and
confectioners’ sugar and mix well with a wooden spoon. Add the
chopped
pecans and flavoring, cover with plastic wrap, and chill till
very firm, at
least 2 hours.
In
a small, heavy saucepan, melt the chocolate and paraffin together
over
low
heat, stirring.
Using
your hands, rolled the chilled butter mixture into small balls about
the
size of medium marbles and, stabbing each with a toothpick, dip the
balls
into the chocolate to coat well. Place the balls on waxed paper and,
before
the chocolate hardens, press a nut half into the top of each ball.
Let the
balls cool completely and store in an airtight container.
Yield: About 100 balls
Martha’s
Sweet Note: When dipping
candies in chocolate and paraffin,
keep the mixture warm in the top of a
double boiler over hot water so that
it doesn’t harden.
The
Delta Queen’s Pralines
“Dibby
Smoot, an old-fashioned Southern belle if I ever met one, was a real
character, and since she was a North Carolina transplant from Mississippi,
we all called her the Delta Queen till she finally sipped her last cocktail
just recently.
‘Martha Pearl, I’m getting thirsty,’ she would announce
around four o’clock
in the afternoon during one of her ‘socials’, a
directive that would send
Mother to the bar for Dibby’s favorite Early
Times bourbon. ‘And you
might as well bring out some of those pralines I
brought over.’ Now you
must understand that Dibby had absolutely no use
for classic Louisiana
pralines [sacre bleu!], convinced that since the
batter was never beaten
like hers, the texture was all wrong. At first, we
balked at this heresy,
but then the more Mother tried Dibby’s ‘beaten
pralines’, the more raves
she got when she served them at her
Valentine’s Day party. The main
difference is that those pralines are
lighter and more delicate.”
2
cups firmly packed dark brown sugar
2 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
1 cup evaporated milk
1 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla or
maple extract (or a combination
of both)
3 tablespoons light corn syrup
2 cups coarsely chopped pecans
In
a large, heavy saucepan, combine all the ingredients except the pecans
and
mix till well-blended. Cook, stirring, over moderate heat till the mix-
ture
registers 240 degrees F. on a candy thermometer or forms a soft ball
when a glob
is dropped into 1/2 cup cold water. Cool the mixture slightly,
then beat
with a wooden spoon till creamy. Add the pecans and stir till
well blended
and smooth. Drop the batter by the teaspoon onto waxed
paper and let the
pralines cool completely before serving or storing.
Yield: About 3 1/2 dozen
pralines
Cocktail
Brandy-Rum Balls
“Quite
frankly, I’ve never understood the way Southerners absolutely relish these
sorts of sweet confections with cocktails, a character fault on my part, no
doubt, that has led Mother more than once to scowl, ‘You’ve just become
too much of a Yankee!’… In any case, when Mother makes these balls
for her cocktail parties (and, believe me, they’re gone in no time), she
always makes enough extra ones to add to her fancy gift jars with decorative
ribbons intended for special friends.”
Two
7 1/2-ounce packages vanilla wafers,
crushed into fine crumbs
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup light or dark rum
1/3 cup brandy
1 pound walnut pieces, finely ground
Vegetable oil
Granulated sugar for rolling
In
a large mixing bowl, combine the wafer crumbs, honey, rum, brandy,
and
walnuts and mix till well blended. Rub a little vegetable oil on your
hands and roll small pieces of the mixture between your palms to form
balls about the size of large marbles. Roll each ball in granulated sugar
and store in an airtight container up to 2 weeks.
Yield: About 55 balls
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