Pecan Praline Sauce

Pecan Praline Sauce is all the goodness of a pecan pie trapped in a jar to be enjoyed all year long. Drizzle this sauce over ice cream, waffles, pound cake, or even brie and you’ll have the most-requested homemade gift made in your kitchen.

Ingredients:
2 cups of corn syrup (dark, light or a combination)
½ cup water
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1 1/2 cup pecan pieces
½ tsp vanilla
Yields approx 4 half-pints

Recipe for pecan praline sauce sourced from Ball’s Blue Book of Preserving

Oh this is a tasty one– not at all healthy–so if you are opposed to sugar and more sugar plus more than a few nuts and more sugar then you might not want to read another word… Ok, if you are still with me then here we go. I made jars of this Pecan Praline Sauce before Christmas and shared it with friends as gifts. I enjoy making gifts from the kitchen and one of my goals is to be able to share recipe ideas on this blog so that my friends have some options to turn to when it comes to using up all of these goodies. The best compliment you can receive after giving a gift like this is to receive the empty glass jar in return with a request for more!

The process is straight-forward. Mix the syrup and water in a saucepan. I used a Dutch oven and that worked nicely. There is not enough quantity of liquid that it will bubble up while boiling and jump out to burn you. With other jams and canning recipes you need to take that into consideration. (Yes, I learned the hard way!) Still, take care and wear long sleeves or a long oven mitt. Bring the mixture to a boil for one minute. Once you reduce the heat, stir in the pecans and vanilla and simmer for 5 minutes. The recipe calls for one cup but I found that to be a bit on the thin side. I doubled it and found that the ratio of syrup to pecans wasn’t quite right so I landed on a cup and a half which did the trick.

If you want to can the recipe for pecan praline sauce, leave ¼ inch headspace and process for 10 minutes. At my altitude I needed to add another 5 minutes to the canning process. Be sure to make any such adjustments for your own kitchen. If you aren’t familiar with canning, this sauce is happy to be jarred and refrigerated.

A simple use for this sauce is the most obvious: pour it over vanilla ice cream. Another delicious option is to use puff pastry and brie cheese. Wrap the cheese and praline sauce in puff pastry and cook until golden.