This low carb pecan praline will be a crowd pleaser at your next gathering, event, or let’s face it, your family table. It’s nutty, sweet, and crunchy.
I have spent hours of my life picking up pecans.
HOURS.
I am not joshing you. I did not buy pecans from Wal-Mart to make pecan pies. No sireeeee. I was made to go outside in the freezing cold sitting on a hard bench and sorting through leaves.
Picking up pecans and putting them into a 5 gallon bucket (several 5 gallon buckets) we then had to take and get cracked. Then we froze then and brought them out all year for our various desserts.
Hard Earned Pecans.
Crunchy Munchy Tasty Pecan Praline That’s Low Carb
Now my grandmother never made low carb pecan praline because nobody made low carb anything back in the day.
My grandfather was a diabetic, though, and I’m sure she’d have done so if she knew how.
Psst… try our pumpkin pecan cobbler or our syrup cake while you’re at it.
What does “praline” even mean?
Praline is a type of confection that contains sugar, nuts, and some type of liquid to bind it.
Depending on where you are they may use cream, half and half, etc. Pecan pralines are classic Southern candies (they can be called a candy since they’re hard!)
What’s the difference between pralines and brittle?
Praline is typically made with butter, milk, cream, or half and half to give it the hardened texture, then nuts are added and allowed to harden. Essentially, praline is caramelized sugar with nuts in it.
Brittle has peanuts or nuts in it, not pecans, and is hard and super crunchy. It typically just has sugar that’s brought to a heavy boil then cooled down.
What’s the difference between praline and caramel?
Essentially, praline is caramel you add nuts to, and then refrigerate. To make praline you create a caramel on the stove top then add your pecans. You refrigerate it to make it set.
What types of sweeteners will work in low carb pecan praline?
Since this is a low carb pecan praline we are substituting good old fashioned sugar for some sugar alternatives. You can essentially pick your fave substitute here.
- Stevie
- Monkfruit
- Golden monkfruit
- Splenda
- Erythritol
- Sucralose
- Xylitol
- Yacon Syrup
I’m sure by the time you’re reading this there are a million more options. Choose one and test it out! This recipe was made using monkfruit sweetener, but you can try out your own.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter, 1 stick
- 2 tbsp sweetener (monkfruit, splenda, stevia, etc.)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup pecan halves
Directions
- Line your baking sheet with parchment paper or waxed paper.
- Grease the paper with your preferred method (nonstick cooking spray, wipe it with the butter wrapper, etc.)
- Melt butter and sweetener on the stove top in a medium sized pan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and allow the mixture to brown without stirring it until it reaches a deep caramel color. This is about 5 to 7 minutes.
- Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla and heavy cream.
- Add pecans to this pot and stir gently to coat.
- Scoop pecans onto the prepared baking sheet. Drizzle any excess sauce over the pecans.
- Refrigerate to set, up to 2 hours.
- Store in an air tight container once set.
Pecan Praline
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter 1 stick
- 2 tbsp sweetener monkfruit, splenda, stevia
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup pecan halves
Instructions
- Line your baking sheet with parchment paper or waxed paper.
- Grease the paper with your preferred method (nonstick cooking spray, wipe it with the butter wrapper, etc.)
- Melt butter and sweetener on the stovetop in a medium sized pan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and allow the mixture to brown without stirring it until it reaches a deep caramel color. This takes about 5 to 7 minutes.
- Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla and heavy cream.
- Add pecans to this pot and stir gently to coat.
- Scoop pecans onto the prepared baking sheet. Drizzle any excess sauce over the pecans.
- Refrigerate to set.
Notes
- You can use any sweetener of your choice, but if you want it to be low carb then use Stevia, sucralose, erythritol, monk sweetener, xylitol, yacon syrup, etc.
- Give the pralines at least 20 minutes to set, 2 hours is better. It will depend on a variety of factors, but avoid removing them from the baking sheet prematurely.
- Afterwards, store in an airtight container.
