Pralines are a long-cooking candy, and you'll need a candy thermometer to make them. The finished candies will keep at room temperature for a few days if stored airtight. They also freeze beautifully.

Ingredients:
2-1/2 cups pecan halves
1-3/4 cups granulated sugar
1-1/2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
1 cup water
Pinch salt
Four squares (4 ounces) unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into bits, at room temperature
1 teaspoons vanilla

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350-degrees. In a shallow, foil-lined pan, place pecans in a single layer. Toast pecan halves just until light golden and fragrant, about 10 to 13 minutes. Stir occasionally, watching carefully as nuts can burn quickly. Remove from oven and set aside to cool to room temperature.

When cooled, set aside 1-cup and chop into medium pieces; place in small bowl. Cover and set aside at room temperature. Chop any large pecans in half. Cover pecan halves and set aside at room temperature.

Line a 7-by-11-by-2-inch pan with two layers of regular-weight aluminum foil, pressing out as many creases as possible and folding overhang back against the outside of the pan. Set aside.

Adjust a candy thermometer so that it's bulb rests slightly above the bottom of a 2-1/2 quart heavy-bottomed, nonreactive saucepan. Remove thermometer; combine both sugars, water, and salt in saucepan. Place over low heat, stirring frequently to dissolve sugars and scraping pot sides once or twice with rubber spatula. Meanwhile, place candy thermometer in cold water in a separate saucepan; set over low heat to pre-warm the thermometer. While sugar-water heats, place chopped chocolate in small heatproof bowl. Heat cream in small saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally, until very hot. Pour about two-thirds of hot cream over chocolate. Allow to stand for a minute or two, then stir or whisk gently until very smooth. Gradually stir or whisk in remaining hot cream.

Increase heat under sugar-water to medium. When both sugars are dissolved and sugar-water is very hot (it may actually have started to boil), add melted chocolate mixture and stir in well. Stir mixture occasionally until it reaches a gentle boil. Stir often enough to keep from sticking to bottom of pan (every few minutes).

The thermometer should still be in the gradually-heating saucepan of water. When the water boils, turn the heat off leaving the thermometer in the pan. After 20 to 30 minutes of the praline mixture boiling, remove the thermometer from the water, shake off, and place into the boiling praline mixture. Continue stirring every five minutes or so; stir a bit more often as the boiling mixture thickens. Cook mixture to 235-degrees. (this may take an hour or more of boiling), then remove from heat and remove thermometer from pan. Add butter bits and vanilla. Let stand for about a minute, then stir in with a clean, large, heavy spoon.

Place about an inch of cold water and ice cubes into the larger, shallower pan, then place the pan of hot praline mixture into that pan. Stir/beat with the large spoon, pausing often. Scrape the spoon and the bottom of the pot occasionally. Keep stirring the praline mixture until it has thickened substantially and is beginning to lose it's gloss. Important: you might want to remove it from the ice water bath when it has thickened somewhat but while it is still very glossy - you do not want to lose the glossy look. Set the pan of praline mixture on a folded kitchen towel, and keep stirring, again pausing frequently. When gloss begins to disappear, add the pecan halves and stir to distribute evenly. Stirring should be getting difficult at this point. Working quickly, turn the praline mixture into the prepared pan, scraping out the saucepan with a buttered spatula. With back of buttered spoon, quickly spread mixture evenly in pan; it should already be starting to set up. Sprinkle top evenly with chopped pecans, and press them in lightly. Cool completely before cutting and storing. If desired, wrap individually in plastic wrap. Store airtight at room temperature for up to several days. Freeze for longer storage.

Cut these any size you wish, but do keep in mind they are very rich so you may want to go for about 32 small pieces.