Assemble:

• 4 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup water
•  One 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
• 4 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 5 cups chopped pecans
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Cover a cookie sheet with wax paper greased with (extra) butter. 

In a heavy saucepan, combine sugar, water, milk and corn syrup.  Cook on low heat while stirring frequently until mixture reaches the soft ball stage.*  (It may take as long as 20 minutes.)  Remove saucepan from heat. 

Add pecans, butter and vanilla.  Mix until smooth. 

Drop by tablespoons onto the wax paper where each praline should flatten into “roundish” servings.  If the mixture gets too hard or thick to flatten, add a little water and reheat.  Keep flat and place wax paper between the layers.

*Soft ball stage is a test for candy making describing the point at which a drop of boiling syrup immersed in cold water forms a soft ball that flattens as it is dropped onto a hard surface (as above).  Using a candy thermometer, the soft-ball stage is between 234° and 240° F.

Store tightly covered. 

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