Chocolate Pecan Pralines

NOTE: Chocolate chips should be chilled. If they are not, stick them in the freezer for about 10 minutes.

Assemble all the ingredients and utensils before starting to cook. Measure out the chocolate chips and keep them refrigerated until just before needed.

You will also need a large, heavy-bottomed stainless steel pot, skillet or Dutch oven pot with deep sides, a long-handled metal whisk or spoon, 2 large spoons (or an ice cream scoop with a manual release) and a very lightly greased cookie sheet.

Melt the butter in the pot over high heat; add the sugars, milk, cream and chopped pecans. Cook 5 minutes, whisking constantly. Reduce heat to medium, and continue cooking and whisking for 10 minutes.

Add the pecan halves and continue whisking and cooking until done, about 8 to 10 minutes. If the mixture starts smoking excessively toward end of cooking time, lower the heat.

This is the tricky part. Stir in vanilla extract in whole pot, then immediately drop 1/4 cup of chocolate chips into about one-sixth of the batter (i.e., drop in one spot of pot, in one place only).
Stir quickly in that area of the pot, just enough to cover some of the chips with batter but not enough to allow the chips to melt. Quickly scoop up that chocolate mixture and drop mixture onto the cookie sheet by heaping spoonfuls, using the second spoon to push the batter off the first (or use ice cream scoop).

Each praline should be about 2 inches in diameter and 1/2 inch thick.

Repeat with remaining mixture, stirring briefly before adding more chocolate chips.

The cooled pralines should be light brown, opaque, somewhat chunky and crumbly (the ones in the picture are wet still).