Recipe: Praline Cookies (3 recipes) for Lisa, Winchester, VA

I found these recipes on the internet and have not tried them but they sound similar to what you are looking for, especially the last recipe which won a Chicago Tribune cookie contest. They are all quite different recipes. Good luck with them. Let me know if any of them turns out to be similar to what you are looking for.

Pecan Praline Cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 and 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

For the icing:
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup whole pecans

Heat oven to 350F.

In large mixer bowl, beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla.

In another bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt; mix into butter mixture to blend thoroughly. Form tablespoons of dough into balls and place, spaced 2 inches apart on greased baking sheets. Bake 10 to 12 minutes until lightly browned. Cool on pans 10 minutes, then remove to racks to cool completely.

To make icing, mix brown sugar and cream in small saucepan over medium heat, mix brown sugar and cream; bring to boil. Cook and stir 2 minutes. Re move from heat and mix in powdered sugar, stirring until smooth. Dip bottoms of pecans into icing and place 2 on each cookie; drizzle tops with icing.

Makes about 3 dozen (2 3/4- inch) cookies.

Praline Cookies

1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) light margarine
1 (5 ounce) can evaporated skim milk
10 large marshmallows
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 cup nuts, chopped

Combine sugar, margarine and evaporated milk in saucepan. Boil for 6 minutes. Remove from heat. Add marshmallows, graham cracker crumbs and nuts. Mix until marshmallows are melted. Quickly drop onto wax paper to cool.

1986 Winner: Praline Cookies
Recipe By : Chicago Tribune annual Food Guide Holiday Cookie Contest December 4, 1986
Serving Size : 36

1/2 Cup Butter
1 1/2 Cups Packed brown sugar
1 Egg
1 1/2 Cups Flour
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
1 Cup Chopped pecans

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter, sugar and egg. Stir in flour, vanilla and pecans. Mix well by hand. Shape into balls about the size of walnuts, place on cookie sheets and flatten to about 1/8 inch. 2. Bake 10 to 12 minutes, or until brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely and harden. (These cookies are chewy, not hard).
Winner Jean McGree of Flossmoor "bores everyone," she says, with this family tale of Christmas praline cookies: "Since the time Mom had been a little girl, each November Grandma would surround her back yard pecan tree with sheets to catch the falling nuts. But most of the nuts had to be knocked from the branches with her long-handled broom. Then she would spend hours stooped over those sheets, picking up the pecans and sorting the good ones from the black and hollow shells. "When her daughter married and moved away, the nuts were carefully picked over, packaged and shipped 'up North.' Free time in the first week of December was always marked for shelling the pecans. Sore hands and stiff backs were repaid with secret nibbling and promises of praline cookies for Christmas. "Soon, I'll start looking for a package from Great-Grandma in South Carolina. Then, as we crack the pecans, I can retell the 'pecan story' to Michael and Ann, who know that Santa always looks for pralines on Christmas Eve."