Serves: 5
Total Calories: 1,582

Graham Cracker Crust:
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup ground pecans
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2 cups sugar
1/4 cup water
2 cups light cream
2 pounds cream cheese, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
6 eggs
1/3 cup Kahlúa liqueur

Graham Cracker Crust:
Lightly grease the sides of springform pan. Mix all ingredients together and press in the bottom of springform pan: bake at 375° for 8–10 minutes.

In a saucepan, heat the sugar and 1/4 cup water, and cook over medium heat until sugar has turned golden brown and has liquefied. Pour in the cream, and cook until the sugar has dissolved. Set this aside and let cool. In a large bowl, cream the cream cheese until fluffy. Mix in the vanilla and eggs, 1 at a time, until well blended. Add the cooled praline mixture and mix well. Stir in the Kahlúa and pour the batter in a springform pan lined with Graham Cracker Crust. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes, then at 300° for 1 hour. Turn off the oven, crack the door, and leave in the oven for 30 minutes. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before removing from pan.


Fun Fact: There are many variations on the story of how the praline came to be, but most of them revolve around the manor house of the 17th-century French diplomat Cesar du Plessis Praslin—a name that later morphed into the term for the candy. A chef in the kitchen there developed a technique for coating almonds in cooked sugar which, competing stories hold, were used by his courtly employer either as a digestive aid or as gifts to the ladies he visited. These early confections traveled with Frenchmen to their new colony on the banks of the Mississippi, a land where both sugar cane and nuts were cultivated in abundance. In local kitchens, Louisiana pecans were substituted for the more exotic almonds, cream was added, giving the candy more body, and a southern tradition was born. The local and proper pronunciation is “PRAH-leen,” while the nut most commonly used in it is pronounced “pih-KAHN.”

Nutritional Facts:

Serves: 5
Total Calories: 1,582
Calories from Fat: 1,090

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