New Orleans Pralines and Desserts: Build Your List

New Orleans pralines are a soft, creamy pecan candy made from sugar, cream, butter and pecans, and they sit at the center of the city's dessert tradition beside bread pudding, bananas Foster, beignets, king cake and snowballs. Keep a list with a heading for each sweet, and rate each by texture.

Eat sweets in small portions so you can try more, share a plate of bread pudding, and drink water between stops.

What are New Orleans pralines?

A New Orleans praline is a soft, creamy, sugary patty with whole pecans, cooked in a copper pot and spooned onto a sheet to set. It is different from the French almond praline it is named for. It is sweet, a little grainy and melts in the mouth, and it is sold in candy shops and by street vendors.

Pralines are usually sold individually wrapped. A good one is fresh, with a soft, creamy texture and plenty of nuts.

How to rate a praline

Look at the texture first. A good praline should be creamy and slightly crumbly, not hard and not sticky. Check the pecans, which should be fresh, whole and plentiful. Taste for sweetness: it should be sweet, but with a buttery, caramel note that keeps it from being flat.

Score each of the three from one to five, and write a sentence. Compare a praline from a fresh batch with one that has been on the shelf, because freshness changes everything. Ask the person at the counter when the batch was made, and whether the shop makes its own or buys them in. Many candy kitchens cook small batches several times a day, and the difference in softness is easy to taste.

Bread pudding New Orleans: the dessert in many forms

Bread pudding in New Orleans is a baked custard of day-old French bread, milk, eggs, sugar and spice, often served with a warm sauce made with whiskey, rum or caramel. Some versions include raisins or pecans. It is dense, rich and comforting, and it suits cool weather.

Judge the custard: it should be set but tender. The sauce should add flavor without drowning the dessert.

What is bananas Foster?

It is a dessert of bananas cooked in butter, brown sugar and cinnamon, flamed with rum and served over ice cream. It is said to have been created in New Orleans in the 1950s, and restaurants still prepare it at the table. Cherries jubilee is a similar flambe dessert.

Watch the preparation. A good version has bananas that are soft but not mushy and a sauce that is glossy, not burnt. Dessert at a table with a flame is a short piece of theater, so ask when it will arrive and be ready with your camera or your spoon.

Beignets, king cake and snowballs

Beignets are square, fried pastries dusted with powdered sugar and eaten warm, usually with coffee. King cake is a ring-shaped cake with colored sugar, eaten in the weeks around Mardi Gras. A snowball is shaved ice with flavored syrup, a summer treat that is different from a snow cone because the ice is finer and fluffier.

Compare beignets from different places, and note whether they are light or heavy, hot or lukewarm. A beignet should be pillowy, with a thin crisp surface, and arrive covered in so much sugar that it ends up on your clothes; wear dark colors with care and keep a napkin handy.

How to build a New Orleans dessert list

Make a list with a heading for each type: pralines, bread pudding, beignets and so on. Write the place, the date, the dish and your scores. Mark any you would go back for. Add notes on the setting and the price, so you can recommend places to friends.

A list should reflect your taste. If you like less sugar, say so.

What should you drink with New Orleans desserts?

Coffee with chicory is the traditional pairing for beignets and bread pudding: strong, dark and slightly bitter, it cuts the sugar. Cafe au lait, half coffee and half hot milk, is the softer option. A glass of cold milk goes well with pralines, and a small glass of rum or bourbon suits bread pudding with a whiskey sauce.

Tips for sweets in New Orleans

Eat sweets in small portions, so you can try more. Share a plate of bread pudding and a bag of pralines. Drink water between, and pace yourself in warm weather. Many sweets are available to take home, so ask about packaging if you plan to travel.

If you have a nut allergy, say so, because pralines and many other desserts contain pecans.

Where should you read next?

For savory food in the same region, read the Louisiana food guide, and for a Southern coastal comparison see the South Carolina food guide. A holiday meal elsewhere is covered in the Thanksgiving dinner out guide. All the cities are on the US guides page.

How this works in the app: Make a list.

A dessert list is easy to start and hard to stop. Get the Mosey app, rate every praline, slice of bread pudding and beignet you try, and build a New Orleans sweet list of your own.