Dibby’s Mississippi Pralines

Named after a seventeenth-century diplomat, César du Plessis-Praslin, and one of the great delicacies of Louisiana Creole cuisine for more than three hundred years, pralines today come in every flavor and texture imaginable. (Ultrasoft ones with orange rind are a favorite at Mardi Gras, and in New Orleans at Christmas, you even find some dyed pink.) Sinfully rich, pralines couldn’t be easier to make, the one requirement being a candy thermometer to indicate the exact instant the caramelized