My son is at college at UNC, so I get to visit Trader Joe's now and then when I drop him off or pick him up. I must confess that I can find the not-so-healthy stuff at Trader Joe's like the Trader Joe's Pecan Pralines. It is some kind of Southern radar. Drop me in the health food store, and I will fine the sinful food. I've always loved Southern pecan pralines, so the Trader Joe's pralines caught my eye. They did not look like pralines, but I thought I'd probably like them. Nuts. Sugar. What's not to like? Well, I might not like the scores over at the doctor's office on those darn blood tests. But, I thought these were a sure bet on my yummy meter. I got the Trader Joe's Pecan Pralines for the holidays, and here it is after the new year. That kind of tells the tale. Southern nut pralines are kind of like drop cookies with a sugar and butter based sauce with chopped nuts. They spread out and have cookie and nuts. You can Google "pecan pralines" and see what they look like. Trader Joe's pecan pralines are really just sugar and butter covered pecans. That could be a good thing, but it's not. The coating is so heavy, that the nut taste gets lost even though it appears that you get more nuts than with the broken nut pralines that look more like cookies. This is true for the whole nuts as well as the broken nuts, and more of them are nut pieces than full half nut kernels. You can see from the picture where I just poured some in my hand. I do like sweets, but the Trader Joe's Pecan Pralines are overpowering. They have a lot of sugar and butter and salt (but no cholesterol - yay that). In fact, that is all I taste, so I might as well dip my finger in the sugar bag. It's not just me. The good treats go fast here with two teen boys. I have Trader Joe's Pecan Pralines left and the second week of January. That means they've been sitting at least a month. When the boys get desperate, I guess they eat a few, but these are sure not family favorites. I'm tossing the container even though it's about half full. They aren't awful, and I could eat them. But, I sure don't need that extra sugar and fat. When I splurge, I want to make sure I enjoy the heck out of it. That's not the case here, and even the boys (who are not very picky) did not get very excited about these pecan pralines that are really just sugar nuts.  

CyndiA

southern, NC

I used to make pralines with my mom when I was a child, so I have a penchant for that southern favorite.  I just don't make it often, because it's a lot of work to get it right.  When I saw the 13 ounce container of Trader Joe's Pecan Pralines, I knew I had to try it. One bite and I was hooked.  I finished the entire tub of Pecan Pralines in two days.  By myself. The whole pecans are covered with a praline coating and it's an authentic coating since the ingredients are the same ones that I use to make my homemade pralines: sugar, butter, corn syrup, vanilla and salt.  The best part of all-- I don't have to do any work! The only con to this product is that I will occasionally come across praline lumps minus the pecans.  I've learned to look over a few different containers before I purchase one and find the one with the most intact pecans. Another yummy way to use these pecans is to break them up over vanilla ice cream and drizzle some chocolate syrup on top. Don't forget the cherry!

DeafMom

Chicagoland, IL