A brilliant idea first encountered at In Fiore’s 10-year anniversary soiree. I am not a big fan of patchouli, but Julie is a veritable connoisseur, and I am fairly adventurous when it comes to trying new tastes, so I sampled. The confection was delicious, but it didn’t really taste much of patchouli, and now it was gone, leaving just a bit of sugar in the bottom of the little paper candy tray… I licked my finger, dipped it in the sugar, and put it in my mouth…. WOW – that’s where the patchouli was hiding!!
I was intrigued. The attempt to flavor the toffee coating had evidently not worked well – the heat of the toffee made it burn off, so they had ground patchouli herb into the sugar and rolled the toffee coated pecans in the sugar. This was an impressive last minute improvisation, but I (oddly enough) wanted more patchouli flavor… and more of an amber note in the toffee.
Now, Julie is a much more accomplished perfumer than I, and I am equally certain that her caterer’s skills dramatically exceed mine in the kitchen, but I have the advantage of being a competent dilettante in both culinary and aromatic arts, which means I’m fairly comfortable mixing the materials of the two domains.
Here is my version of Patchouli Royale Pecans – inspired by the incomparable depth, subtle nuance, and elegance of In Fiore perfumes and balms.
Ingredients:
Toffee pecans:
1 c. sugar
1 c. butter
3 tbsp water
1 tbsp cistus tincture
1 tbsp vanilla tincture or extract
1/2 tsp maldon smoked salt – ground very fine in a mortar and pestle
4-5 cups pecan halves, lightly toasted
Sugar coating:
1 oz patchouli herb (rainbow grocery)
5 ml cistus tincture (tincture of the new branches of cistus ladaniferous, or rock rose, in organic grape alcohol)
1/2 c. vanilla sugar (home made, but can be found at many fine food purveyors like the Pasta Shop)
3/4 c. powdered sugar
1 tbsp (+/-) organic rose sugar (AllStar Organics – available at rainbow grocery)
One week or so before making the butter toffee pecans:
Spread dried patchouli out on a small plate and drizzle tincture over it – leave in a warm dry place for 2-24 hours to let alcohol evaporate off.
In a mortar and pestle grind the vanilla sugar and patchouli together in 2-3 batches (depending on size of your M&P) until sugar and herb are fairly fine – there will be chunks of the stems from the patchouli. Sift through sieve into a jar, discarding the stems/chaff. Add powdered sugar and rose sugar, stir carefully with a fork, then secure lid tightly on jar and shake vigorously to combine well. Set aside for at least one week to infuse/mature.
Once the patchouli sugar has infused sufficiently and you are ready to put it to use, gather all the ingredients for the toffee pecans.
Combine the vanilla and cistus tincture in a small prep bowl and set it aside.
In a tall sided, heavy bottom pan, combine sugar, salt, water and butter. Bring to 300 degrees stirring continually (use a candy thermometer) as soon as the mixture reaches 300 degrees quit stirring and remove from heat. Immediately pour vanilla/cistus mixture into toffee mixture, stir in, and then pour pecans in, stirring quickly to coat completely. Pour out onto a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil or parchment paper. Quickly separate the pecans while the toffee coating is hot. Let cool completely. Toss toffee-coated pecans in patchouli sugar and store in airtight containers (if they make it that far – I had a helper with the toffee phase and had to threaten her with the fork to get her to stop eating the goods!)
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
OMG, Lisa! When can I come over and taste some of these pecans? Thank you for sharing a fabulous recipe! You are the ultimate dilettante…
Okay, WHERE is Rainbow grocery??? Patchouli herb and rose sugar?? I just NEED to have those in my pantry!! : )
Oh YUMMY NUMMY! Patchouli AND Pecans? How much better could you get? Maybe in a pie…
I’ve had some of these — twice
They’re phenomenal. Spectabulous. Everybody’s gotta make some, yeah? These lovely patchouli pralines are what started me on the flavoring-everything-with-perfumery-stuff rampage I went on, and to some degree I am still on. Super delicious and, not so strangely addicting!
xo to Lisa!