Line a large baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Prepare 2 pans.

In a 4 quart pot (that’s about a medium sized pot) with a candy thermometer clipped on the side, combine the sugar, brown sugar, heavy cream, milk and butter. Cook over high heat, stirring constantly until the mixture reaches 236º F (soft ball stage).

Add in the chopped pecans, the mixture will drop about 10º F - constantly stir the mixture until it reaches 236º F again. Quickly add in the salt and vanilla extract, the mixture will bubble up, remove the pot from the heat, and stir constantly for 3 minutes.

Continue to stir the mixture while using a cookie scoop to drop pralines onto the prepared baking sheets. The best way to do this is to get a buddy to stir the mixture while you scoop! And the key is that you have to move FAST while scooping. Once the mixture cools too much, it will become crumbly and won’t form nice pralines.

Allow the pralines to fully crystalize before removing them from the baking sheet. This could be 20 minutes up to 2 hours. It really depends on how long the mixture was cooked. Once set, store the pralines in an airtight container on the counter.