Praline
Hey foodies!
Praline often seems very intimidating... Yet if you know the basic techniques, there's nothing really complicated about it.
Here's a little tutorial to help you make your own homemade praline. :o)
Praline is used in many recipes such as spread, ice cream, cakes, Paris-Brest and many more.
A praline is equal parts nut and sugar. So choose a nut: hazelnut, almond, pecan or pistachio and add the same amount of sugar with a pinch of salt to enhance the flavour.
For approximately 300g of praline you will need:
For example
- 180g of hazelnuts
- 180g of sugar
- 2g of salt
Or alternatively
- 180g of pistachios
- 180g of sugar
- 2g of salt
The first important step is to roast your nuts. You need to put them in the oven so they develop more flavour afterwards. I always roast my hazelnuts before eating them, as I find the flavour is a thousand times more pronounced and they are crunchier.
The temperature and roasting time will depend on the nut.
Hazelnuts = 170°C for 20-25 minutes
Pistachios = 150°C for 10-15 minutes
Walnuts and pecans = 170°C for 15-20 minutes
Almonds = 170°C for 15-20 minutes
If your nuts still have their skin on, roast them until the skin cracks and becomes quite dark (dark brown). You can, for example, break a hazelnut in two. If it is golden on the inside, it's ready.
If your nuts are already blanched, then they should be golden on the outside.
The skin
You can blanch your nuts or not once roasting is done.
If you don't blanch your nuts (remove the skin) then your praline will be much more bitter afterwards.
To blanch a nut, roast it, then rub it between your hands once cooled. The skin will come off on its own.
Let's go!
We'll start by roasting 180g of hazelnuts.
Preheat your oven to 170°C. Then place your hazelnuts on a perforated baking tray lined with a silicone mat and bake them for 20 minutes. The perforated tray will allow for better roasting.
You can do this the day before if you don't want to wait for them to cool down.
Here are the roasted hazelnuts. You can clearly see that the skin has cracked.
We'll let them cool down a little. They will keep crackling for a few more minutes. You can clearly see that they have browned.
Once cooled, we'll peel them. To do this, I take them between my hands and rub them against each other. The skin will come off very easily. It doesn't matter if a little remains, but you should remove as much skin as possible.
You can also put them in a cloth and rub them that way. I prefer the "hands" method :o
Set your hazelnuts aside in a small bowl.
Dry caramel
Now let's tackle our dry caramel. Don't be scared! It really isn't that complicated.
To start, weigh 180g of sugar. That's the amount we'll be using.
Take a saucepan and put a layer of sugar on the bottom (just a thin layer of a few millimetres, no more).
We'll start by heating this layer of sugar. Once it starts to melt, add a small amount of sugar on top and wait again for it to melt.
Continue like this until all the sugar has melted.
ATTENTION: very very important! Never stir your caramel with a spatula or any other tool! It would crystallise immediately!
TIP: to prevent the caramel from browning too quickly, I lift my saucepan from time to time (or remove it from the heat) and give it a swirling motion. This way, the sugar will melt evenly without burning.
There we go, our dry caramel is ready.
Now pour it onto your silicone mat and let it cool.
Once the caramel is fully cooled and hard, break it into pieces using a small rolling pin. Do not break it with your hands! You could cut yourself!
Then place the 180g of roasted hazelnuts and your caramel pieces in the blender/food processor.
Add 2g of salt. I always use my super precise scale spoon to weigh salt and other ingredients in small quantities!
Blend. At first, it will give you a kind of very dry powder. That's normal. :o) You need to keep blending.
The praline will gradually come together.
Don't blend at full power, as you risk overheating your machine. The praline will first be granular, then sandy, and finally become more liquid. That's when we'll have homemade praline!
TIP: if your machine gets too hot, no worries, take a few breaks.
You can see in the second photo below the texture we want to achieve.
You really need to persevere. It can take up to 20 minutes depending on the machine used.
Once the praline is ready, transfer it into a glass jar.
You can also make praline with pistachios, the process is the same.
Only the temperature and roasting time change, as mentioned at the beginning of the recipe for pistachios: 150°C for 10-15 minutes.
This pistachio praline was used in the Paris-Brest recipe. :o)
There you go! I hope I’ve inspired you to try making homemade praline.
It will keep for approximately 1 month in a sealed jar away from light and moisture.
Have a lovely Sunday, foodies!
Karin
P.S.: All the equipment used can be found at the bottom of the recipe.
Related products
Perfect Height Rolling Pin - 22.8cm
Perforated aluminium plate 40 x 30cm
Digital scales spoon
Microperforated silicone mats
Silicone mat - 40 x 30 cm
Hand blender - chopper 3 in 1
Related posts
Juicy Matcha Muffins with Pecan Nuts & White Chocolate
Matcha Iced Latte & Coconut Variant
Pull-apart bread with fresh wild garlic pesto
Mini Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips
Leave a comment
Comments
Question de Marie
By: Marie M. On 2024-12-06Bonjour,
J’ai fait le praliné aux noix de pécan pour faire la bûche vanille pécan mais il est assez amère, est-ce normal ou j’ai fait qqc de faux , mixer trop vite? qu’en pensez-vous?
Merci pour votre aide et vos recettes.
Marie
Replied by: Karin On 2024-12-09
Question de Elodie
By: Elodie V. On 2024-11-28Bonjour!
Petite question, je n’ai jamais fait de caramel et j’ai testé! Sur combien faites-vous fondre le sucre? Sur un thermostat de 10? J’ai fait entre 6 et 8, je ne sais pas si c’était bien je trouve que le caramel est un peu trop foncé (il sent assez fort, pas encore le brûlé mais pas loin! ?)
Merci d’avance pour votre réponse! ?
Replied by: Elodie V. On 2024-11-28
Replied by: Karin On 2024-11-28
Question de Delphine
By: Delphine S. On 2022-05-15Bonjour, quelle est la marque de votre blender?
Replied by: Karin On 2022-05-16
Question de Tifanie
By: Tifanie N. On 2021-12-16Bonjour,
Merci pour la recette. Avec les quantités d'ingrédients donnés ici, combien cela donne au total de quantité de praliné (environ) svp? J'en ai besoin pour l'utiliser dans 2 bûches (env. 200g. donc). Merci pour votre réponse, bon après-midi!
Replied by: Karin On 2021-12-16
Question de Tiziana
By: Tiziana C. On 2020-07-09Bonjour, le praline se conserve comment et pour combien de temps? Merci d'avance
Replied by: Karin On 2020-07-09