how to make delicious homemade praline

If you are a sweet tooth, then you must have tried praline. And such an exquisite and amazing dessert can be prepared at home with your own hands. From the article you will learn a few successful recipes.

What is praline

Praline is a rather thick and fatty mass, consisting of grated nuts and sugar. Traditionally, almonds are used as a base, which is mixed with sugar and supplemented with other ingredients, for example, cocoa (powder or butter), chocolate, confectionery fat. The cooking technology is simple: the nuts are fried, mixed with sugar, then heated further until the sugar crystals are melted and caramelized. Then the mass is cooled and, after hardening, crushed and grinded.

Fact! Initially, praline was an independent dessert, but later it began to be used in other pastry dishes. Today, it is used to make fillings for chocolate, sweets and cakes.

The history of the origin of praline is very interesting. It is believed that in the seventeenth century such an exquisite dessert was invented by the chef of the French ambassador to the Netherlands, the Duke of Plessis-Praline. On instructions, he was supposed to surprise the guests at the banquet and decided to use the most rare products in those days, taking almonds as a basis. Further, the events of the legends differ. Some believe that the culinary specialist immediately combined fried almonds with burnt sugar and served them to the table. Others are sure that his assistant accidentally spilled the nuts, and the chef, in desperation, poured hot syrup on them. One way or another, the guests liked the mixture of almonds and sugar, and the recipe began to be actively used and modified in every possible way, supplementing with additives such as chocolate or cocoa.

How to make praline at home

How to make praline, which will become either a stand-alone dessert and decoration of the tea table, or an amazing filling for sweets, pastries or cakes? There are many cooking options: they differ in the nuts used as a base, auxiliary ingredients and processing sequence. We suggest that you familiarize yourself with the variations and adopt the recipe you like.

Classic almond

This option is considered classic and simple. For cooking you need:

• one hundred grams of almonds;
• one hundred grams of granulated sugar;
• some vegetable oil (to grease the bottom of the baking sheet).

Step-by-step instruction:

1. Peel and sort the nuts first to remove spoiled specimens, which will extremely negatively affect the taste of the finished dessert.
2. Then, in a dry frying pan and low heat, dry the almonds for five to seven minutes, stirring constantly to avoid burning.
3. Transfer the hot dried nuts to a baking sheet, the bottom of which should be greased with oil (so that nothing sticks, and it is more convenient and easier to separate the mass in the future).
4. Now make your caramel. To do this, pour sugar into a thick-bottomed frying pan or other container with a fairly thick bottom. Heat the granulated sugar over low heat and after it is completely melted, cook the mass until golden brown and thickened.
5. Pour the prepared hot syrup evenly over the almonds on a baking sheet, leave the ingredients for a while.
6. When the composition hardens a little, it can be crushed with a blender. Further, to give the desired consistency, you can optionally add milk, butter (cocoa, butter) or melted chocolate.

Chocolate

And this delicious praline will definitely delight chocolate lovers. And for such a dessert you need:

• 200 grams of any nuts (for example, pistachios, almonds, cashews);
• 70-80 grams of milk chocolate;
• 70-80 grams of dark chocolate (if desired, you can use one type: only bitter or only milk);
• 80-100 grams of powdered sugar;
• a tablespoon of butter (cocoa butter is also suitable);
• if desired, some shortbread cookies (50-60 grams).

Description of the process step by step:

1. After peeling and sorting, nuts should be dried in a dry frying pan for five to seven minutes (or 10 minutes in an oven preheated to 180 degrees).
2. Next, pour the icing sugar directly into the pan with hot nuts. Keep the ingredients on low heat until a not very thick caramel is formed.
3. Grease any dish with butter, put a sweet, thick nut mass in it and leave to harden.
4. When the nut-sugar mass sets and hardens, grind it thoroughly using a blender, food processor or meat grinder.
5. Next, melt the chocolate in a water bath or microwave oven and, while it is still liquid, quickly mix with the sweet nut butter. Mix everything thoroughly until smooth. Add crumbled cookies if desired.
6. From the finished chocolate praline, you can form sweets, for example, using special molds (it is recommended to grease them with oil to make it easier and more convenient to remove the sweets).

From fondue

An exquisite dessert can be made from hazelnuts. And the list of ingredients is as follows:

• 300 g of fondue;
• 250 g of granulated sugar or powder (powder melts faster);
• 20-30 oils (hazelnuts, almonds or regular butter);
• a couple of tablespoons of liqueur (nut or chocolate).

Recipe description:

1. After peeling the hazelnuts (if desired, the husks can be left), spread on a baking sheet and dry in the oven for 10 minutes at 180 degrees.
2. Transfer the finished hazelnuts to any thick-bottomed container, such as a saucepan. Pour sugar or powder there. Put the container on fire and keep it until the sugar melts, acquires an amber hue and turns into a viscous syrup.
3. Spread parchment (baking paper) on a baking sheet and lightly brush with oil. Leave the mass to freeze.
4. After the hazelnuts with caramel have hardened, grind this composition in any convenient way very carefully to a crumb state.
5. Then add oil and liquor, grind everything again until smooth.
6. Done! Hazelnut pralines can be used as intended!

Walnuts with honey

Homemade praline can be prepared from the available walnuts growing in our latitudes. Examine the list of ingredients:

• a glass of peeled walnuts;
• three tablespoons of fairly thick natural honey;
• two tablespoons of granulated sugar;
• 40 grams of butter.

Cooking steps:

1. Break the nuts with your hands or chop with a knife, combine with sugar and transfer to a frying pan, in which keep for about seven minutes until the sugar is completely melted and turns into syrup.
2. Transfer the prepared hot mass to a greased dish or baking sheet, leave to harden.
3. When the syrup becomes solid, you need to break the mass into pieces and grind into crumbs.
4. Next, combine the nut-sugar crumbs with honey and butter, grind everything again until smooth.
5. Your praline is ready and can be turned into candy or used to fill any pastry.

Do you like the recipes? Be sure to try a few and indulge yourself and your loved ones!