Pralines collage

Easy almond pralines, pralín and praliné recipe, the top 10 and a feedback request

by Lili
May 17, 2016
13 comments
Basics

I used to be scared of pralines or anything caramel.  In Paris I wanted to buy jars of praliné paste to take home to Barcelona.  But I couldn’t – the suitcase was too full of other baking stuff.  And that’s how I learnt it’s surprisingly easy to make pralines in just five to ten minutes.  Really easy.  It’s just almonds, sometimes hazelnuts too, added to a caramel made by boiling sugar and water.  You don’t even need a sugar thermometre!  It’s delicious so make double as you can’t help testing it out repeatedly even when you should save some to decorate the sides of your cake or crush in a yummy layer.  The recipe will go in the basics section later but it’s being posted here first to bring it to your attention.  Roll up roll up, pralines for everyone!  Get your pralines here… sorry, I mean make your own, make your own!  🙂

Homemade praliné

I have a feedback request for you later and I’ll show you my 2016 ‘top ten’ (bakes, not hunks).  But first the pralines.  Yum.  Drooling in anticipation.

The recipe

There are different ways to make pralines.  This method has worked for me and given me caramelised nuts that don’t weep after a day.  It’s kind of sad when your caramel starts running or dribbling over your cake, so try this recipe.  It’s based on Praliné (en pâte et pralin en poudre) from la Cuisine de Bernard, winner of a 2011 Golden Blog Award for best French cooking blog.  The judges adored his wonderful pedagogical step-by-step recipes.  He talks about his blogging since the award here (in French).  Anyway, love his praliné recipe and here are the slightly adapted instructions, in English.

  • 240g/8.5oz almonds with the skin (or replace 50% with hazelnuts)
  • 160g (4/5 cup) granulated sugar (or 160g/3/4 cup caster sugar)
  • 15ml/g water

Lightly oil a marble surface, baking tray or heat-resistant silicone mat.  Place the sugar in a heavy-bottomed saucepan or frying pan.  Stir in the water so it’s mixed.  Put over medium heat.  And stop stirring.

Making homemade praliné 1

Boil the sugar and water till it reaches a temperature of 121°C/250°F.  Use a sugar thermometre (I used a probe one) to check the temperature or do it by eye.  The bubbles should be going very fast and it should be thickening (mine also seemed to be crystallising more than Bernard’s but it worked anyway).  Add the almonds in one go and stir to coat the almonds in the syrup.  The sugar will crystallise, going white and lumpy.

Making homemade praliné 2

Keep stirring.  Little by little the syrup will start melting and caramelising.  When all the sugar has caramelised take off the heat.  Pour on your lightly-oiled surface.

Making homemade praliné 3

Allow to cool completely before using.  You can eat some as it is.  Yum.  Or break it up by hitting with a rolling pin.

Pralines in pieces

Pralín

To make pralín just whizz around in the food processor till you get a powder.  Add to creams, cake batters or sprinkle on stuff.

Praliné

To make praliné paste keep whizzing in the food processor.  Scrape the sides down with a soft spatula occasionally.  Your paste will be oily and quite dark.

Tada!  Pralines, pralín powder, praliné paste or all three!  And pretty easy huh?

Homemade pralines

Homemade pralines

Feedback and my top 10

A few people are making stuff from this blog.  I’ve heard rumours.  🙂  No, really.  I know it isn’t thousands or hundreds of bakers but it would be lovely to get feedback if you make anything from here, just a note in the comments section about what worked (or didn’t) and what adaptations you made.  This helps me and anyone else who’s thinking of following the recipe.  For example, I was happy (and relieved) when a reader confirmed in the comments that the spelt croissants recipe worked for them, and delighted to learn you can keep the starter détrempe in the fridge for up to 2 days!  Hurray!  Anyway, if you have time to comment thank you.

You might find the feedback from this blog’s WordPress stats interesting.  Here are the number of views for this year’s most popular recipes so far, with some top referrers being ‘google search’ worldwide and pinterest.  Instagram friends are also dropping in.

wp_ss_20160516_0003

2016 – top posts and pages

If you’re interested, here are the links:

I suppose these recipes worked for someone and so became more popular?  My references to Uncle Tetsu in my Japanese cheesecake post seem to have increased its search engine results, with punters coming over to check it out.  I didn’t do that on purpose but yay!  And I’m surprised at the popularity of the winner, my neutral mirror glaze recipe from the basics section.  Not exactly a creative bake but I’m happy if it’s useful and some people have ‘liked’ it so maybe they’ve tried it out.

You can see I’m wondering where my recipes are going and what they’re doing.  Anyway, I know my stats aren’t very high but there’s been some lovely feedback from followers, fellow bloggers, IG friends and social media generally.  Thank you!  Plus having the recipes on the blog is useful when I forget how something was made!  Even something as simple as pralines.

Hold on.  Just going to have more of that.  Yum.  Here, have a piece. 🙂

Homemade praliné

Little piece of homemade pralines anyone?

Well it’s time to go now.  Have a lovely week ahead sweet reader.  Happy baking, cooking and more eating!  Crunch crunch. 🙂 Lili x

 

Posted by

Baking on Sundays with my French mum was a lovely part of my childhood. Later I experimented with baking books or internet recipes and did the pâtisserie course at Le Cordon Bleu Paris. Still trying out new recipes and inventing cakes with influences from all around the world, including some healthier ones. Yes, love cakes!!! Hope you'll love them too and have fun baking. :)

13 thoughts on “Easy almond pralines, pralín and praliné recipe, the top 10 and a feedback request”

  1. Nathalie says:

    I love this post! I wonder as well who is reading and if people are actually trying the recipes. I think yours are beautiful yet I have not had the opportunity yet to dive in. These pralines are right up my alley though so there could be some feedback coming soon :). Thank you for sharing all your wonderful recipes!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Lili says:

      Thank you so much Nathalie for your lovely words and I’m so happy you like this post and my recipes. I guess we food bloggers are all in the same boat wondering about our readers and recipes. I wonder if it would help to have a P.S. on posts like ‘If you try this recipe please feel free to leave a comment below to let others know how it went. It would be great to read about any of your suggestions or adaptations’. Maybe this could encourage people dropping in (as well as followers) to comment.

      I have to confess there are so many wonderful recipes I see elsewhere, like the ones on your lovely blog, that I need to get round to trying. I need to think about how to do this. It would be lovely if you make these pralines and I’d love to know how it goes if you do. But of course I’ll understand if you don’t get round to it. 🙂

      Thanks again for your kind supportive comments and making me think more about feedback. I’m realising I need to give more feedback on other sites too! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      • Nathalie says:

        Time is so precious right? I think it is busy lives that keep most of us from “keeping up” with everything we do! I like your PS idea! And I will for sure let you know how the pralines turn out! I really appreciate you taking the time respond to my comments and also for visiting my blog :). Cheers!

        Liked by 1 person

      • Lili says:

        So true about time! I suppose we all do our best. 🙂 Really looking forward to hearing about the pralines and seeing more of your bakes and dishes. 🙂 x

        Liked by 1 person

  2. Marisa's Italian Kitchen says:

    Hi Lili, lovely post!!! I am looking forward to trying your almond pralines, as I just bought a 2 pound bag. I also sincerely wish there were more days in the week or more hours in a day and more minutes in an hour…so I can try everything you blog about!! Great job 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    • Lili says:

      Thank you so much Marisa for your lovely words and support! So glad you like the post and recipes here, and I’ll be very happy if you try these pralines. But I totally understand if you don’t get round to it.

      I also need to find more time, to try all the great recipes I see including your lovely Italian rainbow biscuits then the Lemon Raspberry Spritz cookies I said I’d make! 🙂
      I’m realising that I get so busy creating stuff and blogging but I really need to make time to visit other blogs and give more feedback too. Oh for more hours in the day, like you said!

      Thanks again Marisa, also for giving me food for thought! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

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  4. tentimestea says:

    The praline is such a delicious transformation of sugar and almonds!
    And oh Lili, I’m not surprised about that top post! I was looking up a recipe for nappage neutre (I was doing a bit of research on glazes having recently become enamoured with Hidemi Sugino and fancy mousse cakes) and your blog and the neutral mirror glaze was the first one to show up on google! I was so surprised and obviously pleased to find a familiar and reliable blog show up 🙂 I think you’re filling in an unfulfilled niche with that recipe 🙂
    I also owe you some feedback on the cotton cheesecake! I loved it. It was so different–so spongy and airy, but still undeniably a rich cheesecake. I’ll have to try it again as mine did not quite reach the same lofty heights as yours (I still struggle with folding, so that is the culprit). I replaced 6g of the flour with matcha. It could have used more, though 30g was a bit out of my budget!, but the colour was lovely throughout.
    I think it would be quite fun to work through your top 10 post list! So while I’m quite slow, I have two down, and more exciting baking adventures to go 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    • Lili says:

      Thank you so much Laurie for all the interesting feedback. I have sometimes wondered about my recipe google positions – quite excited and surprised too about the neutral glaze coming up first!! Yay! I’ve recently found more of my basics pages are being referred to regularly, eg.macaron shells and lining a French tart tin. It’s nice to know they can be useful and filling that niche as you said.

      I’m also really happy you enjoyed your cotton cheesecake – spongy and airy sounds brilliant. You’re inspiring me to actually try the matcha version – an alternative to expensive matcha is buying a matcha and green tea blend (cheaper) which I think I got by mistake once. You make it sound so lovely with the colour.

      Love your enthusiasm for baking adventures and all the yummy experiments on your blog … looking forward to more conversations with you about our new bakes. Have a lovely week. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

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