This is another expensive ingredient that we needed for a dessert we’re making. So, rather than just buying some praline paste — probably online, where we’d have to pay shipping and wait days — we decided we’d try to make some, instead. It turns out to be pretty easy, and all it uses are nuts, sugar, and some vanilla. Let’s scratch some up!
But, before we do, let’s give a shout out to The Kitchen Addict, because that’s where we got the recipe, although we modified it — we don’t think you need to use mineral water, tap water is fine, and we use vanilla extract instead of a part of vanilla bean. Also, we cut the recipe in half, and, even at that, it made more than we needed.
Almond-Hazelnut Praline Paste
Ingredients
- 100 g hazelnuts (2/3 cup)
- 100 g almonds (2/3 cup)
- 125 g sugar (1/2 cup + 2 Tbs)
- 35 g water (2 Tbs + 1 tsp)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment.
- Place nuts on prepared pan and roast for 15 minutes. Let cool, then rub the skins off the hazelnuts with a towel. Set aside.
- Place sugar and water in a saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil, stirring to combine. Cook to 248°F.
- Add nuts and continue stirring. The sugar will crystallize; that's normal. Continue stirring until sugar remelts and turns into caramel, about 10 minutes.
- Stir in vanilla and spread mixture on baking sheet lined with parchment and let cool completely.
- Break into pieces and place in a food processor. Process. At first the mixture will turn into powder; continue processing until you have a thick paste, about 5-7 minutes.
- Store in an airtight container.
Ingredient discussion:
If you wish to use just hazelnuts, that’s fine. We think it would work with pecans, too, if that’s what you want.
Procedure in detail:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with a piece of parchment. You’ll be using this sheet for both roasting the nuts and for allowing the praline to cool later, and that parchment will really help to keep the praline from sticking.
Roast and skin hazelnuts. Place the nuts on the prepared baking sheet and roast for about 15 minutes. Allow to cool, then rub the hazelnuts in a clean kitchen towel to remove the skins. You won’t get all of the skin off, but that’s okay. Just get most off, as the skins are bitter.
Cook sugar. Place the sugar and water in a saucepan over medium heat, one large enough to hold the nuts, too, and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Once boiling, stop stirring and continue to cook until the temperature reaches 248°F.
Add nuts. Stir in the nuts. This is weird, but the sugar will crystallize almost immediately. We know you’ll think you messed up, but don’t worry. This is supposed to happen. Really. Truly.
Caramelize. Continue to cook the sugar and the nuts over medium heat. It’ll be tough stirring at times because everything is dry and the sugar is clumping all over the place, but keep at it. After about 5 minutes, you’ll see the sugar is starting to melt on the bottom of the pan. Keep stirring (it’ll get easier) until all the sugar, including that coating the nuts, is melted and a deep golden brown. Remove from heat.
Add vanilla. Quickly stir in the vanilla extract. It’ll spatter, so be careful.
Cool. Immediately scrape the mixture out onto the baking sheet lined with parchment and spread it as best you can. It’s not critical to get an even layer since you’ll be grinding this up later.
Process into paste. Break the praline into small pieces and place in the bowl of a food processor. Start processing. The praline will turn into a powder, and, once again, you might think that something’s wrong. Nope. Keep processing. In another minute or so, you’ll see it begin to liquefy from the nut oil. Keep processing until you have a thick paste. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
We can only give this recipe four stars because, while the praline paste tasted great, it was troublesome to have the sugar crystallize in the middle of cooking. It was hard stirring for a while, and we had to stir rapidly to keep the nuts from burning. That said, it tasted delicious, having a slight bitterness, but also nutty and smooth as a nut butter is. While we had plans for this (you’ll see that later this week), we also think it would be good stirred into homemade ice cream.
