Joe’s Chocolate Recipes

Most Belgian praline is made from either hazelnuts, or almonds. These make great tasting praline, and for those who are busy, it’s also a joy to discover that many supermarkets sell packets of hazelnuts or almonds ready shelled and even sometimes chopped and roasted, as this really helps in the convenience stakes. But less conventional nuts also make great praline, and each brings its own characteristics to ring the changes. Pistachio praline has a rich, fruity and almost savoury taste. Pecans have a lovely undertone of maple syrup. Brazilnut praline seems to carry a subtle note of butterscotch with it. Macadamia praline is exceptionally rich and slightly smoky tasting. Cashew is light and fudgey tasting. I find that I browse the aisles looking for a new nut I’ve not tried before to see what it tastes like when made into praline – I can’t wait until filberts are in season, for instance. However, walnuts generally seem to be unsuitable, often with a bitter taste.

There are lots of different things you can use praline for – an interesting addition to cookies, a topping for cakes, an unusual way to add texture to desserts, or as a pretty garnish, as well as traditional praline chocolates.

Helpful hints:

• If you’re going to attempt making your own praline there are a few pieces of equipment that are really essential. Firstly you need a heavy based saucepan, or your sugar syrup will burn, and trust me, that’s not a smell you want hanging around your kitchen. Secondly, you want a food processor to grind the praline into a fine powder (or perhaps, a mortar and pestle together with the patience of Job and the biceps of Popeye).

• Despite the fact that making praline is very easy, there is a definite art to making the best praline – it’s all in how you roast the nuts, and how much the sugar syrup is caramelised (and of course the quality of the ingredients, particularly the nuts). Of course, this also means that you can vary these processes to suit your particular recipe or tastes – a lighter gold syrup or more gently roasted nuts will have a more subtle taste obviously than something that’s darker in colour. If you want really reproducible results, or you feel nervous, buy yourself a sugar thermometer so you can monitor the progress of your caramel in a more scientific way (the temperature you are aiming for is 160-177°C). Otherwise, watch these processes like a hawk, especially the first time you make it - roasting nuts can easily burn, and so can sugar syrup. You’ll get the best results with a little practice and knowledge of your own oven and cookware.

• Buy the freshest nuts you can, in just the quantity you need for that batch of praline, and use them promptly. In practice this means buying them from a busy place which gets in fresh stock often. If you feel particularly fussy or worried about the quality of the stock, it pays to know that generally nuts stay fresher in their shells, but then of course you will need to use a nutcracker to get at them.

• All the recipes tell you that you should skin the nuts before using – there are various methods of doing this according to what type of nut you are using, but they are all fiddly. Being a lazy person I’ve tried making praline without removing the skins, and I’ve found that the praline still tastes perfectly good to me if the skins are left on pistachios or pecans for instance (though not the shells, obviously!). Experiment and see what you think. The two main methods are outlined in my basic praline recipe if you are the precious sort of person who can’t bear to do anything “wrong”. Of course, lots of nuts are available skinned these days, which can help speed up the process a lot.

• Once you’ve made the praline, keep it in an airtight container, as it has a considerable tendency to absorb moisture from the air and become incredibly sticky, which hinders its use in many recipes. It’s best kept in the fridge and used or eaten within a week of making.

• One other thing to note – the fineness of your praline will very much depend on how powerful your food processor is – commercially made praline uses very powerful machinery to grind the nuts so fine that they become a sort of paste, releasing the oils in the nuts. With domestic equipment, you probably won’t get that sort of fineness without burning the motor out, so you will get a slightly grainy texture. It still tastes fantastic, though!

RECIPE FOR PRALINE

INGREDIENTS:

60g (2oz) nuts of your choice
90g (3oz) sugar
60ml (2 fl oz) water

METHOD:

If the nuts are not already skinned, you may want to do so yourself. The technique for almonds is as follows: Pour boiling water over them and leave them to steep for a minute or so and then squeeze them while still warm – they should just pop right out of their skins. If not, then repeat the steeping process and try again. By contrast, hazelnuts skin best after heating for about 10 minutes at 160°C (or 140°C in a fan oven) when the skins are dry and crackly – rub the nuts over the rough surface of a colander to remove the skin, which should fall through the holes in the colander.

Once skinned, chop the nuts roughly, or blitz in a food processor for a few seconds to get even sized small pieces. Place the nuts on a baking sheet and roast at 180ºC (lower if you have a fan oven, I find about 150-160°C works best for me) for 6-10 minutes, or until they are golden brown. Stir occasionally so they colour evenly.

While the nuts are roasting, lightly oil another baking sheet. Have a pan or bowl of cool water standing near the stove to dip the base of the pan in once the sugar syrup has been caramelised.

In a heavy based saucepan, heat the sugar and water over a low heat until the sugar dissolves, shaking the pan occasionally to dissolve the crystals. DO NOT stir the mixture at any point until you add the nuts. Increase the heat and bring to the boil, until it is a golden brown colour (if you have a sugar thermometer, it should read 160-177ºC (320-350ºF)). Place the base of the pan immediately in the cool water to stop the caramel continuing to cook, then quickly mix in the nuts before it starts to cool, and pour onto the oiled baking sheet and leave to cool. To make a stronger flavoured praline, before pouring onto the baking sheet, return the sugar caramel and nuts to the heat for another two minutes, stirring well. By the way, I find that this tends to be a bit tricky to do without burning the mixture, and the mixture then has an even greater annoying tendency to stick to the pan and the spoon and everything else. You have been warned !

When it is completely cool, chop into small pieces, and process in a food processor. Note: I find that some food processors aren’t really “man” enough for the job, but this can be worked around if you have a little patience – simply sieve the processed nuts into a bowl to remove the very fine powder, and return the remainder to the food processor for another go. Any residue that won’t reduce to a fine powder can be kept to decorate the tops of cakes or desserts, or added to homemade sweets for some texture.

The completed praline must be stored in an airtight container, in the fridge, and used within a couple of weeks.

Makes about 125g crushed praline (4oz).

Tip: cleaning pans you’ve made caramel or sugar syrups in can be tricky unless you follow this simple tip – after removing the syrup from the pan, fill the pan with hot water, put the sticky utensils in the pan, and bring to simmering point for a few minutes, stirring occasionally. This dissolves off the remains of the sugar syrup, making the washing up a doddle.

RECIPE VARIATIONS:

Praline clusters: Make praline as above, but once nuts have been mixed in with sugar syrup, instead of cooling and then pulverising, use two teaspoons to shape the praline into little clusters and place on prepared baking sheet. Makes about 10 one-inch round clusters – so you may want to double up the quantities if you want to make a large batch.

RECIPE FOR PRALINE TRUFFLES

INGREDIENTS:

60g (2oz) unsalted butter
250g (8oz) dark chocolate
125g (4fl oz) double cream
1tablespoon dark rum
125g (4 oz) praline (crushed)

METHOD:

Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Remove from the heat and add the dark chocolate, then cover and let it stand for 3 minutes, so that the chocolate melts. Stir until smooth, then add the cream a few spoonfuls at a time, stirring well until the mixture is smooth.

Cool the mixture, and then add the rum. Mix in the crushed praline, and stir well. Refrigerate until firm enough to be moulded into small balls; or pour onto a prepared tray and refrigerate, and then cut into squares. The completed pralines should then be coated in tempered melted chocolate, using a skewer or dipping fork (for tips on tempering chocolate, see our cooking with chocolate page).

Keep refrigerated in an airtight container, and consume within 10 days.

RECIPE VARIATIONS:

Lots of other flavourings can be added to praline to give interesting new flavours – lots of people add spices like ginger or cinnamon. Small amounts of jam, or chopped dried fruit can give an interesting fruity element, or you could try using brandy or other high alcohol spirits in the place of the rum. The possibilities are only limited by your imagination, and combinations of two or more flavours added to the praline can add a lot more interest – try apple and cinnamon for example, or apricot and ginger, or coffee and rum, perhaps.