What does praline look like? Nut paste "praline". Step by step recipe with photo

Some of the human inventions can make life sweeter, in the truest sense of the word. One such invention is praline. What it is is of interest to everyone who has ever met this mysterious word on the package.

In what year were pralines invented?

The history of the creation of this delicacy dates back to the end of the 17th century. According to legend, the authorship of this sweet dish belongs to the chef of the French ambassador in Belgium, which at that time was a colony of Spain. The ambassador, whose name is the Duke du Plessis-Pralin, decided in 1671 to please his monarch Louis XIV with some culinary delight and gave the order to his culinary specialist.

However, in the process of cooking, an incident occurred - an apprentice boy accidentally scattered almonds. The enraged chef poured boiling sugar over the almonds. The result of this accident was a delicacy, which received the name of the duke.

The original composition included:

Almond;
Chocolate;
Burnt sugar.

However, this confectionery was embodied in the form of sweets only after almost 250 years. The author of this invention was a man named Neuhaus. He worked as a pharmacist (the word "candy" itself comes from the pharmaceutical slang word confetto). In 1912, he thought of pouring a French delicacy into a glass of chocolate. So the original candy with a chocolate shell and a filling that is unlike anything else was born.

To this day, this type of candy remains one of the most popular in Switzerland and Germany.

What is inside praline-filled sweets?

For several centuries of the existence of the recipe for sweets with filling, it has been thoroughly modified and rethought more than once by different people at different ends of the globe, so there is no single recipe today.

The only thing that unites all the many products under this name is the presence in their composition of some common ingredients, including:

Nuts (different varieties);
sugar syrup;
Chocolate or cocoa powder.

Varieties of chocolate can be varied - up to white. Cream, coffee, nuts, halva, etc. can be used as additional ingredients.

Regardless of their variety, praline sweets are distinguished by high nutritional and energy value. On average, a treat has:

Proteins - about 5 grams (about 20 kcal);
Fats - about 40 grams (350 kcal);
Carbohydrates - about 50 grams (200 kcal).

Also, the delicacy contains biologically active substances.

In general, the calorie content of the product reaches more than 500 kilocalories per 100 grams (this is the energy value of a good lunch). Therefore, one must be careful with their abuse by those who wish to lose weight.

The palatability of sweets is very high, which ensures their high popularity.

What is "praline" in sweets?

The original meaning that is invested in the term "praline" means precisely "caramel with almonds". Even etymologically, the French word "praline" goes back to the verb "praliner", which translates as "to fry in sugar." In rare cases, it is possible to replace almonds in the filling with some other nut.

However, at present, in many countries of the world, this word denotes any filling for sweets (often only chocolate), and not actually an independent meal. In the Old World, this word is still used to refer to a special filling in the form of a nut in caramel.

Pralines today may include:

Semi-finished products from fruits;
Sunflower seeds;
crushed wafer;
Flavors;
Cashew.

Product viscosity may vary. Hard pralines are used as candy shells.

Differences between American sweets and European

French-speaking emigrants brought to the New World the secret of making pralines. Chefs from Louisiana (which is in the American South) have replaced some of the ingredients in the original recipe. In particular:

The almond was replaced by the Peruvian walnut that grew in those parts.
Later they began to add a little cream.

In the 19th century, sweetness gained considerable popularity in America.

Unlike sophisticated Europeans, American culinary specialists did not bother to create fancy candy shells, so pralines are often served there as an unsightly pretzel. The consistency of this dish, unlike the original European one, is more viscous. The inhabitants of the New World began to call the classic recipe “Belgian chocolate”, after the name of the country of origin.

Popular in the US and Canada praline ice cream. Also, a specific American praline has become a popular component of pastries, cakes, pies and other products.

The recipe had a huge impact on the gastronomic preferences of people for many centuries to come around the world: for example, today's popular Snickers sweets and Tick-tock dragees are essentially a variant of reading the old French recipe.

Industrial production of sweets

Modern praline production belts are capable of producing about half a ton of finished product per hour. Due to its great popularity, almost all major confectionery companies are engaged in the manufacture of this product. Russia produces its own brands of praline sweets, among which the most famous are:

"Hazelnut";
"Squirrel";
"Evening call, evening Bell";
"Baltic";
"Coffee".

On an industrial scale, pralines can be produced in three main varieties:

Glazed (that is, with a shell);
Unglazed;
Marzipan (they have crushed almonds and powdered sugar as components).

The simplest homemade recipe

The advantage of delicacy is that it can easily be prepared at home. For this you will need:

Any kind of nuts (about 100 grams);
Granulated sugar (100 grams);
Lemon juice;
Vegetable oil.

Additives to the original recipe can be varied and limited only by the culinary imagination.

The order of preparation is as follows:

First you need to properly dry the nuts - in the oven or microwave.
The next step is laying out the nuts on a greased baking sheet. It is desirable that the oil was odorless.
Then you should fry the sugar in a pan.
After most of it has melted, you need to add lemon juice to the bowl and wait until the mixture gets a characteristic yellow-amber hue.
Pour the liquid sugar over the nuts on a baking sheet and wait for the mixture to harden.
After some time, which is required for cooling and hardening of the praline mass, it is possible to separate the resulting product from the baking sheet. It is already ready and, in principle, suitable for consumption, but nothing prevents it from being crushed and added to some other dish.

When four hundred years ago, a prominent French nobleman, wanting to curry favor with the king, treated him to an unusual creation of his cook, he hardly suspected that this delicacy would not only go to court, but would conquer the whole world under the name "praline". What it is is now known to everyone, at least to taste.

Video: how and from what is praline made?

In this video, Melkumova Milana, a confectioner from Moscow, will tell you how praline is prepared, what is included in its composition:

Nuts can be peeled or not - the color of the paste will depend on this - from lighter to darker, chocolate.

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spread the nuts over the entire surface. Place the baking sheet in the preheated oven for 8-10 minutes.
Immediately transfer the nuts to a deep, heavy-bottomed saucepan. Keep on medium heat, add sugar from time to time and stir with a wooden spatula - the sugar should melt and all the nuts should be covered with melted caramel.
Grease a sheet of parchment paper with a thin layer of butter. Spread the caramelized nuts over it in an even layer. You can also use a silicone mat (does not need to be lubricated).

Let the nuts cool completely and then break them into pieces.

In principle, someone can already stop at this stage and enjoy the delicious nut "kozinaki".

Next we need a blender (coffee grinder will not work!). Nuts must first be ground into flour, after adding vegetable oil to them, and then grind until they turn into a thick and viscous paste.
You need to grind gently in pulsed mode so as not to break the blender.
Some of the nut flour / crumbs can, by the way, be set aside and used as a crispy note in a layer of cake or pastries (spread the cake with a thin layer of chocolate and sprinkle with crumbs, for example).

The paste can be stored in a jar in the refrigerator or freezer.

Bon appetit!

Hazelnut - 150 g
Sugar - 100 g
Water - 25 g
Vegetable oil - 1 tbsp. l.

close Ingredient printing

Girls and boys, the topic of today's lesson is pralines! What is it all about? Praline is a caramel-nut paste, which is often used as components of various confectionery products - in candy fillings, creams, layers. It's delicious on its own, but eating it just like that is too fat, literally and figuratively - given today's prices for nuts - senses. You can often find pralines in recipes for modern mousse desserts. Of course, you can buy ready-made pralines, or you can make it at home, it's not at all difficult. The main condition is to have a powerful blender with a bowl (or combine). Well, of course, stick to the recipe.

Below I will tell and show how I make pralines. The one prepared at the factory is very smooth and light, while mine is darker with microscopic, but still tangible particles of nuts. If you want to get closer to a more, so to speak, professional option, you need to first peel the nuts from the husk and chop longer. But personally, I even like the extra crunchiness that the nut pieces give, because most often I use pralines as part of the crispy layers of mousse cakes and pastries.

For pralines, as a rule, they take almonds, but hazelnuts, as well as a mixture of them, can also be used. I will show just on the example of a hazelnut.

So step by step praline recipe!

Take 150 g of nuts. In my case it is hazelnuts.

We spread them on a baking sheet and put in the oven, preheated to 120 degrees. We need the nuts to warm up (but not toasty!). Subsequently, we will add them to the syrup, and if they are cold, the syrup will cool too quickly.

While the nuts are warming up, cook the syrup. Put 100 g of sugar and 25 g of water into a saucepan with a thick bottom.

We put on medium heat, stir until the sugar dissolves, and then cook without stirring up to 116 degrees. This is where a cooking thermometer comes in handy. You can make a test for a “soft ball” (scoop a little syrup with a spoon, place in ice water to cool quickly, and try to roll a ball with your fingers. If, in principle, it turns out and is easily crumpled, then the syrup is ready!). But I already wrote once that I don’t really like these samples, while you take them, you risk digesting them, and in general - with a thermometer it’s faster, more accurate and more convenient.

Pour warm nuts into the syrup, mix, put on fire, reducing it to a minimum, and stirring constantly, wait until the sugar melts. First, it crystallizes and envelops the nuts.

Then it will seem to you for quite a long time that nothing at all is happening. Do not panic! Sugar needs time. Keep stirring and think about something deep and solid to take your mind off the annoying thoughts: “When will it be?” and “Why not yet?” Soon you will see that the sugar crystals on the nuts melt and the nuts themselves take on a caramel hue.

Ideally, all the sugar should be melted like this. But, perhaps, in some places the crystals will still remain, if there are not very many of them, nothing, remove the saucepan from the heat and proceed to the next step. Lubricate baking paper with vegetable oil.

Put the nuts on it and cool completely.

Place the nuts in a blender.

Calories: Not specified
Time for preparing: Not specified

I just can't wait to teach you how to cook a very tasty addition to your favorites - pralines. Its recipe is quite simple, as are the ingredients themselves. From any nuts and sugar, you can make delicious nut-caramel crumbs. An incomparable delicacy that you just can not help but like.

Ingredients:

- assorted nuts or one variety of nuts - 100 g;
- granulated sugar - 100 g;
- lemon juice - from a quarter of a small lemon;
- a little vegetable oil (for lubricating paper or form).

Recipe with photo step by step:

1. Delicious homemade pralines are made from assorted nuts. But if you have a certain type of nuts on hand, then you don’t have to buy assorted. If there are multiple types, use those as well. As an experiment, you can also put a handful of sunflower seeds or sesame seeds in dessert. It will turn out very tasty. In general, you can use any nuts: from the usual and budgetary peanuts to more expensive pine nuts. Almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts or even apricot kernels can and should be added in small quantities. If the nuts are in shell or unshelled, this needs to be corrected. Then carefully inspect the nut kernels for small shells that can spoil the impression of the dessert.

2. Pour the nuts into a heat-resistant form and dry in the microwave or oven, stirring occasionally. If the nuts are already shelled and roasted, skip this step.

3. Take a baking sheet, a spacious heat-resistant form or a plate, grease it with odorless vegetable oil. Lay out the nuts. You do not need to grind them, since the praline will then be ground in a blender.

4. Now prepare the caramel. This can be done in several ways. This is one of the easiest. Pour sugar into the pan. Try to make its layer as thin as possible. It is advisable to use dishes with a thick bottom so that the heat from the fire is evenly distributed throughout the sugar and the caramel does not burn. The fire should be of medium intensity. Don't interfere. Wait until most of the sugar is liquid, then you can stir and add the lemon juice. Cook the caramel until it turns light brown (amber).

5. Then fill nuts with hot caramel. Work very carefully, as even a small drop of hot caramel can burn. Set the container with the future praline aside so that it cools and hardens.

6. Carefully separate the pralines from the plate or baking sheet. If it doesn't come off in one piece, no big deal. And grind in a blender or food processor until fine crumbs.
Praline is ready! With it you can cook desserts, sweets, sprinkle them with cakes or ice cream.

It will be even tastier and more beautiful if you sprinkle it with praline.

Bon appetit!

Hello my friends! After a short stagnation associated with offline orders, I again came to please you with a new and very useful product in the household - praline - with a step-by-step recipe and an explanation for newcomers - what it is and what it is eaten with.

It seems to me that it is no longer a secret to anyone how much I love nuts. If I have nuts in my house, I won't stop until I've eaten them all. Therefore, I try to buy nuts only in the quantities that I need for a particular use.

Praline - what is it?

In the modern sense, it is a sweet soft paste made from any caramelized nuts: almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, peanuts, etc., or mixtures thereof, and ground to release nut oils, so that the mass acquires a homogeneous, smooth, pasty consistency.

There are many ways to caramelize nuts. If stick classic praline recipe, then the nuts need to be heated in a saucepan along with sugar with constant stirring until the sugar is completely dissolved and it turns into a caramel state (sugar acquires a rich amber color). Liquid caramel envelops the nuts and, after cooling, turns into a solid form. The cooled nuts in caramel are carefully ground in a blender to a paste.

The ratio of nuts to sugar can also vary. I like pralines with a roughly equal ratio of sugar and nuts.

Where can pralines be used?

How to use this exquisite French dessert has a great variety.

For starters, you can simply spread it on a fresh slice of French baguette or croissant, for example, and enjoy it at breakfast with a cup of aromatic latte.

Secondly, (which is especially important today, because Shrovetide), serve praline for pancakes or pancakes accompanied by banana slices, blueberries, blackberries, etc.

Well, and finally, almost no one, pari-brest, pasta, chocolate candy, etc., can do without nut praline now. etc. In a word, pralines are now at the peak of confectionery fashion.

And it's surprisingly easy to prepare.

Praline recipe

My favorite praline is hazelnut. And almonds are added here in order to soften the very rich taste of hazelnuts. You can make pralines from 100% hazelnuts, but such a praline will be a little bitter.

Compound:

almonds - 120 gr.
hazelnuts - 80 gr.
salt - 1 pinch
sugar - 210 gr.

Step by step recipe with photo:

By a similar principle, we prepare pralines with any other nuts, varying the proportions to your liking.

I hope this wonderful recipe will come in handy for you on the farm and your desserts will become more refined and French)).

And I say goodbye until we meet again.

Olya Afinskaya.

I help you bake better.