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Hazelnut Praline Paste is something we use a lot in French pastry. When I was living in France, I simply bought mine from the supermarket, but since I live in New Zealand I have to make my own. So here is my recipe that you will be able to use in any Eclair to flavor the custard.
Hazelnut Praline Paste
The only Hazelnut Praline Paste I found in New Zealand was in a specific shop, and it was really expensive. Hazelnut Praline Paste is made from a mix of nuts and sugar syrup. French pralines are a combination of almonds and caramelized sugar.
In this recipe, I used hazelnuts because I need to do a hazelnut buttercream to stuff some of my hazelnut macaroons and also to prepare some homemade chocolate hazelnut spread for breakfast.
You can also use this recipe as a gluten-free breakfast spread, in any gluten-free baking recipe, or to flavor vanilla custard and stuff eclair like in this Hazelnut Eclair recipe.
It is a pretty easy recipe. First, you caramelized nuts in your saucepan which is basically cooking the nuts into the melted sugar. Then, use a food processor to process the mixture into a powder – that is what we call praline it French.
Finally, if you want to reach the Hazelnut Praline Paste simply process more until it turns into a paste! That is basically the same thing as making hazelnut butter – instead of that here, you roast the nuts in caramel before processing. It makes a sweeter paste delicious in any recipe or on a French crepe.
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Instructions
Pour the water and sugar into a saucepan. Bring to boil.
When bubbles are forming on the side of the saucepan, add the raw hazelnut. The sugar will form some crystals, that's what you want.
Reduce to medium heat, stir the nuts to cover them into the sugar. The sugar will dissolve slowly turning into a caramel - golden sugar syrup - after few minutes.
When the caramel is formed - the sugar syrup is golden brown - remove the saucepan from heat.
Pour the mixture onto a plate covered with parchment paper.
Place into the fridge for 10 minutes until the caramel hardens.
Pour the caramelized hazelnuts into a food processor and processor on high speed until it turns into a paste - about 1-2 minutes.
First you obtain a powder, then crushed nuts and finally it will turn into a paste.
Store in a mason glass jar in the pantry for up to 1 month.
Sugar: for a healthier recipe, use coconut sugar or unrefined cane sugar of your choice.
hi there! thank you for this recipe. I tried it over the weekend, but mine remains as crushed hazelnuts and could not turn into a paste. I blended it for more than 2 mins but remains the same. Do you have any suggestion how I can save my crushed hazelnuts? Thank you!
Maybe your food processor doesn’t have a strong blade to crush the hazelnuts into a creamy paste. That’s the only reason I see its not working here. I hope it gets better next time, Enjoy the recipe on the blog, XOXO Carine
I followed your recipe and must have done something wrong (perhaps took the caramelised nuts off of the heat too early?) because the praline has loads of little bits of caramel/sugar crystals. Do you think its possible to reheat the praline to melt the sugar down? Thanks!
About my last comment; I am hopeful that it explains the difference between Hazelnut paste and Hazelnut butter. Many recipes seem to ask for the paste but it is hard to locate while hazelnut butter I can find readily (it is 100% hazelnuts; raw or roasted I don’t recall).
Hi You say that the sugar will dissolve slowly turning into a caramel – golden sugar syrup – after few minutes. But it didn’t even if I waited more than 20 minutes. It started to melt at some point but then crystallised again. What could be the problem?
Is it possible to use a Nuribullet in place of a food processor? I don’t own one and I’m relying on this recipe for my French project. No one seems to sell Praline spread which blows my mind! Thank you!
Hello ! I am not sure as I never used a Nutribullet before. I guess it could work. Let me know if you give this a try ! Enjoy the french praline recipe. I started to make my own for the same reason, it is impossible to buy some from the store outside of France! Crazy right? XOXO Carine.
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hi there! thank you for this recipe. I tried it over the weekend, but mine remains as crushed hazelnuts and could not turn into a paste. I blended it for more than 2 mins but remains the same. Do you have any suggestion how I can save my crushed hazelnuts? Thank you!
Maybe your food processor doesn’t have a strong blade to crush the hazelnuts into a creamy paste. That’s the only reason I see its not working here. I hope it gets better next time, Enjoy the recipe on the blog, XOXO Carine
I followed your recipe and must have done something wrong (perhaps took the caramelised nuts off of the heat too early?) because the praline has loads of little bits of caramel/sugar crystals. Do you think its possible to reheat the praline to melt the sugar down? Thanks!
Sure, reheat to dissolve into a caramel, it should be fine. Enjoy, XOXO Carine
About my last comment; I am hopeful that it explains the difference between Hazelnut paste and Hazelnut butter. Many recipes seem to ask for the paste but it is hard to locate while hazelnut butter I can find readily (it is 100% hazelnuts; raw or roasted I don’t recall).
P.S. Your recipes are really terrific
Hi
You say that the sugar will dissolve slowly turning into a caramel – golden sugar syrup – after few minutes. But it didn’t even if I waited more than 20 minutes. It started to melt at some point but then crystallised again.
What could be the problem?
Which sugar did you used? Caramel forms between 300-340F, if it doesnt form it is probably because your temperature is too low.
Can I use a different type of sugar than coconut?
Sure, brown sugar or regular sugar will work well too. Enjoy ! XOXO Carine.
Hi! Thanks for the recipe, it looks amazing I cant wait to try it.
Oh, wow! Beautiful , thank you for a great recipe
Happy you like it ! Enjoy the blog recipes. XOXO Carine.
Hi! I just wanted to know that what else can we use instead of hazelnut ??
I am not too sure as I did not try something else but I am pretty sure almonds will be great too. Enjoy the recipes on the blog. XOXO Carine.
Is it possible to use a Nuribullet in place of a food processor? I don’t own one and I’m relying on this recipe for my French project. No one seems to sell Praline spread which blows my mind! Thank you!
Hello ! I am not sure as I never used a Nutribullet before. I guess it could work. Let me know if you give this a try ! Enjoy the french praline recipe. I started to make my own for the same reason, it is impossible to buy some from the store outside of France! Crazy right? XOXO Carine.
Thanks for sharing my recipes! Carine.