Praline is such a delicious flavour. When I was younger, I always thought that praline was very exclusive and would be only used in very expensive pastry shops. The ones where you see all these small miniatures in the window and drool over them, then have a heart attack over the price. It would be a real treat to have anything with praline in. To this day, I still have this regard for praline, I think it has been stamped in my brain.
Whilst I was shopping, I was very surprised to find this jar of Bonne Maman hazelnut praline caramel in a supermarket, yes a supermarket!. It was something I felt I should savour for eternity and use it with great care. Like how stupid? Bonne Maman, is well known name and is widely available in all supermarkets. Also it doesn’t cost the earth, so yeh, get a grip woman!
So the big question…what will I be making with this special jar of liquid gold?. Well I wanted to make something that I could taste the raw flavour and thought it would be better to do this without it being heated. So I thought why not a chocolate and hazelnut tart. It was simple enough and once the tart shell has cooled I will add the caramel and then add the chocolate and let it set.
I managed to save (savour) a spoonful of the praline and it tasted amazing, has a lovely rich dark caramel and nutty hazelnut taste. Bonne Maman did good and took me to that luxurious place!