Even though I like to think of myself as the Salad Queen who is super passionate about home grown vegetables and has the hope of starting a salad revolution by changing the world one carrot at a time…. Truth is: we all need to cut ourselves some slack and indulge in the ‘less holier foods. Right?

Last week at cooking school we learnt how to make hazelnut and almond praline which was the base of our profiterole cakes! (Profiterole is what the fancy French call choux à la crème and it’s basically a choux pastry ball filled with sweetened vanilla cream. Otherwise known as heaven in your mouth – your hips will love it too.)

I saw a cool YouTube video where The Food Busker makes an Affogato using a hazelnut praline. As it’s a way easier desert than choux pastry – I though I would post a link to his video and the praline recipe below!

Ingredients:

• ½ cup caster sugar
• 3 TBS water
• 50 g toasted nuts (almonds and hazelnuts)
• a small squeeze of lemon juice

Method:

• Place the sugar, lemon juice and water in a pot, on medium heat.
• As the pot heats up, swirl it a little, making sure all the sugar crystals are covered by the water.
• Cook until it starts to colour around the edges. Swirl the pot to stop the sugar burning and gather up any unmelted sugar crystals (about 6-8 minutes.)
• Don’t stir the pot!
• Watch it carefully and when it turns a dark golden brown, add the nuts
• Pour quickly onto a tray prepared with baking paper and careful – it sets very fast!
• Spread it thinly and evenly. DO NOT TOUCH!
• Let it cool completely before breaking into shards, to top off your Affogato!