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Sweet, rich and creamy, the praline is easily the most famous of any confection made in New Orleans. Auntie Eva, better known as Tee-Eva, founded her cooking business with recipes passed down throughout the generations of her family. From Elle to the Food Network, Eva's cooking has earned her a great deal of recognition, and helped solidify her place as the Praline Queen of New Orleans. Still owned and operated by Eva's granddaughter, Tee-Eva's Old Fashioned Pies and Pralines continues to offer it's original and authentic recipe for sweet and creamy goodness from the Crescent City.
Pralines make a wonderful holiday gift, place secure orders online. Shipping prices will be calculated into your total when checking out.
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What's in a name? There are as many accounts of the origin of the praline as there are recipes for the sweet confection. One of the most widely-accepted versions stems from the home of the French diplomat Cesar du Plessis Praslin. As legend has it, in the 1600's a chef at Praslin's manor created a sweet from almonds coated with a cooked syrupy sugar. As the recipe traveled to Louisiana, pecans from our state would replace the almonds, cream was added, and constant stirring under a watchful eye would lead to the creation of a sweet piece of Creole cuisine history.
Pronounced as "Prah-Leen" by native New Orleanians, the rich, creamy confection is still made by Tee-Eva's with the same recipe used many years ago. |
This praline selection from Hotel Chocolat apparently has a Christmas theme to it. I’m not convinced the three snowflakes and two sprigs of holly on the box add up to the most festive theme in the world, but someone in the packaging design department clearly does. There’s no actual mention of Christmas anywhere on the box that I can see, and the festive feel is subtle – a little too subtle for my liking.
Suggestion for Angus: Next year, make all your chocolate boxes play ‘jingle bells’ when the lid is removed.
Inside, things are a more colourful, with each of the 15 dark and milk chocolate pralines being decorated with coloured white chocolate. There are 10 different ‘flavours’ in total, meaning some are duplicated. I’m not going to review them individually, but the flavours are “Cinnamon Praline”, “Ultra Smooth Gianduja”, “Lemon Praline”, “Cane Sugar Praline”, “Orange Praline”, “Peanut Praline”, “Cocoa Crisp Praline”, “Coffee Praline”, “Chilli Praline” and “Macadamia and Coconut Praline”.
That’s a lot of praline.
And that in a nutshell (pardon the pun) is the problem with these.
The chocolate is, of course, delicious. But I’ve never been a particular praline fan, and while the quality of these chocs is great, taste-wise, they’re ever so slightly boring. There’s very little variation between any of the chocolates. They’re all the same thick, slightly nutty paste with vague hints of other flavours. They’re pleasant, but nothing more.
I don’t know about you, but if I’m sharing chocolates with friends and family over the holidays, I want them to be exciting, fun and full of interesting flavours. These just don’t do it for me, unfortunately.