Go Back
Close up pralines falling out of a white bucket.

Pralines roses (pink pralines)

Author: Sarah Brooks
These pralines roses or French pink pralines are a delicious sweet treat from Lyon in France. With just four ingredients they are a cheap and impressive no bake dessert.
5 from 1 vote
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Course Dessert, Snack
Cuisine French
Servings 16 serves approx. ¼ cup each or 4 cups (680gms) ish total.
Calories 242 kcal

Equipment

  • 1 large shallow non stick or stainless steel pan.
  • 1 medium saucepan
  • 1 baking tray and baking paper
  • 1 candy or cooking thermomenter that goes upto

Ingredients

  • 1 & ½ cups plus 1 tablespoon (250gms) natural almonds
  • 2 cups (4440gms) white sugar, divided into three (⅔ cup or 180gms each)
  • ½ cup (125mls) water, divided into three (40 mls each)
  • 6 teaspoons rose water, divided into 2 teaspoons each (optional)

Instructions
 

  • Preheat your oven to 355°F (180°C/160°C fan-forced). Spread the nuts on a baking tray and roast for five minutes. NB If you are using roasted almonds you can skip this step.

First sugar coating

  • Line a baking tray with baking paper. Measure out the rose water and put it next to the stove and have something heat proof you can rest the candy thermometer and wooded spoon on.
  • Add ⅔ of a cup of the sugar (180gms), water and seven to ten drops of the red food color to the pan. Heat on high, stirring until all sugar dissolves. When large bubbles form add the nuts.
  • Pour the rosewater over the top, taking care of any steam that comes on. Leave the pan on hight heat and shake and stir, shake and stir and shake and stir. Keep shaking and stirring. After a few minutes the water will have evaporated and the sugar will starts to crystalize.
  • Keep shaking and string and scraping the bottom of the pan with the spoon, gently mixing the nuts over and over until the sugar forms fine, sand like crystals and coats the nuts. There should be no moisture left. If the sugar starts to clump and forms large grains its just about gone too far and you need to get off the heat straight away and tip them onto the prepared tray.
  • Remove from the heat IMMEDIATELY and tip onto the prepared baking paper.
  • Get the pan into some warm water straight away. You can leave it to soak for a few minutes while you measure the ingredients for the next step. Clean and dry your pan and spoon.
  • Once the nuts have cooled separate them out and put them aside. Put the leftover pink sugar into a bowl. Have your lined tray, measure out rose water, the first lot of coated nuts, clean dry shallow pan and candy thermometer nearby.

Second sugar coating

  • In a separate medium saucepan put in ⅔ cup sugar (180 grams), water, food color and any leftover pink sugar that did not stick to the nuts on the first coating. Heat on medium heat, string welling to dissolve the new sugar and as much of the pink sugar as you can. Put in the candy thermometer. Keep stirring the sugar.
  • Once the temperature gets to about 176 °F (80°C) put the shallow pan on medium heat to heat up. When the temperature of your sugar hits about 248°F (120°C) add the coated nuts to the clean shallow pan to preheat the nuts. 
  • Continue to stir the sugar mix. Once it reaches 355°F- 359°F (124°C - 126°C) add the rose water, taking care of any steam that comes up. Mix in well and then quickly pour the syrup over the warmed nuts in the shallow pan, scraping out the sugar syrup from the pan. Mix the nuts very well, taking care to stir the syrup so it coats the nuts and shake the pan as needed.
  • Once again the syrup will crystalize over the nuts. This can happen quickly, keep gently stirring and shaking the pan until the nuts are well coated and the sugar is dry and stops crystalizing. When the sugar just starts to come OFF the nuts instead of sticking them they are done. Tip them onto the prepared baking tray straight away.
  • Gently break up any nuts that have stuck together. Clean the shallow pan, spoon, saucepan and candy thermometer in warm water.

Third sugar coating

  • Once the nuts have cooled a bit separate out the nuts and put them aside and put the leftover pink sugar into a bowl. Repeat the process for the second sugar coating. Once the sugar stops sticking to the nuts remove from the heat immediately and tip onto the lined tray.
  • Allow to cool before eating.

Notes

  • If you don't like rose water you can use the same amount of orange water instead i.e. 2 teaspoons per step, or a quarter of the amount of vanilla extract i.e. ½ teaspoon per step.  Or for unflavored nuts you can leave it out entirely.  
  • Have everything ready at the start of each step, once you start you will need to work quickly.  
  • For the best results you need a candy thermometer that will go up to at least 359°F (126°C).  You can try making it without the thermometer but you risk under or overcooking the sugar syrup and them either not setting or burning.  
  • To prolong the shelf life of the nuts and make them crispier you can put them onto a lined tray and dry them out in an oven at 158°F (70°C) for 45 mins. (NB my oven is fan-forced and only goes as low as 212°F (100°C). I dried the nuts for 45 mins at this temp and it worked fine, but at 248°F (120°C) the sugar melted off).

Nutrition

Calories: 242kcalCarbohydrates: 34gProtein: 5gFat: 11gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 3gMonounsaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0.004gSodium: 1mgPotassium: 163mgFiber: 3gSugar: 30gVitamin A: 0.2IUCalcium: 60mgIron: 1mg

Nutritional Disclaimer

Nutritional information is an estimate based on an online database. The nutritional content of ingredients may vary by brand. If you require accurate nutritional information, you should calculate this based on the specific brands and products you are using.

Keywords: Pink pralines, Pink sugared almonds
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!