Chocolate covered almond pralines

Are you all set for Christmas? all your little ducks in a row? I am not, I will go shopping today for some inspiration. I am thinking something simple, it will be just my mom and  anyway. I am thinking soup, some kind of small bird, potato latkes and maybe a nice cheese. I am done cooking until Saturday, I have plenty of leftovers from recipes I still have to share.

Back to candies, I have 2 more kind of candies to go but I am trying to give you some diversity. I am not sure why but nuts are very Christmas-y to me, this is once again an almond recipe. It is simple and yet delicious and it will for sure look fancy and delight whoever you share them with

Chocolate covered almond pralines

Recipe from Martha Stewart

Ingredients

- 13oz whole almonds

- 1 c sugar

- 1/4 c water

- 11/4 tsp salt

- 6 oz semi-sweet chocolate, chopped (or chips)

- 1/4 c unsweetened cocoa powder

Directions

- Preheat the oven to 350F

- Toast almonds in a single layer until fragrant, about 15 min, let cool

- Bring sugar and water to a boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Cook without stirring until a candy thermometer reaches 235F

- Add the nuts, stirring until the nuts are coated and the sugar crystallizes

- Stir in the salt, cook, stirring until the sugar forms a thin sand like coating on the nuts

- Pour the mixture on a parchment lined baking sheet, separating the clusters with a forks, cool completely, separate individual nuts, sift in a colander to remove excess sugar and place in a large bowl

- Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Pour over the nuts and coat.

- Pour over 1 (or 2) baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Separate as well as you can, any nuts that are touching will stick together as they cool.

- Refrigerate 30 min, until firm. Toss separated nuts in cocoa in a large container, you can do it in a bowl but closing a container and shacking it is much easier to get uniform coverage.

Enjoy!