Pralines aux Amandes

I had some ingredients I needed to use up, so I concocted this variation yesterday, using Mother's tried and true praline recipe as a guide.  What I changed:  almonds instead of pecans (and I had about 1 1/2 cups total - mostly blanched and chopped but some blanched and slivered mixed in); a few drops of almond extract instead of the teaspoon of vanilla; and almost two cups of super fine sugar in the milk and sugar mixture - the rest was regular, and I used regular to caramelize.  I also, and this might have been my downfall, added a pinch of soda right after (or was it right before??) I added the caramelized sugar.  Boy did it boil up!  I had to turn the heat down so low to keep it from coming out of the pot that I ended up putting my computer chair in the kitchen so I could sit and relieve the back pain that, strangely, only comes when I cook.  But then I decided I didn't want to spend my Labor Day watching the candy pot, so I divided it - put maybe less than half in the pot with the glass lid.  I cooked this new mixture a little less - and used the old-fashioned drop in a cup of water to determine soft ball stage.  These actually turned out quite well.  They look creamy, but I wanted to get them dropped before the other pot turned too hard, so I poured part of it in an aluminum pie plate (I'll call this 'caramel almond fudge').  The first pot I cooked to nearly 234 degrees, but I guess there was more of it (?) and it took a long time to harden.  But it did harden before bedtime, and this morning it all looks pretty good.  So far no white spots that are the bane of the praline maker.

Note the swirly rivers of (I'm guessing) butter?  Milk?  Yes, nice rivers of cream rather than those vile splotches I usually get.  Maybe I can remember and repeat, but you know I always want to change multiple things.

The taste is another matter.  I think it might have been better with vanilla extract instead of almond.  But I'm really eager to try almond liqueur, if I can just find a very small bottle.  And next time I should toast the almonds a bit.

Just wanted to get this down so I'll know what I did when I want to do this again.

And while I'm here.... I really want to learn to make - is it called couverture?  The chocolate covering for truffles.  I bought some hatch chili truffles at CM and so now I'm back on truffles...

Update at 5 pm.  They really taste pretty good.  Maybe the flavors just needed to meld.  Or maybe I just needed to be hungry and in need of a sugar fix.

This was fun.  I hope to see you again soon....