I cannot seem to find any of this stuff here in southern ontario.  I have looked online but all the suppliers are in the USA and either will not ship to Canada, or the shipping costs are more expensive than the price of the paste.

I know you can make your own, but Rose states that you can’t reach a smooth consistency as the consistency of commerical paste.

Here is a Canadian website that sells praline paste. The shipping cost is a flat rate of seven dollars in Canada.

http://www.vanillafoodcompany.ca/All_Natural_Hazelnut_Praline_Paste_11_oz_p/aa107013.htm

Jan

Thanks so much jan.  Unfortunately they are out of stock.  I will have to call them tomorrow to see if they are getting anymore in soon.

Hi Liza!
Try Gourmet Warehouse in Vancouver BC - they are just awesome! I got the Pistachio Paste when I was there last - and I know they also have the other flavours too. Call them at 604-253-3022 or try the website at http://www.gourmetwarehouse.ca/. Good luck!

Do not try to make it yourself.  I have a recipe for a cake (not by rose) that calls for it…and it gave instructions for making it if you couldn’t find it.  I know I can get it here in NYC where I live, but I was lazy, and so…I had all the ingredients…and I tried to make it.  It was impossilbe to get it completely smooth and hence, my icing was grainy.

I just discovered three different (but all virtually identical) recipes on the ‘net… it does look quite simple - but unless you have a very powerful processor with a very sharp blade it would be hard to get it smoothly textured. One recipe added Hazelnut/Walnut oil which might help to get a better texture. See: http://savour-fare.com/2009/03/13/pralinepaste/. Makes me want to try it just to see if I can get it to turn out…. but then I’m not beyond attempting Marzipan…

Rose has said that it is impossible to make a perfectly smooth praline paste without specialized equipment, and I believe her.

One thing that does work with some recipes, is to make a caramel version of the recipe (dissolve the caramel in liquid in the recipe) and then add an equal weight of hazelnut paste.  I don’t know if hazelnut paste is any easier to find than praline, but that’s how I always do it.  For instance, for the praline silk meringue buttercream in the Cake Bible, I make the caramel version, and add hazelnut paste.  That way I have one less (pricey) ingredient to stock. 

I bought my hazelnut paste from lepicerie.com, it is perfectly smooth and delicious (but they are NYC-based and I don’t know how shipping to Canada is).

I am sure that a homemade version although it might taste fine would never be as smooth and silky as a commercial product. Sometimes that’s not critical - but when it is - I really like your ingenious solution Julie! Especially as these pastes only have a limited shelf life. I will definitely be picking up some Hazelnut Paste in Vancouver’s Gourmet Warehouse next time I am out there! They do ship acreoss Canada I believe.

Great idea Julie. I’ve made it homemade, and agree with Bill, could never get it where is wasn’t unpleasantly gritty.