Laura The Gastronaut > Julia Child > Desserts > Caramel Almond Cream

Crème Plombières Pralinée

July 9, 2020 | Updated August 15, 2023 | Laura

✽ Recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. I | Julia Child ✽

Julia Child Recipes 125 | 403 recipes to go!

✽ Crème Plombières Pralinée [Caramel Almond Cream], p. 594

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✽ Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. I was written by Julia Child who co-authored with Simone Beck & Louisette Bertholle and was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1961.

✽ You can buy Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume I which contains these recipes here. (affiliate link)

The purpose of this Julia Child section of my blog is to document my journey of learning how to cook. To show my successes, my failures, and what I learned along the way.

Since I didn't create these recipes (if only!), I do not post exact amounts of ingredients or word-for-word instructions. If any of these recipes spark your interest, I highly recommend you buy Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking (affiliate link). It's a great investment and learning tool and contains hundreds of classic recipes.

I hope that you enjoy reading my thoughts, learn something new, and leave inspired to try a new recipe. Bon appétit!

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✽ Butter Count: +1.25 TB

✽ Cost: $3.67 [~$0.61 per serving]

Check out the total Julia Child butter count & cost here!

→ Looking for a different Julia Child recipe? Here's a list of all of the completed and pending Mastering the Art of French Cooking recipes!

Do you ever do something and later when you notice it you ask yourself, “why in the heck did I do that??” Yep, that’s me with this dessert chapter. I somehow had skipped over four recipes at the beginning. Not a single clue as to why. Maybe it was a mistake, but now I am going back to the basics to complete them.

This recipe comes off as a short and simple recipe, and honestly it is. But once I had completed making the ladyfingers, cooked them so they would become stale, and made the caramel for the pralin, the whole afternoon was gone, and I hadn’t even started the main recipe yet!

Sometimes Julia recipes are just like that. Never assume a short ingredient list means a fast recipe.

Overall, this dessert is good. It is by no means the best dessert nor is it the worst (I’m looking at you rice Bavarian cream). My husband and I both agreed the texture was a little off (though that could have been the cook’s fault…).

If you like almond pralin, fluffy things, and don’t mind eating mostly raw egg whites then this just might be the dessert for you.

Looking for more Julia Child dessert recipes to read about?

→ Check out all of the dessert and cake recipes that I've completed so far!

✽ Step 1: Make Ladyfingers

Once you have made the ladyfingers, you need to get them stale! Yes, it’s a little counterproductive, but you’ll want them crispy so they do not get soggy!

The ladyfingers go at the bottom of the dessert cups and are sprinkled with a rum and coffee mixture. What a delicious combination!

✽ Step 2: Make Custard

Next, egg yolks and sugar are beaten together until they form the ribbon.

Flour is added and then boiling milk. As always, be careful. You don’t want those eggs to scramble. Nobody wants a lumpy custard.

Now everything is poured into a saucepan and boiled for a couple of minutes while stirring. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and butter. This is called crème pâtissière. Fancy, right?

✽ Step 3: Beat Egg Whites

Egg whites and salt are beat together until soft peaks are formed. Sugar is then added so stiff peaks can be formed.

The egg whites and pralin are folded into the crème pâtissière.

✽ Step 4: Chill

The mixture is spooned onto the ladyfingers in the dessert cups and chilled for about two hours.

Right before serving, sprinkle with leftover pralin. My dessert cups consisted of every small dish in my house in search for the one the would make the most beautiful picture.

*This blog, Laura the Gastronaut, and this post were/are not endorsed or supported by Julia Child or The Julia Child Foundation.

Category: Julia Child, Desserts & Cakes Cuisine: French
Keywords: julia child dessert recipe, caramel almond cream recipe, french dessert recipe, julia child creme plombieres pralinee

✽ Did you make this recipe too?
→ Let me know by leaving a comment below and sharing on Instagram. Tag @laurathegastronaut and hashtag it #laurathegastronaut.

More Dessert Recipes:

✽ Creme Plombieres aux Fruits (fluffy custard dessert made with strawberries)
✽ Chocolate Cream (a perfect dessert for a chocolate lover)
✽ Plombieres with Pineapple (same delicious dessert but the pralin is replaced with pineapple)
→ Check out all of the completed Julia Child dessert recipes!

✽ You can find this recipe and all the other Julia Child recipes I make in Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume I (affiliate link).
→ Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. I was written by Julia Child who co-authored with Simone Beck & Louisette Bertholle and was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1961.

✽ Check out my Julia Child Recipe Checklist to see a list of all my completed and pending recipes from Mastering the Art of French Cooking!

Bon appétit!

July 9, 2020 by Laura Ehlers

*This Creme Plombieres Pralinee blog post may contain some Amazon affiliate links. These link to products that I personally use and recommend. If you purchase anything using my links, it will not cost you anything. It will though give laurathegastronaut.com some financial support which helps me keep this blog running. Thank you for reading my blogs and your continued support.