Palmiers are the best, two ingredients, 15 minutes of work, cookie ever made! Possibly the best cookie ever made, period. Crisp and buttery puff pastry encrusted with crunchy caramelized sugar, yeah, probably the best cookie ever.
The Palmier is made from a sheet of puff pastry and sugar, that’s it, it’s that simple. Sometimes called Elephant Ears, Pigs Ears, Eye Glasses or Palm Trees. The Palmier is a French pastry, usually a sweet cookie, however, they can be savory baked with Parmesan cheese, pesto, or spicy, made with any number of spices.
I use the good store-bought frozen puff pastry for this, homemade puff pastry is best, but the frozen stuff is hard to beat. Puff pastry isn’t really all that difficult to make yourself, the problem is that there are multiple steps, each one spread out about an hour in between, which means each step has its own kitchen clean up. So, for a lot of people, the frozen stuff is the way to go, although, there is a lot to be said about the satisfaction and the adventure of making your puff pastry from scratch!
Always make sure the frozen puff pastry is made only with butter, no oils, fats or margarine. Puff pastry needs that incredible buttery flavor, and you don’t get that without real butter. It may be a dollar or two more, but for incredible Palmiers, it’s worth it.
Here’s how I make Palmiers:
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 Sheet Puff Pastry
- Granulated Sugar
PROCESS:
-Thaw out the frozen puff pastry, I leave it in the refrigerator overnight.
-Sprinkle work surface with sugar
-Lay the puff pastry on top of the sugared work surface, sprinkle the top of the puff pastry with additional sugar
-Gently roll out the puff pastry, ensure you keep a nice rectangle shape until the dough is 1/8 of an inch thick
-Begin at one corner of the puff pastry and begin rolling the dough in a spiral towards the centerline of the rectangle, then roll the opposite side the same way.
-Moisten your fingertips lightly with water and just moisten the dough at the center where the two rolls touch. This will help the dough stick together and not unravel when baking
-Let rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
TO BAKE:
-Preheat oven to 400F
-Slice the palmier log into 3/8 inch slices
-Lay the slices, cut side up on a sheet tray lined with parchment that has been sprayed with cooking oil.
-Bake for 12 minutes, turn over and bake for an additional 8 minutes or until nicely golden brown
-if the Palmiers start to unroll after the initial 12 minutes, you can re-roll them a little while they’re hot, caution, sugar burns so take care if you touch them while hot.
