Palmiers

If you use store bought puff pastry, palmiers are the easiest cookies you can make. They’re essentially slice and bake cookies, but sound all sophisticated because of the French name. If you want to make your own puff pastry, it then becomes an all-day exercise in delayed gratification.

At the heart of the palmier is puff pastry (pâte feuilletée)—a laminated dough in which butter is repeatedly folded and rolled. When baked, the steam from the butter creates lift, and the end result is a flaky, layered sheet of pastry.

For those who like to ruin a good dessert with math, there is even a formula for determining the number of layers in the final pastry:

L=(f+1)ⁿ

Where L is the number of layers, f is the number of folds, and n is the number of times the pastry is folded. For most recipes, 70-80 layers are good enough, but there are some that need over 700!

Fortunately, if you buy store bought puff pastry, all the rolling and math has been done for you. The most common store brand is Pepperidge Farm. While it’s not made with pure butter, it’s very cheap and easy to find. Pure butter brands include Dufour, Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s.

Palmiers

Granulated sugar. Lots. (about a cup, more or less)

1 sheet of puff pastry (thawed overnight in the fridge, or if you are forgetful, on the countertop for about 20 minutes)

Makes ~20 cookies

Preheat oven to 400F.

Sprinkle about 1/3 cup of sugar onto a clean work surface.

Unfold the thawed puff pastry, and place onto the sugared surface.

With a rolling pin, lightly roll the pastry lengthwise. Rolling helps make the pastry longer giving you more cookies, and helps the sugar stick to the dough.

Flip the dough over onto another 1/3 cup of sprinkled sugar, and roll again. This should give you a nice sugar crust on both sides.

Sprinkle a bit more sugar on the surface of your pastry. To shape the palmiers, turn the pastry sheet so that the shorter edge of the rectangle is towards you. Role or fold the longer edges inwards toward the midline.

Once the two halves meet in the middle, gently squeeze them together to hold the shape, and place in the fridge to chill for about 1 hr, or 20 mins in the freezer. The fat in the pastry needs to be cold to create maximal puff.

After the pastry is chilled, take it out and cut in ¼ inch or ½ cm slices. I like to dip the cut sides of each slice into more sugar, but maybe that’s excessive.

Baked on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or silicone mat for about 15 minutes, until the edges are golden, and the center looks cooked.

Variations:

For some excitement, you can dip your baked palmiers in melted chocolate, or add a filling just before rolling it up:

Cinnamon and cayenne powder

1/3 cup of granulated sugar

1 of cinnamon

~1/4 tsp of cayenne powder (or to taste)

Mix together the sugar, cinnamon and cayenne powder.

Sprinkle over the pastry and roll as described.

Chocolate ganache filling

1/3 cup heavy cream

1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate

1 egg yolk

Heat heavy cream in a microwave-safe bowl, or sauce pan until it simmers. Add the chocolate and stir until the chocolate melts into a smooth ganache. Let the ganache cool and then mix in egg yolk.

Spread the ganache onto the pastry and roll as described.