Palmiers, also known as elephant ears or palm hearts, are classic French pastries made by sprinkling sugar onto a sheet of puff pastry and folding the two sides together so they meet in the middle. The resulting shape, once baked, resembles a palm leaf.
This easy palmiers look fancy but are quite possibly the easiest cookie you'll ever make, if you have storebought pastry sheet.
Palmiers are just two things: puff pastry and sugar! You can add other flavors like cinnamon, add pesto or jam to the center, the possibilities are endless. But I like the spiced version with nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon and for the sugar, I used demerara sugar. I love the crunch and flavor of this specialty sugar. Who knew that just sugar and pastry would be so delicious???
INGREDIENTS
1 sheet frozen puff pastry, store bought or homemade
1/4 cup Demerara sugar or light brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
1/8 nutmeg powder
1 pinch clove powder(optional)
WORKING THE MAGIC:
Take puff pastry out of the freezer about half an hour before you start making the palmers. It should be soft enough to unfold easily, but not so warm and soft that it sticks together.
Meanwhile, to make sugar and spice mixture, mix the sugar with cinnamon powder, nutmeg powder and a pinch of clove powder and set aside.
After 30 minutes, unfold the pastry and sprinkle sugar mixture evenly all over the pastry and with the help of a rolling pin, lightly roll over the sugar so as to press it gently into the pastry. Be careful not to roll hard so you keep the shape of the pastry.
Take one side and tightly roll the pastry towards the middle. Stop when you get to the middle. Then take the other side of the pastry and roll toward the middle. Wrap the pastry in the cling wrap and pop in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to let it firm up.
Preheat the oven to 400F/200C. Remove the prepared dough from the refrigerator and place on a cutting surface. Slice the cookies 1/2 inch in width and place them a few inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet and rush the tops lightly with the melted butter and another light sprinkling of sugar.
Bake for approximately 12-14 minutes or until the cookies puff up and turn golden brown. Keep an eye on them because they will burn very easily!
Transfer each palmier to a cooling rack and let it cool completely and then store in an airtight container.
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