PALMIERS

Bonjour!!  Do you want to make a snack that is quick to make, looks really cute, sounds fancy,  and sweet and flaky?  Well, have I got a great recipe for you!  It’s Palmiers! Or palm tree. Or elephant’s ear.  Or pig’s ear.  Well, whatever you want to call them, I think we can all agree on one name for it.  DELICIOUS!!

With the kids being out of school and on summer vacation, I’ve been a little behind on the blog.  I’m  busy with driving kids to friends’ house, to swimming lessons, to summer camp, etc.  I’m not complaining at all, because I love having my kids home for the summer (I’m one of those weird mom who loves having her kids home!), but it does take away my baking time!  But this week, I’m back to concentrating on the blog and now I am baking away again!  I was looking for a fun recipe that will get me back into the groove and I remember this Palmier recipe by Ina Garten.  Fun facts about Palmier :
* In translation, Palmier is the french word for Palm.
* In Mexico, they are called orejas.  Instead of sugar and salt, it’s a mixture of sugar and cinnamon.

The awesome thing about this cookie is it only needs 3 ingredients.  Puff pastry (you can find this in the freezer section in your grocery store), sugar and salt!  Easy, right?  Now, before you make this cookie, you do need to defrost the puff pastry.  When you are defrosting it, you do need to take it out of the box, open the package and leave it at room temperature.  Those steps are important, because the first time I made this cookie, I only put the package on my counter and not opening it.  When I was ready to bake, It was still frozen!  So please remember to take it out of the box and out of the wrapper. 🙂

Now to make the shape like an elephant’s ear is really a few simple folding. I like having a visual for this recipe so here is the step-by-step visual on how to make the elephant’s ear shape.

First you put one cup of sugar mixture on the surface.  I used my silpat for easy cleaning.

Then you put one of your puff pastry on the sugar surface.  Pour about 1/2 cup of sugar mixture on the puff pastry.  So it’s sugar at the bottom – puff pastry – sugar on top.  Using the rolling pin, roll the puff pastry into a 13-13 inch square.

Now it’s folding time!  Fold the left side into the middle of the puff pastry.

Fold the right side into the middle.

Again, fold the right side into the middle.

Then fold the right side into the middle.

The final step is to gently fold the right side so it meets the left side.

Here’s a side view on how it should look like.

With a sharp knife, cut the puff pastry into about 3/8 inch slices.  You should get about 15 slices per puff pastry.

Now when you are putting them at the parchment, you want to do an up and down pattern like this next picture.  That way, it has space to puff up (and it will).

Put it in the oven and bake away!  While you’re waiting, brew some tea because tea and palmier goes perfect together!

Tips for making this cookie:

• When you are defrosting, take the puff pastry out of the box and out the paper package.
• Be sure to defrost for about 40 minutes.  When you defrost less than that, it would still be too frozen.  When you defrost too long, than it might get too soft.  So set your timer to get the perfect defrosting time.
• After cooling time, store the cookies in an airtight container.

Happy Baking!!