The Palmier is a sweet, flaky, biscuit made from puff pastry and shaped like a palm leaf. With only three ingredients, these cookies are super easy to make and your friends will think you are a baking genius. Don't try to be an overachiever and make your own puff pastry dough, trust me.
This recipe is a slight variation of Barefoot Contessa's recipe. Barefoot Contessa
The most difficult part of this recipe is the folding of the dough. I use the word difficult loosely as you will find it is very simple:
After rolling dough to a 13x13 square, fold it in half so it meets in the middle:
Then, fold the dough, again, so it meets in the middle:
Now, fold your dough in half like you are closing a book:
Trim the edges and cut the dough into 3/8" slices:
Place them on the cookie sheet cut side up and you are ready to bake!
Serve these little jewels with a cup of tea or do as I did...pair them with a decent Pinot Noir. Note that I said decent, doesn't even have to be your good stuff.
Palmiers
Ingredients
2 cups granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon of cinnamon (optional)
2 sheets puff pastry, defrosted (recommended: Pepperidge Farm)
Directions
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
Combine the sugar, cinnamon and kosher salt. Pour 1 cup of the sugar/salt mixture on a flat surface such as wooden board. Unfold each sheet of puff pastry onto the sugar and pour 1/2 cup of the sugar mixture on top, spreading it evenly on the puff pastry. This is not about sprinkling, it's about an even covering of sugar. With a rolling pin, roll the dough until it's 13 by 13-inches square and the sugar is pressed into the puff pastry on top and bottom. Fold the sides of the square towards the center so they go halfway to the middle. Fold them again so the two folds meet exactly at the middle of the dough. Then fold 1 half over the other half. You will have 6 layers. Slice the dough into 3/8-inch slices and place the slices, cut side up, on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Place the second sheet of pastry on the sugared board, sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar mixture, and continue as above. (There will be quite a bit of sugar left over on the board.) Slice and arrange on baking sheets lined with parchment.
Bake the cookies for 6 minutes until caramelized and brown on the bottom, then turn with a spatula and bake another 3 to 5 minutes, until caramelized on the other side. Transfer to a baking rack to cool.
