Today's bake, Palmiers, are so easy to make if you have store bought puff pastry sheets. I have seen quite a few recipes online to make quick puff pastry at home -- like this one by Gayathri. But I can't dare to make it at home, it seems to be a lot of work AND lot of butter. I guess I'm OK with the store bought puff pastry sheets that have same quantity of butter and even more other unnecessary ingredients.
Palmier (palm tree in French) or elephant ear is a heart shaped French pastry made in heart shape or palm shape. They are like the 'little hearts' we get in India. Costco sells a big box of them and I'm always tempted to pick them up, but knowing that they are very simple to make, I always end up not buying.
Finally I tried them for this marathon and they are really simple to make with very few ingredients and they get done really fast too. They are best eaten warm because they tend to get a little chewy as they cool. The good thing about the recipe is that the unbaked palmiers can be frozen for later and can be baked in smaller batches when ready to serve.
Recipe adapted from here:
Ingredients:
Puff Pastry Sheets - 1, defrosted (left at room temperature for 30 minutes or left in the fridge overnight)Sugar - ¾cup
Ground Cinnamon - ½tsp Salt - a pinch
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 450°F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Combine the sugar, salt and ground cinnamon in a small bowl.
- Pour ½cup of the mixture on a big plate or wooden board. Unfold the puff pastry sheet onto the sugar and pour another ¼cup of the sugar mixture on top, spreading it evenly on the puff pastry. Make sure to evenly cover the pastry with sugar.
- Roll the dough until its about 13"x13" 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 of the dough, Then fold 1 half over the other half as though closing a book. There will be 6 layers.
- Slice the dough into ⅜" slices and place the slices, cut side up on the baking sheet.
- Bake the palmiers for 6~7 minutes or until caramelized and brown on the bottom. Then turn them over with a spatula and bake for another 3~5 minutes, until caramelized on the other side. Transfer to a baking rack to cool.
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