Palmiers

For my recent birthday I was given a new cookbook: Dorie Greenspan's Baking Chez Moi: Recipes from My Paris Home to Your Home Anywhere.  And I have to say that it is one, big, beautiful collection of contemporary desserts that appear relatively easy to make, appear to taste luscious, and appear to be the result of some bakery's magic!

Immersed in the cookbook for days, I was fixated on the photography.  Each finished dessert was stunning. Page by page by page, I concluded that if this book did nothing more than sit on a coffee table in my house, it would be a tremendous addition to my decor...the cookbook is that alluring.

Even the novice baker will feel supported by the recipe directions and descriptions.  Greenspan guides and encourages with her writing while offering historical significance to the many recipes representing French baking.  "Real French people don't bake!" she shares.  "At least they don't bake anything complicated, finicky, tricky, or unreliable."

Anxious to mimic Greenspan's desserts, I made two of the recipes in as many days:  Palmiers and Viennese Sablés.  I then repeated the Palmiers recipe a few days later.  Need I say more?  Palmiers are those puff pastry miniatures of Elephant Ears that we have all tried once or twice, but never thought we could reproduce, right? Their heart-like appearance is so appealing, but it's their taste... oh my!  Buttery decadence with a modestly sweet background.  By themselves or paired with hot tea/coffee, they conclude a meal in the best way possible.

Notes

1.  This is a very simple recipe to make, mostly because all of the hard work has been done!  You will need to purchase puff pastry sheets.  I used Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry sheets found in the frozen food section of your grocery.  There are two individually wrapped pastry sheets in a package (one reason that I made two batches within days).  Use one and freeze the other.

2.  The only other ingredients are granulated sugar and melted (and cooled) butter.  I used about 1/4 cup sugar all together.  I used only 1 tablespoon of butter (even thought her recipe calls for 3 tablespoons).  But, you can waiver a bit from these absolutes and the results will still be awesome.  After making this once, you will never need to refer to the recipe again.  Go ahead.  Make it!  Then you'll know.

3.  When the pastry sheet is rolled out completely, you will need to brush the top with butter.  I used a brush on batch #1, but it picked up a lot of sugar (grains and then clumps) and was not as effective as I thought it would be.  So I used my clean fingers on batch #2:  I dipped my fingers into the softened butter and then spread this onto the pastry.  I could wipe off any adhering sugar along the way.  Much better...

4.  I baked some palmiers on parchment paper and some on a silicone mat.  I preferred the results from the parchment paper.

5.  These cookies need to be flipped over midway through baking.  My tip is to remember that you are flipping cookies that have sugar in a molten state.  Be careful.  I used a metal offset spatula with assistance from a fork.  It took a burned fingertip from batch #1 to teach me this lesson.

Palmiers

1 sheet of puff pastry, thawed (follow package directions)
Sugar, enough for rolling pastry to keep it from sticking (approximately 1/4 cup or more)
Butter, approx. 1 tablespoon, melted

Directions

1.  Remove wrapping and/or other parchment inserts from one puff pastry sheet.  Keep folded in thirds for thawing.  Lay on surface and thaw according to package directions.

2.  Dust countertop generously with sugar.  Place pastry on this sugar bed.  Dust the top of the pastry with sugar and begin to roll.

4.  As you roll, turn the pastry over and add more sugar to the countertop and top of pastry to keep the pastry from sticking.  Roll to a square with sides of 13 inches.

4.  Brush the surface of the pastry with butter (see note above for modification).

5.  Sprinkle more sugar onto the buttered surface.

6.  Now for the fun part:  Fold the left and right sides of the pastry to meet at the center.

7.  Brush the pastry with butter (or finger-brush) and sprinkle with sugar.

8.  Fold the left and right sides of the pastry to meet at the center (again).  You will have 4 layers on each side.

9.  Then fold one side over the other, as if you were closing a book.

10.  Slide the pastry onto a cutting board and place into the refrigerator to chill.

11.  Preheat the oven to 425º F. while the dough chills.

12.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  I had more palmiers than would fit on one sheet.  So while one sheet was baking, I kept the rest of the pastry dough chilling.  When one sheet came out and was cooling, I prepared a second sheet with the remaining pastry.

13.  Remove the dough from the refrigerator and cut the dough crosswise into 1/2 inch strips.  Place each, cut side up, onto the parchment paper, leaving 2 inches between each.

14.  Bake the palmiers for about 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and flip them over with a metal spatula and fork.

15.  Return to oven to finish baking, about 3 to 4 minutes.  Watch carefully as they caramelize quickly!

16.  Remove from oven and cool completely on rack.  Once cool, palmiers peel off easily for eating and storing...ahem...there will be none for storing...