Palmiers

Forget all the times I've said a recipe is the "easiest ever!" because this one is by far the easiest of all! haha. Why is it this easiest? Well, it only uses TWO ingredients (Not counting a pinch of salt)!! Say Whaaaa?! TWO ingredients is all you need for this "dessert". What is it you ask? Palmiers aka Elephant Ears!! While we're on the subject of Elephant Ears, when I was younger my brother used to call me Dumbo after the elephant named Dumbo in the Disney movie. The reason behind this? Well, I had huge ears and I was able to wiggle (more like flap) them just like Dumbo. To this day, I still can wiggle/flap them! They are not as huge as before though. hehe. Can you even believe I was able to win a mini laptop at UW with this hidden talent? It's TRUE!! Enough of my random tangents. haha. Like I said, this is the easiest recipe ever. Take sugar and puff pastry, roll out the puff pastry with sugar, fold , slice and bake. Believe me now? You can change up the flavor by adding different spices such as cinnamon. A perfect cookie to whip up in no time. Here's my results, tips and the recipe!

Results

Taste: Simply sweet and buttery

Texture: Crisp and crunchy with an outer layer of sugar

Tips
-No time to bake Palmiers after rolling and folding the dough? Freeze it for later use! I actually slice them prior to freezing to make it even easier

-I found that baking the sliced Palmiers pretty close together prevents excessive unraveling.

-Don't try to work in all the sugar. If there's too much sugar when baking, it creates a caramel which I had.

Palmiers

Recipe from Ina Garten

Ingredients
2 cups granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
2 sheets puff pastry, defrosted (recommended: Pepperidge Farm)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Combine the sugar and kosher salt. Pour 1 cup of the sugar/salt mixture on a flat surface such as wooden board or marble. 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 as though closing a book. 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.


-Aaron John
My Food Outings: AJ's Food Adventure
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