THE PALMIER: SIMPLE PERFECTION

I had my first Palmier years ago when I lived in France.  With its twin spirals of puff pastry encased in a sugar crust it is simple perfection. And like so many simple, perfect things it came be hard to duplicate. Until you know the tricks!

For years I thought the problem was in my puff pastry. Initially I thought this easy-to-form cookie would be a good use for commercial puff pastry. And it worked more or less.  It tasted well enough but it didn’t have the layers I was looking for in the pastry and  I could never get that delightful crunchy edge of sugar on my cookies.  It was a nice cookie but far from perfection

So I learned how to make rough, puff pastry.

Now I had the layers but I didn’t have the crust.  And to be honest, rough puff pastry is still a lot of work for what should be a simple cookie.  So I tabled the project.

And then, this past Sunday morning, I got an email from King Arthur Flour   with a recipe for Palmiers. I was immediately down to try it

The first thing I did was check out the Fast and Easy Puff Pastry recipe that came with it.

I cut cold butter into flour using a hand pastry blender.

The multiblades of the “blender” help cut the butter in quickly

I did this because I believe in trying a new recipe exactly the way it is written the first time.  I think you could just as easily cut it in with two knives or even pulse it in a food processor.  You are looking for small, pea sized, chunks of butter in the flour.  Don’t over process it.  The little balls of butter are what provide the layers in the pastry.

The dough should have small lumps of butter in it

Add some sour cream for moisture and knead it until it comes together.

Roll it out into a rectangle, fold it over and roll it out again.

Fold the dough like a letter being put into an envelope

Fold it into three, one more time, wrap it up well and refrigerate it for 30 minutes.  You can stop here if you want and proceed the next day, or even freeze the dough for use within a month or so.

After the dough has chilled you are ready for the next step, rolling the dough in sugar.

This was where I had been going wrong all along!  The palmier recipe calls for much more sugar than I had been using.  I sprinkled sugar on my rolling mat and over the top of the dough.  And I repeated this as needed to keep the dough from sticking.

Once the dough was shaped into a rectangle I began to roll it tightly from each side, sprinkling more sugar onto off each fold.

Make sure you have rolled the dough tightly and sprinkled sugar on each turn

When you are done, you should have a log made of the two halves of the pastry meeting in the middle.  Wrap this tightly in plastic wrap and put it back in to refrigerator to chill for another 30 minutes.

When you are ready to bake the cookies, cut the log into ½” slices and carefully dip all sides of the cookie in some more sugar.

And here’s the final trick.  This is the one that makes the real difference!

Halfway through the baking, turn the cookies over!   The bottom side should be caramelized and brown. Turning them over allows the top to brown and crust over as well.

The finished cookie should be browned on both sides with a crust of sugar all around it

Simple.

Perfection.

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PALMIER COOKIES

Ingredients

For the Pastry

• 2 c flour
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 1 c cold butter
• ½ c sour cream

For the Palmiers

• 1 batch puff pastry
• 2/3 c sugar

Instructions

Make the Pastry

1. Stir together the flour, salt and baking powder.
2. Cut the butter into small pats or dice.
3. Add the butter to the flour mixture and cut it in using a pastry blender or a processor. The butter should still be visible as small pea size lumps in the dough.
4. Stir in the sour cream. The dough will be a shaggy mixture that does not hold together.
5. Turn the dough out on a floured counter or pastry mat and knead it until it comes together in a ball.
6. Shape the dough into a log and roll it out into a 8”x10” rectangle.
7. Dust the dough with flour and fold it in three folds, like a letter going into an envelope.
8. Turn the dough 90 degrees and roll it out into another 8”x10” rectangle. Fold it like a letter again.
9. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes or up to overnight.

Make the Palmiers

1. Take the pastry out of the refrigerator. If it has been chilling for more than 30 minutes, let it rest until it is cool and pliable, 15-30 minutes.
2. Sprinkle sugar all over your pastry board. Place the dough on top of the sugar and liberally sprinkle sugar over the dough.
3. Roll the dough into an 11”x14” rectangle. While you are rolling the dough, sprinkle sugar under it and on top to keep it from sticking.
4. Once the rectangle is formed, start to roll it tightly, alternating sides as you roll. After each turn, sprinkle more sugar on top of the roll. The two rolls of pastry dough should meet in the middle.
5. Wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes to 2 hours.
6. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
7. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
8. Slice the chilled dough in ½” slices. Carefully dip the slices into some sugar, making sure to get all the sides and edges.
9. Bake the cookies on the prepared sheets, 3” apart, for 14 minutes. The edges should be evenly browned.
10. Now carefully flip the cookies over and continue baking for an additional 6 minutes. Watch them to make sure they don’t burn.
11. Cool the cookies on the baking sheets.