Plummelo

Robin_Horrigan

December 14th, 2010

I have been meaning to try this recipe for a few years.

Why did I wait so long? I'm in luuuurve!

Palmiers translates to "elephant's ears" in French. They are traditionally baked much larger in French pastisseries, but this small version makes a perfect cookie or accompaniment to afternoon coffee or a simple dish of ice cream. Made with frozen puff pastry sheets, it is not a cookie at all, but really a pastry in disguise. It is the perfect trick for an anti-baker to have up his or her sleeve. Hate measuring, sifting, creaming, and stressing about how long to mix things? Palmiers are for you.

That said, I learned quite a bit from my trial run this afternoon.

When you work with the pastry and follow Ina Garten's excellent instructions for folding and slicing, know that a light touch is not required. You want to put some pressure on the dough as you fold the layers so that they will stay together when you slice.

If you know anything about serious cookie baking, then you already know you really should only bake one tray at a time, rotating it halfway through the baking time. Some recipes are more forgiving of this rule than others, but...this is not one of those. I highly recommend baking no more than 12 palmiers on one half sheet pan at a time. If you put more than twelve on the sheet, you run may run into problems during the flipping step. Because of the flipping and possibility of mutiple trays browning in different stages, you really should stick to baking one tray at a time.

Be sure to preheat your oven completely before you begin with the pastry, because you want to slice and bake the cookies while the dough is still cold. Did I mention that these come together fast?

I also learned that the bottom of my oven is much, much hotter than any other part, and the cookies that baked in that part of the oven really caramelized (which is not what you want for palmiers) and a few of them even burned, despite careful watching. If you don't cover your baking sheet with parchment paper and some of your cookies caramelize, you may just ruin your baking sheet.

All of that said, this is one of the easiest dessert recipes I have ever made, and it is so versatile. I added a teaspoon and a half of cinnamon to the sugar. You could try lemon or orange zest or a small amount of coconut flake. Ina also has a savory variation that uses pine nuts and sundried tomatoes, which would be perfect to serve with cocktails.

Elephant Ears are my new favorite sweet treat!