Petite Palmiers (Ina Garten) by Barbara

Petite Palmiers (Elephant Ears) - 

crisp, airy, caramelized confections - 

so easy!

I found the recipe in Ina Garten's "Barefoot in Paris" cookbook.  Hers are smaller than pastry shop ones.

They fit in the palm of my hand and are about 3 inches wide.

We were pleasantly surprised to see how easy they are to make. The sugar makes a mess but they were fun to make.

You can just hear Ina saying "How easy is that?" when you are making them.

Start to finish we were done in half hour, once the dough was defrosted and the oven heated.

These are an Americanized version which rely on Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry for the dough.  True palmiers have many more layers, and come in many sizes.  Some are huge! 

—- Barbara

Petite Palmiers (Elephant Ears)
(from Ina Garten's Barefoot in Paris cookbook)

Makes 40 to 45  3-inch pastries 

2 cups sugar
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
2 sheets Pepperidge Farm puff pastry, defrosted

Defrost the puff pastry in the refrigerator overnight.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

I'd suggest you line your cookie sheets with parchment paper now.  You will need 2 large cookie sheets.

Combine the sugar and kosher salt.  Pour 1 cup of the sugar-salt mixture on a flat surface such as a wooden board or marble slab.

Unfold the first sheet of puff pastry onto the sugar and pour 1/2 cup 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, lightly roll the dough until it's a 13 in square and the sugar is pressed into the puff pastry on top and bottom.

Fold the sides of the square toward the center so they go halfway to the middle.

Fold them again so the two folds meet exactly in the middle of the dough.

Then, --- my version of what she says to do -- is to fold all of the folds you have made so far on top of each other so that you have a log.  This is what you will slice to make the palmiers.  If you look at the ends, at this stage, you will see the two spirals which meet in the middle.

Slice the dough into 3/8 inch slices and place the slices, cut side up, on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.  We sprinkled a little extra sugar on the tops of the palmiers after we put them on the cookie sheets.

Repeat with the second sheet of puff pastry.

There will be quite a bit of sugar left on the board.

Bake for 6 minutes (we went 8) or until caramelized and brown on the bottom,

then turn with a spatula (we found a metal one works better than a plastic one)

and bake for another 3 to 5 minutes, until caramelized on the other side.

Transfer to a baking rack and cool.

Cool completely, and store in airtight plastic bags.

We will definitely make these again.  They were delicious this morning with a cup of coffee.

I think this is as close as we are going to get to real pâtisserie palmiers.

B