A Treat for Santa

What did you leave for Santa to munch on?  Instead of cookies and milk, we fueled him up on some home made palmiers.  You might know them as elephant ears, butterflies, palm leaf cookies, or French hearts.  In Spanish they’re called Palmeritas.  Whatever you call them, these crispy, flaky, caramelized sugar coated pastries are a snap to make.  (Especially since you have home-made puff pastry dough on hand.)

Today we give you Oli’s recipe for cinnamon palmiers, but you can spice them up with cardamom (my favorite), nutmeg, vanilla sugar or what ever makes you happy.

Palmiers are so delectable they didn’t last long after we glazed them. So we stashed a few for Santa. He must have enjoyed them because he left a little extra thank you under the tree.

Hope jolly old St. Nick was good to you.  So now,  we’re going to celebrate and ring in the new year with a fresh batch of  palmiers.

Here’s to 2016 – all the best!

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Cinnamon Palmiers
Makes about 16

4 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
9 ounces puff pastry
1-2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1. Sprinkle about 1 tablespoon of the confectioners’ sugar on a clean work surface.
2. Place dough on top of sugar and sprinkle it with another tablespoon of confectioners’ sugar.
3. Roll dough to an 8-inch by 8-inch square about 1/4-inch thick.
4. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar and all of the cinnamon over the dough.

5.  Fold about 1/4th of the dough from each end toward the middle.

6.  Repeat the folds so that they meet in the middle. Leave a little gap between them. Then roll one side on top of the other.

7.  Wrap log in plastic wrap and refrigerate one hour.

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Make and bake

Preheat oven to 450F

1. Use a sharp knife to cut the dough log into 1/3-inch slices and place on aluminum foil.
   

2.  Sift about a tablespoon of confectioners’ sugar over both sides of the palmiers then place them a lightly greased baking sheet, leaving a space between them about the size of a palmier.

3. Bake in preheated oven for about 7-9 minutes or until bottoms start to caramelize.
4. Use a spatula to turn palmiers over then bake for another 6-8 minutes or until tops are golden and caramelized.
5.  Remove them to a wire rack and glaze when still warm but cool enough to handle.

Glaze
3 tablespoons water
3 tablespoons granulated sugar

These babies need to sit on a wire rack for a while before serving.  Place some aluminum foil under the rack to catch any glaze that drips.  Makes for an easy clean up.

1. Bring sugar and water to boil in a small sauce pan over high heat.  Boil for about a minute, stirring once or twice.
   
2. Remove pot from heat until sugar mixture reaches room temperature.
3. Brush both sides of each palmier with the sugar glaze and place on wire rack. Keep the palmiers on the rack in a dry place until the glaze has dried.

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