Sweet Palmiers

Something that’s always good to have in your freezer is pre-made puff pastry. I’ve done puff pastry recipes here before, but did you know you could make simple cookies using it? Sweet palmiers are light, flaky cookies that don’t require any mixing! It can also be a fun activity to include young or inexperienced baker friends or family. 

Because sweet palmiers naturally take on the shape of hearts once they’re baked, they also make cute homemade romantic or Valentine’s Day gifts – and all it takes is a puff pastry sheet and some sugar to make. This recipe makes small cookies because of the size of the puff pastry I used, but if you want to go big, you can use a larger sheet, and even pinch the centers before baking to make butterflies instead of hearts. 

I tried a few sweet palmier recipes I found online, and wouldn’t you know it – the one I liked the most was by the Barefoot Contessa herself, Ina Garten. Her trick? Adding a pinch of salt to the sugar – which makes perfect sense. The salt opens up your taste buds so the cookie isn’t overwhelmingly sweet. If you like salted caramel, or salt on your chocolate, you get it.

I took her recipe and went a little extra by drizzling some white, dark, and pink chocolate on them, but you could also experiment with flavored sugars. Vanilla or cinnamon make amazing flavored palmiers, as would orange or lemon zest. The next batch I make, I’ll be making a lemon palmier with a lemon glaze – and maybe have them butterfly-shaped for the spring. There are also some really fun recipes for savory palmiers I can’t wait to try as well. Stay tuned for those updates! 

NOTE: I said “2 cups of sugar” in this video, but I realized this was Ms Garten’s measurement for 2 sheets of puff pastry…which is how I ended up with too much sugar. Correct measurement = use 1 cup of sugar per puff pastry sheet; salt is fine with “a pinch” for either measurement. 

For an additional recipe using puff pastry (and a great way to use the other half of your puff pastry sheet!), check out my Tuna & Tomato Tart recipe – a perfect pairing for a Valentine’s Day brunch!

Ingredients

• 1 cup granulated sugar 
• Pinch salt 
• Sheet of puff pastry  
• Candy melts (optional) 
• Food coloring (optional) 

Directions

Prep Work

Thaw store-bought frozen puff pastry in the fridge. You don’t want to ever let the butter melt, so keep everything super cold. 

In a bowl, mix sugar with a pinch of salt. I used cane sugar in this recipe, but white granulated sugar works great as well. 

Assembly

Put half of the sugar onto a clean working surface. Spread it out, and place puff pastry on top of the sugar. 

Press the puff pastry into the sugar. You can use your hands if they’re cold; if not, use a rolling pin. 

Flip the puff pastry over, and repeat pressing the sugar/salt mixture into the pastry. 

Fold the two sides of the puff pastry to the center, then fold one half over the other. 

Slice the rolled dough into 1-inch pieces. 

Store the pieces into a ziploc bag and put back in the freezer for a minimum of 1 hour (longer if you’re in a warmer climate or time of year). 

Preheat oven to 450F. 

Baking

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (this is important – it’ll save you the headache of having to clean any possible burnt sugar off later). 

Remove the ziploc bag from the freezer, and place as many palmiers you’d like to bake on the parchment sheet. Make sure there is ample room around each palmier, since they will puff up to roughly twice its size (or more). Return ziploc bag with unused palmiers to the freezer for another day. 

Bake at 450F for 5 minutes, then flip over and continue baking for another 5 minutes. 

Remove from oven and slide the parchment paper off of the baking sheet to allow to cool. The cookies will still be very soft until they cool, so it’ll be easier to slide the parchment paper off rather than remove individual cookies to a baking rack. You can also let them cool while still on the baking sheet – it’ll just take longer for them to cool. 

Serve sweet palmiers with coffee or tea, or present as a gift to your friends and partners. Enjoy! 

(Alternately, melt candy melts in the microwave and drizzle on the cookies – food colorings and flavorings can be used with the white chocolate to make seasonal sweet palmiers. Heat candy melts for 30 seconds, then stir; repeat in smaller increments of time till it’s all melted. I don’t recommend dipping these cookies into chocolate, as they’re already pretty sweet as they are.)