Raspberry Palmiers– Easy Peasy and Ooey Gooey

I love caramel! I love the flavor of caramelized sugar and a nice chewy texture.

I recently been blogging about overcoming my fear of puff pastry, so I decided to graduate from making simple turnovers to making “Palmiers” (otherwise known as Elephant Ears). What are Palmiers?

palmier
[pahlm-YAY]
Also called palm leaves , this crispy delicacy is PUFF PASTRY dough that is sprinkled with granulated sugar, folded and rolled several times, then cut into thin strips. After baking, these golden brown, caramelized pastries are served with coffee or tea or as a dessert accompaniment. © Copyright Barron’s Educational Services, Inc. 1995 based on THE FOOD LOVER’S COMPANION, 2nd edition, by Sharon Tyler Herbst.

I try to make as many recipes as I can “from scratch” but I admit that puff pastry is far too complicated for me to attempt making– too much folding and making sure to keep the butter nice and cold. Thank you, Pepperidge Farm, for being reasonably priced and making this step one that I don’t have to worry about. Trader Joe’s sells a great puff pastry, but only at Christmas. NOTE: I have since discovered “Jeckys’ Best Puff Pastry” that I buy at my local “Smart & Final”. They come in 10×15 full sheets of puff pastry, so I don’t have to unfold them.  You will need: Puffy pastry, parchment paper , a baking sheet, a rolling pin, and sugar. I was trying to use up leftover seedless raspberry jam (because I made homemade raspberry jam and I need refrigerator space), so I decided to add this as well.If I plan to use puff pastry in advance, I thaw it in the refrigerator overnight. Today, this recipe was a total “whim” so I did a quick thaw.
I removed one sheet of puff pastry (Pepperidge Farm comes in two’s). I set the puff pastry on top of my parchment paper– a trick I learned the hard way. You see, frozen puff pastry will thaw in about 30 minutes (unless you live in Siberia and it’s winter). Once, I thawed the pastry on my cutting board and it was hard to handle. After about 5 minutes of thawing, I carefully unfolded the puff pastry. Don’t worry about lines or if it’s torn. Thawed pastry repairs very easily.I have a tile counter (how I dream of a granite counter), so I used a marble pastry board. Sprinkle the board, generously, with sugar. How much? I don’t measure… about this much.Now, lift the parchment paper with the thawed pastry and flip it onto the sugared pastry board (or your counter). I use a bench scraper to shape the dough after the first roll, and I repair any cracks.
Now, sprinkle more sugar on top, and gently roll in order to press the sugar into the pastry. You also want to roll the dough to be thinner. I apologize, I can’t give you a specific measurement of thinness. Just a bit, if that makes sense.I used about 1/4 cup of seedless raspberry jam (you can skip this, if you want)……and spread the jam, leaving at least a 2- inch border. I figured that by the time I folded the dough, and pressed it some more, it would really spread.
Now, it’s time to fold. Each side is rolled in about 1-1/2 inches. Eyeball it. I added a little more sugar and used the rolling pin to flatten it– this was tricky, because of the jam.Once more, I rolled each side in, until they met. Roll it flat again. Last, the two ends meet and are rolled one on top of another, then flatted with the rolling pin.The jam oozed out of one end. Hmmmm, maybe a little less jam next time, but I’m not quitting now! Into the freezer, the first batch went, for 15 minutes. In the meantime, I put the second batch into the fridge. Both techniques worked fine, by the way. Remove from the fridge/freezer and…
…with a sharp knife, cut the dough in uniform sizes– eyeball it. I’m guessing 3/8-in sizes. The first few slices didn’t have jam in them, but that’s okay. It gave me a chance to see if I like them better plain or with jam. Each sheet of puff pastry should yield 18 slices.
At first, a video showed that I should brush each piece with a little water and then dip into sugar.I decided that I could skip that, only because the jam was sticky enough. It worked like a charm.As you can see, I set these on parchment paper. I was forewarned, by one recipe, that the puff pastry has a tendency to unfold, so to be sure to really press the dough together. I tried to figure it out… so we shall see what happens. I decided to experiment, since some recipes say to chill these between 15-30 minutes. The first set of cookies (12 of them) went into the freezer for 15 minutes. Then, I popped them into a 375F degree oven, on the middle rack. The “secret” to puff pastry are all the multiple layers of butter that expands when baked.NOTE: At this point, you can freeze the palmiers to bake at a later time.
These smell out of this world! My husband walked into the house, sniffing and commenting that I was making something really good.These are pretty! Some of them did, indeed, unfold a bit. C’est la vie.
Take note of all that caramelized sugar! Parchment paper is my friend, on this occassion. The one on the right reminds me of a mushroom.
I flipped some over and look at that beautiful caramelized sugar! I could hardly wait to try one, but they are very hot. Be careful!Oh yeah, look at that caramelize sugar! I dare you to not eat one!Onto a cooling rack…Eaten warm, they are crunchy, chewy and incredibly good. A nice cup of tea would go well with these, for sure. Cooled, they are equally good.You can do many variations– cinnamon sugar, pumpkin spice, vanilla sugar– have fun with this!

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Classic Palmiers

Also known as elephant ears, shoe-soles, palm trees or palm leaves, palmiers are delicious pastries that can be served for breakfast or dessert. All you need is puff pastry, sugar, parchment paper, a rolling pin and an oven.  When these are baked, the sugar caramelizes beautifully yielding a buttery and flaky “cookie”. They look fancy and you don’t have to tell your guests how easy they are to make

Prep Time25 minutes mins

Cook Time18 minutes mins

Total Time43 minutes mins

Course: Cookies, Dessert

Keyword: palmiers, puff pastry

Servings: 12

Author: Debby – www.AFeastfortheEyes.net

Ingredients

• 1 sheet puff pastry Recommended:Jecky’s Puff Pastry (Smart & Final)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup seedless raspberry jam optional
• EQUIPMENT NEEDED:
• Baking Sheet
• Parchment paper
• rolling pin
• sharp knife
• a bowl of water
• a small bowl of sugar

Instructions

• Thaw the puff pastry sheet, according to package directions. Spread an even layer of sugar onto a pastry board. Place the thawed pastry sheet on top of the sugar.
• Sprinkle a layer of sugar on top of the pastry sheet. Gently roll the pastry sheet, pressing with a medium firmness to push the sugar into the dough.
• Spread a very thin layer of seedless raspberry jam (if using) that has been microwaved about 15 seconds for a thinner consistency, onto the puff pastry–leaving about a 2″ border all the way around. Turn the dough with the short side facing you. Fold the end closest to you about 1 1/2″ inward. Do the same from the other side.
• With a rolling pin, press the dough together. Be careful not to press too hard, or the jam will ooze out.
• Again, fold another 1 1/2″ inward on each side. Now, fold one side on top of the other, add additional sugar and press again with a rolling pin.
• Using a sharp knife, cut about 3/8″ slices and place about 1 1/2″ apart on parchment paper. Freeze for 15 minutes, or refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Don’t skip this step!
• Preheat the oven to 375˚F.
• Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, depending on your oven, until golden brown.
• Place on a cooling sheet.

Notes

You can freeze these and bake at a later time.

Tried this recipe?Mention @afeastfortheeyes or tag #afeastfortheeyesblog!

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