A New Favorite Cookie: Palmiers

One of my goals for this fall was to find some easy recipes for snacks and desserts so we'd have a more consistent supply of homemade lunchbox items and after-school snacks.  Of course, the challenge is finding things that aren't too time-consuming, rely primarily on ingredients we're likely to have around, and can be pulled together between dinner, homework and storytime. 

No small goal!

I came across a recipe for Palmiers in my Barefoot in Paris cookbook and realized they require three basic ingredients: puff pastry, sugar and salt.  Although I don't normally keep puff pastry in the freezer, it was an easy addition to the milk-run.

We made them after dinner and the kid-chef handled the measuring and assembly herself.  One caution - these cookies get really hot when they're cooking.  Flipping them is an adult-chef task, for sure!

The cookbook version came out very sugary and almost hard - they lost some of the flaky qualities I remember from having these as a kid.  That crumbly, airy feel of crunching through cookie and sugarwas one of the best parts of a palmier, so we'll be cutting the sugar in half on the next round.  I also found that one sheet of dough was plenty for a week's supply.

Here's our version:

1 sheet of puff pastry, thawed in the refrigerator overnight.
1/2 cup sugar mixed with a dash of salt.

Preheat oven to 450*
Spread half the sugar-salt mixture over your baking surface

Unfold the dough on the sugar, spread the remaining sugar on the dough and roll the dough out to a 1/8 inch thick sheet.
Fold the left and right edges of the dough in toward the center of the sheet, then fold the edges in again to meet in the middle.  Fold the right side over the left side so you have a log of dough.

Cut 1/3 inch slices off the folded dough and transfer to a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper
leave about 1 inch between cookies, since the slices will expand.  Use multiple cookie sheets if necessary.

Tip: If you don't use a lot of parchment paper, this is the time to get some!  Without it, the pans will be a mess - with it, you can flip the cookies with ease, then slide the entire sheet of paper off the baking sheet onto the cooling racks when they're done. Whatever you do, don't be tempted to use waxed paper instead of parchment - it is not the same.  Trust me on this one.

Let the cookies bake for about 6 minutes, until they're golden brown.  Flip them with a wide metal spatula and return them to the oven.  Cook them another 3 minutes.  They cook really quickly, so keep an eye on them at the very end.  You want them to be browned, but not dark. 

They will be very hot when you flip them and when you take them out - make sure the testers don't get too eager or they'll have burnt tongues.

My daughter gave these a thumbs up as her new favorite cookie.

I love that they were a snap to make, and the cleanup was next to nothing.  They'd make a great last-minute "oh dear I forgot I needed to bring something tomorrow....." dessert.