Cookie Supremacy! Here’s A Guide To Making The Perfect Palmiers

Also called elephant ears or palm leaves, palmiers are a delicate puff pastry originating from France. They are, in the same breath, crispy, flaky and caramelised, making for an exciting and tasty dessert. It might seem intricate and complicated at first, but making palmiers is actually quite simple. Here’s all you need to know about the technique.

Ingredients

For the dough:

• 166 gms all-purpose flour, spoon & leveled, plus more for generously flouring hands, surface, and dough
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 170 gms unsalted butter, cold and cubed
• 120 ml ice cold water

For the sugar-spice mixture

• 200 gms granulated sugar
• 2 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 2 teaspoons orange zest

Directions:

• First, make the dough. Whisk the flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Then add the cold butter on top and gently mix it in with your hands. Make sure the butter isn't warm or you’ll end up with a paste. Avoid using a food processor in this step or it will break down the butter too much. The butter should still be chunky.
• Add cold water one spoon at a time until the dough forms in a clump in the bowl. Use your hand to toss it all together. Start clumping the dough to bring it together.
• Now transfer the dough clump to a floured work surface. Roll the dough out into a rectangle and then fold the dough into halves twice. Flatten it with your hands and smooth out any cracks in the dough. Then wrap it in plastic wrap and place it in an airtight container.
• Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 24 hours.
• Then take it out of the fridge and start the rolling process on a floured surface. Flatten the dough and use a rolling pin to start rolling and folding it. Flip the dough every once in a while and continue rolling.
• Then wrap the dough tightly and refrigerate for 15 minutes more, or up to 24 hours. If you want to make dough ahead and freeze it, now is the time to set it in the freezer.
• For the mixture, mix together the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamom, and divide it into 2 bowls. Stir in orange zest into one of the bowls.
• Remove the dough from the fridge the second time. Sprinkle half of the sugar spice mixture on the dough. Then, slowly roll the left and right edges into the centre and wrap the log in plastic wrap. Chill for 30 minutes or up to 2 days in the fridge.
• Preheat the oven to 400°F (204°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Slice the logs and place them on the baking sheets. Sprinkle any leftover sugar-spice mixture on top.
• Bake for about 10 minutes. The cookies should start puffing up. Remove from the oven and flip them over. Continue baking for another 10 minutes or until golden brown.
• Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack so they can cool completely. Or you can even enjoy the cookies warm. Enjoy the cookies with a cup of coffee or hot chocolate. Dip it into the beverage for a fun experience.
• Leftover cookies can be stored for a week in an airtight container at room temperature.

Notes, tips and tricks:

• If you don't want to make the dough from scratch, you can also use readymade, store-bought dough that’s sufficiently thawed.
• You can use any sugar of your choice, white or brown. But it's preferable to use a coarser sugar so it adds a crunch to each bite.
• If you don't want a mixture, you can simply use sugar and nothing else. You can also make it savory by switching out the sugar for salt, pepper and other spices.
• The rolled out dough should be sliced and then the spice mix sprinkled all over it. Then start folding on each side until they meet in the middle. Be patient with this step because the shape is a big part of the cookies.
• Don't keep the palmiers stored for too long, since they lose their crispness over time.