Turn Your Kitchen Into the Patisserie

I am in love! It’s true, I’ve fallen completely head over heels for Palmiers. No, that is not a mysterious and handsome Frechman, rather a sweet and crunchy pastry found at the Patisserie in France. I’m talking Epcot of course, just in case you were about to look up airfare into the Charles de Gaulle airport. Now, Les Halles Boulangerie Patisserie offers all forms of pastries, but there’s something about the Palmiers that can make me hop on a monorail, bus or boat from where ever I am, just to make sure I have one for the evening. There’s nothing more satisfying than watching Illuminations while peeling apart sugar coated, melt in your mouth layers of flaky goodness. Mmmmm

There is one tiny problem, this is a long distance romance. I do not live near Walt Disney World, or Paris for that matter, and these confections do not have a long shelf life, there is no taking home a couple dozen. Necessity is the mother of invention, and I certainly needed my fix, so I found a quick and easy recipe that will get me through until my next trip “home”. Give it a try and you’ll be hooked too.

Ingredients:

1c sugar

Pinch of salt

Frozen puff pastry dough (I like Pepperidge Farm)

Parchment paper

Directions:

Thaw dough in the refrigerator until it’s pliable but still cold. Mix sugar and salt together, then cover work area with 1\4 of the mixture. Place dough on sugared surface and unfold. Cover top of dough with 1\4 of the sugar mixture and roll into an 11 x 15 rectangle. 

There are 2 ways to form this cookie. The first way is to start at one end and roll the end to the middle of the sheet. Repeat with other side. Press both sides together gently. This process will give you smaller and more dense cookies. 

The second way to form the cookie is by folding the dough. Take both ends and fold towards the middle, take the new ends and again fold to the middle. Now fold the left side on top of the right, like you are closing a book. This will give you are larger, flakier cookie.


Repeat with second sheet of dough. 


Wrap dough and chill for 30 minutes. 

Preheat oven to 450. Unwrap dough and cut into ½ inch pieces. Take each piece and dip both sides in remaining sugar mixture from your work area. Place 3 inches apart on parchment lined baking tray. Bake for 8 - 9 minutes, flipping at the halfway mark. Your sugar should be nice and caramelized .



 Let cool on tray for a few minutes, then enjoy. Bon appetit!

Left - using fold method.   Right - using the roll up method.