Palmiers

   

These are a little burnt, so they don't look quite as pretty as they should.  Serves me right for forgetting to take a photo of the not burnt ones before I gave them all away.

Palmiers or Elephant Ears are a traditional French cookie made with puffed pastry and sugar.  I use store bought puff pastry.  I know using homemade is better, but I just can't bring myself to the trouble of making puff pastry from scratch for such an otherwise simple cookie.  If you use store bought puff pastry, they are exceptionally easy to make and produce a lovely result.  And they taste great!

I'm not going to give you a proper recipe, sorry, but here's an almost recipe:  

Basically you spread 1 cup of granulated sugar on a large, smooth, clean surface (if you have a pastry marble, this would be a good time to use it).  Then put a sheet of defrosted puff pastry on top of the sugar.  Evenly and thickly coat the pastry with another 3/4 or so cups of sugar.  Roll the pastry out into a 14- to 15-inch square (don't worry it doesn't have to be exact!)  Then fold in the left and right edges about a quarter of the way in.  Fold them over.  Fold again.  The folded rolls (for lack of a better word) should meet almost in the middle now fold them together, like closing a book.  Slice into thin pieces (I go with 3/8 of an inch).  Put on a baking sheet (far apart, they expand).  Bake on high heat (350* in a convection oven, 375* in a normal oven) until sugar starts to caramelize, about 5-8 min.  Flip them very carefully (the sugar is HOT).  Bake for another 3-6 minutes or until they are just golden but not burnt.  

For cinnamon palmiers, mix 1-2 tbsp of ground cinnamon (or to taste) to the sugar before rolling the puff pastry in it. 

It's hard to get them perfectly golden.  I tend to either have slightly under or over done palmiers.  But I don't mind, they are excellent either way!