Palmier-Heart of France-Pig’s Ear-The Flaky French biscuit
Hello Foodies, this week recipe is about a classic biscuit. We call it the “Palmier” and it represents the palm leaves of the palm tree. It is also called the “Coeur de France” the heart of France. Others name it Pigs or elephant ears. The Palmier were created in the 20th century. Palmier are made from puff pastry, a laminated dough. Puff pastry is made with alternating layers of dough and butter, rolled and folded (turns) over to create possibly hundreds of flaky layers after six turns. The puff pastry is rolled out, using sugar, and then the two sides are rolled up together so that they meet in the middle, making a roll that is then cut into 1 cm slices and baked. Usually it is rolled in sugar before baking. My recipe is using Icing sugar and cinnamon instead of caster sugar. This video will show you how to make Palmier from home made puff pastry. But you can buy and use already made (convenient) puff pastry to make them. On tip, if you use already made puff pastry, double the layers of the pastry. Use 2 to 3 sheets on top of each other and place some sugar between the layers to create nice Palmier. You can choose to make your own puff pastry following my tutorial. For the last fold (turn), i am using my mix icing sugar and cinnamon to incorporate the flavour throughout the pastry (another tip there to make them even more glazy) So, there it is for you the link to my home made puff pastry: https://cookingwithfrenchy.com/recipes/how-to-make-puff-pastry-pate-feuilletee/ Happy baking wherever you are.
Servings: 20 yield(s)
Prep Time: 90 mins
Cook Time: 20 mins
Total Time: 110 mins
Ingredients
  • 500 g Puff pastry (Home made or convenient)
  • 50 g Icing sugar (Castor sugar can be used)
  • 1 tbsp Cinnamon powder (Cassia)
Instructions
  1. All you will need for this recipe is a clean bench, a rolling pin, few baking trays and baking paper. So gather your puff pastry, the icing sugar and cinnamon powder. If you are using your own puff pastry, take it to the 5th fold and start from here. Leave it 10 minutes outside the fridge to come back to ambient temperature. If you are using convenient puff pastry sheets (2-3 sheets), just apply the cinnamon sugar between the sheets and roll out a little to make sure the sheets sticks together.
  2. Sift your icing sugar and cinnamon powder together and mix it well.
  3. Dust the bench with your sugar mixture.
  4. Dust your puff pastry with the sugar mixture.
  5. Start rolling out.
  6. Keep rolling out always checking that the pastry does ot stick and add more of the sugar mixture.
  7. Roll the pastry until you have a rectangular shape of 30 cm x 20 cm.
  8. Smear more sugar mixture onto the pastry.
  9. You should have used about half of the sugar mixture by now.
  10. Make sure the bottom does not stick to the bench.
  11. Do your last fold (turn). Personally i always bring the top of my pastry towards me to a 1/3rd fo the pastry.
  12. And fold the bottom 1/3d of the pastry over.
  13. Turn the pastry and that your last Turn.
  14. Mark the pastry with 6 little indents to remember how many folds you did.
  15. Cover your puff pastry with wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.
  16. After 30 minutes in the fridge, unwrap your pastry and place it on a dusted ( sugar mixture)bench. Let the pastry come back to room temperature for 10 minutes. Meanwhile you can prepare your baking trays with silicon Paper.
  17. Check if the pastry as soften a bit and is ready to roll. A pastry too hard will mean that the butter is still too cold and will break down the layers you have created.
  18. Roll out the pastry a front as you did previously with the sugar mixture.
  19. Keep rolling.
  20. Rolling, rolling, rolling yehaaaaaaaaaaa.
  21. Roll until you get to a 30 cm x 20 cm rectangle shape. Add the rest of your sugar mixture.
  22. Smear it all over.
  23. Bring a 1/4 of the top edge of the pastry and fold it towards you.
  24. Do the same with the bottom edge of the pastry and fold it away from you.
  25. Fold again the top pastry towards you.
  26. And again the bottom part of the pastry, away from you. you should have a little gap between the top and bottom fold.
  27. gather the icing sugar and smear it.
  28. Fold one more time both edges on top of each other and let it rest in the fridge for 20 minutes. Meanwhile Preheat your oven at 200c.
  29. Place a baking tray with baking paper a front of you.
  30. With a sharp knife cut the pastry to a 1 cm thick Palmiers.
  31. Just like that.
  32. Cut them all.
  33. That is how they should look like inside.
  34. Place the palmiers on the tray and leave about 3 cm space between them as they do expend through the baking process.
  35. Bake them for 10 minutes on one side.
  36. Then turn them around and bake for another 8 to 10 minutes on the other side.
  37. Let them cool down on a cake rack until totally cold.
  38. And Enjoy that crunchy buttery flaky biscuit at anytime of the day. Bon Appetit and Happy Baking Frenchy.
Recipe Notes

You can keep them up to a week in an airtight container. If you want them extra sweet you can glaze them with stock syrup once out of the oven (stock syrup is made of 50g sugar and 50g water, boil it together for 2 minutes and let it cool down) Just use a brush to glaze the Palmiers.