The Tastebud Traveler
Always Learn, Always Travel
Week 8 - Palmiers - France
A Brief Note: Obviously, since Its been literally two years since i’ve written a blog post were going to take these “weeks” of the Tastebud Traveler very loosely. However, with the Covid-19 issue bearing down on us, I had some time at home from my busy schedule and wanted to continue my project, so for my patient readers enjoy this “weeks” dessert.
We’re headed back to France this week on our world tour and making the fabulous Palmiers. The first step was to know how to pronounce it and thanks to You Tube I now know that it is palm-ee-ay.
Palmiers start with puff pastry. I considered buying it but so many recipes said it was super fabulous if you made it yourself and who am I to shortchange my tastebuds?
I went with this rough puff recipe from Epicurious.
A quick sidebar about puff pastry, it’s all about the rolling and folding, and waiting, waiting, waiting. It’s a simple mixture of flour, sugar, butter and ice water, similar to pie crust. This recipe called for freezing your butter and then grating it into the flour, which was basically the most inspired idea EVER. After these are combined you spend a lot of time rolling out, folding, waiting to chill, repeat. Lots of time in-between to fit it a workout, or martini time, depending on your motivation level. Once you’ve done that about three or four times and the butter is super layer-y you’re ready to begin the Palmiers.
If you choose not to go with the homemade puff pastry route, start with some store bought and you’ll have a snack thats ready in 5 minutes flat.
Get that oven up to 400º
Begin Palmiers by sprinkling sugar on your work surface ( Step 1) . Lay your puff pastry on top and sprinkle with more sugar (Step 2). Then roll it out into a large square (Step 3). Fold in the top and bottom like a pocket book ( Step 4). Then fold that pocket book into a clutch with one more fold in the middle ( Step 5). Some recipes have you folding one more time, thats completely up to you let me know how that goes in the comments below.
Chill that dough for 30 minutes.
Working quickly, I’m serious, slice your pastry into 1/4 - 1/2 inch slices. Dip the cut side into more sugar and arrange on a baking sheet cut side down with lots of room - 3 inches- between because these babies will puff.
Cook for about 5 minutes and then flip cooking for 3-5 minutes on the other side. They burn easily so keep a super watchful eye and if they look like they’re getting too brown they probably are. This is the single hardest part, not letting them burn. The second is getting all that sugar off your countertops. Its like the sand at the beach you’ll be finding it for a week!
Have that cooling rack ready to go and as soon as they’re a golden gorgeous brown pop them on that cooling rack ASAP.
Palmiers come out looking gloriously caramel-y-puffy-crunchy-sweet. They were the perfect compliment to my afternoon coffee. Also check out the tricked out version as the main ingredient in my Egyptian Dish Um Ali
Ready to EAT!
Let me know how yours turned out!