Source:The Book of Chocolates & Petits Fours. Sutherlans.Smith
Makes 40 servings.
Preparation time: 1 hour
Tips: Great with coffee as snacks or as breakfast pastries.
Palmiers
Caramelized Puff Pastries
Ingredients
Preparation
1 pound puff pastry, see note (1)
1 1/2 cups superfine sugar, approximately, see note (2)
1. Grease or cover with Teflon sheet 2 to 3 baking sheets , do not use air-insulated sheets, they prevent sugar from caramelizing. Silpat mats on a thick tray also not recommended. A thin cookie sheet and thin Teflon sheet or parchment paper work best. Remove all baking stones from oven.
2. On a sugared surface:
-If using commercial pastry, working with one sheet at a time, open sheet carefully. Push gently on fold to make a smooth flat sheet.
- If using homemade pastry, roll puff pastry to a rectangle 9" wide and about 20" long, about 1/8-inch thick. Work with entire piece or cut length in half and work each piece separately.
3. Sprinkle heavily with superfine sugar and gently press sugar with rolling pin. Turn pastry up side down and repeat. Each sheet should be about 1/8" thick and about 9" wide.
4. Fold the two length sides to meet at the center. Sprinkle with more superfine sugar and press gently it into the dough with your rolling pin. Repeat folding sides again to meet at center. You have now 4 sugary layers at each half. Fold the dough in 2 lengthwise. Flatten slightly. Press down firmly; chill. Repeat with second piece of pastry.
5. With a very sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut slices about 1/2-inch thick. Working in a mound of superfine sugar. Place slice of pastry on mound. Dip a flexible spatula in sugar. Press on puff pastry slice to flatten. With a rolling pin, roll thin without losing the layers to about 3" to 4" across turning once to coat heavily with sugar on both sides. Place cookies about 1 inch apart on prepared baking sheets. Refrigerate 30 minutes.
-They may be frozen at this stage and bake later without thawing.
6. Preheat oven to 425 F degrees.
7. Bake in preheated oven 5 minutes or until golden. Do not try to do anything else while baking or you will end up with a burned batch!
When side down starts to caramelize, using a spatula, turn cookies over. Bake until golden and sugar is caramelized in both sides, second side cooks very fast. The cookies should brown but not burn. You may need to remove cookies one at a time as they become ready. Remove from baking sheet; cool on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container up to 2 weeks.
CAUTION: Do not handle cookies with bare hands while hot, caramelized sugar will easily burn you.
NOTE: 1) Commercial puff pastry usually found in 1 lb. box containing 2 (9"x9") sheets.
If using home made "Puff pastry 3 minutes", about 1/3 recipe rolled 1/8" thick.
2) Place granulated sugar in blender at high speed to obtain a superfine grain.
3) Try making small pastries for party treats.
Makes about 40 cookies
