Petits palmiers

I really hate to admit this, but there is one baked good I never tried in France. For some very odd reason, I never got around to buying a palmier ("palm" in French) and I've regretted it ever since. Better late than never, however - these cookies turned out to be the easiest I've ever made. They're also foodgasmically delicious, so if you're looking for the most bang for your buck in terms of prep time and ingredients, these are definitely up there. 
I took the easy road and bought frozen puff pastry sheets. You're welcome to make your own puff pastry dough but frankly, I've got cell biology to study and hungry mouths to feed. If you look at food blogs online, you'd think that frozen puff pastry dough was really easy to find - but I looked at Ralph's, Trader Joe's and Whole Foods and only found one type at Whole Foods from the Aussie Bakery brand. It's important to let it thaw for about 40 minutes before trying to unfold each sheet, because frozen dough can crack easily. 

The beauty of this recipe is that you can even make savory flavors. I've seen recipes for pesto, sundried tomato and even meat fillings in place of the suggestions for filling below, and I'm sure they'd be amazing. I'm itching to try nutella filling and even baklava filling (chopped nuts, honey, etc.). I made up my own lemon filling to use up the abundance of citrus in my house, and it turned out AMAZING. The four-spice recipe below that I found, is also fantastic - as my roommate Elise said, "it's like childhood in your mouth."

Four-Spice or Lemon Palmiers

Four-Spice filling from Food Lover's Odyssey

1 sheet puff pastry (the brand I bought had three sheets in the box, each about a 12-inch square)

1/4 cup granulated sugar, plus an extra 3 tablespoons

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon allspice

OR

Finely grated zest of 3 lemons
1/8 C granulated sugar

Follow instructions for thawing the pastry dough, letting it rest on a parchment-lined baking sheet for about 40 minutes before unfolding. Mix together spices, or for the lemon recipe rub the zest and sugar together in a bowl to get the juice flowing out of the zest.

Sprinkle a generous portion of the filling onto the sheet of puff pastry.  Starting at the outer edges, fold over 2 1/2 inches of the puff towards the center of  the sheet.  Do this on both sides.  Sprinkle the newly folded over portions with the filling mixture. From both outer edges, fold another 2 1/2 inches over towards the center.  Do this on both sides.  At this point, the folds will meet in the center.  Sprinkle the newly folded over portions with the filling mixture.

Fold the two parts together.  Wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for 30 minutes. 

 

Preheat the oven to 410ºF and place parchment paper on two baking sheets. Remove the puff pastry from the refrigerator and slice into even slices, 3/8-1/2 inch in thickness.  Place on the baking sheet, leaving a 3-inch space between each palmier. Bake for 15-17 minutes until lightly golden.  Cool slightly.