Light, flaky, and oh so buttery, you will love this easy 3-ingredient mini palmiers recipe! Use red sugar sprinkles to make last-minute Valentine's cookies, or make classic palmier cookies anytime you are craving something sweet and crunchy in around 30 minutes! Serve with Turkish coffee or a hot cup of tea!
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I usually purchase palmier cookies at Costco, don't we all? Recently, however, I decided to make homemade palmiers instead. Let's just say I'm never buying palmiers again!
A French favorite, palmiers are usually prepared with buttered layers of pastry dough known as puff pastry. Luckily, puff pastry can also be purchased so that we can still enjoy these incredible French cookies when we're short on time or don't want to make puff pastry from scratch!
Technically, you only need 2 ingredients for this palmiers recipe: puff pastry and sugar. However, I did add a pinch of salt to balance the sweetness and cinnamon because my honey likes it.
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
- You only need 2 ingredients, puff pastry and sugar. The other ingredients are optional!
- This easy palmiers recipe will allow you to make this popular French pastry, which has a light and flaky texture.
- I love that these mini palmiers are only 33 calories each, which means you can eat more than one! 😏
- You can keep a package of puff pastry in the freezer so you can make a batch of these yummy cookies anytime you have unexpected company!
- If you prefer, you can bake half of the palmiers and freeze the rest in a freezer bag.
What You Need For This Recipe
Ingredients & Substitutions
- Puff pastry: Puff pastry can be found in the freezer section of most grocery stores.
- Sugar: You'll need ¼ - ⅓ cup of granulated sugar. You probably won't use all of it, but it's nice to have more just in case!
- Salt: A pinch of sea salt will balance out the sweetness. You can substitute with kosher salt if needed.
- Optional: Spices can be added to the sugar, including nutmeg and cinnamon. Another optional ingredient is chocolate. You can drizzle melted chocolate over the baked cookies for a fancier presentation or sprinkle them with red sugar like I did.
How to Make Mini Palmiers
Step 1: Defrost one sheet of puff pastry in the refrigerator until thawed and easy to work with. Freeze the remaining sheet for another time, unless you want to make a double batch.
Pro Tip: One sheet will make 48 mini palmiers cookies or 24 large ones.
Step 2: Mix ⅓ cup of sugar with a pinch sea salt. If you'd like, add ¼ teaspoon of cinnamon to make cinnamon sugar. Pour a few tablespoons of the sugar mixture onto your work surface and distribute it to the size of your pastry.
Step 3: Unroll the puff pastry onto your work surface and roll out lightly with the rolling pin. Slice the puff pastry in half lengthwise so that you have 2 rectangles. Place one section aside in the refrigerator while you work with the other half.
Step 4: Flip your puff pastry lengthwise and roll gently on both sides so that the sugar adheres to the puff pastry dough. Next, fold the sides toward the center, going only halfway toward the center point, and gently roll flat.
Step 5: Fold one more time so that the folds meet in the center. Gently flatten with a rolling pin. Fold one last time and flatten with the rolling pin.
Pro Tip: An even easier way to make this palmiers recipe is to roll the left side and the right side of the pastry towards the center until they meet. You can then gently flatten both sides with the rolling pin before you make the final fold.
Step 6: Cover with plastic wrap and chill the pastry for 15 minutes in the freezer. Slice chilled dough into ¼ inch portions using a pastry scraper or a sharp knife. You should have approximately 24 slices. Arrange the mini palmiers, cut side up, a few inches apart on the parchment-lined sheet pan.
Pro Tip: I like to pull the palmiers slightly apart at the top and gently pinch them at the bottom to give them a heart shape.
Baking Instructions
Preheat oven to 425°F
Bake in a preheated oven for 6 minutes or until golden brown around the edges. Remove from the oven and flip. Sprinkle with red sugar sprinkles (optional). Bake for an additional 5 minutes or until golden brown. Cool the palmiers on a wire rack before storing in an air-tight container.
Pro Tip: Since oven temperatures vary greatly, keep a close eye on the palmier cookies as they can go from perfect to scorched in no time! You may need to pull them out sooner.
Looking for other Valentine's Day desserts? These yummy Mascarpone Stuffed Strawberries take less than 30 minutes to prepare. Or, try these Marbled Heart Cookies from Nora at CombineGoodFlavors.com!
FAQs
Palmiers are made with puff pastry that's sprinkled with granulated sugar and baked until the sugar melts and caramelizes so that the palmiers are light and crispy.
Mini palmiers are a mini version of the popular French cookies named palmiers. Palmiers are prepared with rolled puff pastry sprinkled with sugar, which gives the cookies their heart shape.
There are approximately 33 calories in a small palmier cookie.
There are approximately 4 carbs in a small palmier.
Sometimes called "Heart of France", palmiers means palm leaves or palm tree in French. This is due to their resemblance to palm fronds. Other names for these delicious cookies include pig's ear, palm hearts, French hearts, and elephant ears.
Pro Tips
- If you don't want to bake the palmier cookies all at once, store the unbaked cookies in a plastic bag and bake them from frozen anytime you're in the mood for a sweet treat!
- If you decide to make full-sized palmiers, you'll need to increase the baking time.
- You can also make savory palmiers by adding cheese, diced bacon, caramelized onions, or pesto.
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Recipe
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Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Defrost one sheet of puff pastry in the refrigerator until thawed and easy to work with. Freeze the remaining sheet for another time, unless you want to make a double batch.
- Mix ⅓ cup of sugar with a pinch sea salt. If you'd like, add ¼ teaspoon of cinnamon to make cinnamon sugar. Pour a few tablespoons of the sugar mixture onto your work surface and distribute it into the size of your pastry.
- Unroll the puff pastry onto your work surface and roll out lightly with the rolling pin. Slice the puff pastry in half lengthwise so that you have 2 rectangles. Place one section aside in the refrigerator while you work with the other half.
- Flip your puff pastry lengthwise and roll gently on both sides so that the sugar adheres to the puff pastry dough. Next, fold the sides toward the center going only half way towards the center point, gently roll flat.
- Fold one more time so that the folds meet in the center. Gently flatten with rolling pin. Fold one last time and flatten with the rolling pin.
- Cover with plastic wrap and chill the pastry for 15 minutes in the freezer. Slice chilled dough into ¼ inch portions using a pastry scraper or a sharp knife. You should have approximately 24 slices. Arrange the mini palmiers cut side up a few inches apart on the parchment lined sheet pan.
- Preheat oven to 425°F
- Bake in a preheated oven for 6 minutes or until golden brown around the edges. Remove from the oven and flip. Sprinkle with red sugar sprinkles (optional). Bake for an additional 5 minutes or until golden brown.
- Cool the palmiers on a wire rack before storing in an air-tight container.
Nutrition
Video
Notes
- One sheet will make 48 mini palmiers cookies or 24 large ones. If you want to make regular sized palmiers, don't slice the puff pastry into 2 portions.
- An even easier way to make this palmiers recipe is to roll the left side and the right side of the pastry towards the center until they meet. You can then gently flatten both sides with the rolling pin before you make the final fold.
- I like to pull the palmiers slightly apart at the top and gently pinch them at the bottom to give them a heart-shape.
- If you don't want to bake the sliced palmiers all at once, store them in a plastic bag and bake them from frozen anytime you're in the mood for a sweet treat!
- Since oven temperatures vary greatly, keep a close eye on the palmiers as they can go from perfect to scorched in no time! You may need to pull them out sooner.
- If you decide to make full-sized palmiers, you'll need to increase the baking time.
- You can also make savory palmiers by adding cheese, diced bacon, caramelized onions, or pesto.
Susan says
Is the last fold to the center again or just fold over like a book? I'm going to make these tomorrow.
Hilda Sterner says
Hi Susan, you keep folding to the center and then close like a book. Between the recipe video and the pictures in the body of the post I think it should answer your question. If not, please let me know, thanks!