Cinnamon Sugar Palmiers

Any baker knows the most beloved recipes are often some of the easiest; many times, you barely even need to read a recipe to create it. I think the Cinnamon Sugar Palmiers are the perfect example of that. I remember my dad bringing home Elephant Ears as a kid, and it wasn’t until I read about the Palmiers that I realized they were the same thing (the ones I remember were big circles rather than smaller cookies).

One reason these can easily become a household favorite is because the ingredients are so freaking simple. I started by making the Rough Puff Pastry recipe, which is my favorite of all the dough recipes in Dessert Person. As long as you keep everything cool, the recipe is easy to morph into dough from flour, butter, sugar and salt. I should also add this dough was my best one yet with perfect, flaky layers!

When the Rough Puff Pastry was ready to use, the fun really began. I mixed demerara sugar, cinnamon and salt in a small bowl. Then I rolled out the puff pastry into a rectangle, and brushed a beaten egg all over. I added the sugar mixture across the entire dough.

With the egg and sugar spread all over, I rolled one of the long sides halfway to the middle, then did the same with the other side. I cinched the ends together a little bit to make sure it stayed intact, and pushed both rolls into each other so it would stick. After that I sprinkled and rubbed the rest of the sugar mixture on all the sides of the roll. Once I had a sugared dough roll, I placed it in the freezer for about 20 minutes so it could stiffen up.

When I took the dough out the freezer, I was careful to slice the roll into slices according to what Claire directed; if you cut the entire thing in half, then half those halves, then slice those quarters into four pieces, you’ll have some nice thick cookies. The swirls are so beautiful before they’re even baked!

I was careful to space out these cookies in case they expanded during the baking; my Palmiers expanded a tad, but nothing too extreme to worry about. When I took them out of the oven, some of the sugar on the bottoms of the Palmiers crystalized. Once they were cooled, I was able to break those sugar pieces off. I used my silicone mat to avoid this for the second batch (I always forget to use it for cookies!).

These Cinnamon Sugar Palmiers taste exactly how I remembered Elephant Ears…except better! I loved making a cookie that is flaky, and if it wasn’t for Dessert Person I may have never thought about the possibilities of making cookies from a pastry dough. I think these would make a great Christmas cookie by using red and green sugar sprinkles instead of only demerara sugar; I also would incorporate some granulated sugar next time for some more sweetness. I appreciate learning a new dessert that has simple ingredients and is fun to put together; this may be my new favorite roll cookie!

I often laugh when I bake one of Claire’s recipes and then watch her make it on her YouTube channel; she has the same thoughts and reactions as me throughout the process (although she’s much calmer about it all). See how Claire used what she had on hand for ingredients to make her Cinnamon Sugar Palmiers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvGGgOJbcGA