Easy Palmiers from Leftover Pie Dough/Puff Pastry (蝴蝶酥)
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Palmiers, elephant ears, butterfly cookies, or palm hearts all reference a flaky French pastry coated with caramelized sugar. Their simplicity makes them perfect for using up scraps of laminated dough, such as pie crust or puff pastry. The original version uses just sugar, but they can be adapted to include flavorings such as chocolate, spices, and nuts.
Ingredients
- Pie dough/puff pastry: If using scraps, press them together into a ball and chill the dough before making palmiers. Any laminated pastry that flakes/puffs when baked will work, such as my All-Butter Pie Crust (sourdough discard-adaptable).
- Sugar: I used granulated white sugar, but brown sugar would likely work too. Be generous with the sugar—if you’re using a large quantity of scraps you will need more sugar than the recipe calls for.
- Add-ins: Mini chocolate chips, finely chopped nuts, cinnamon, and anything else you’d like!
More Easy Cookie Recipes
Palmier Cookies from Leftover Pie Dough/Puff Pastry
Course: Dessert, SnacksDifficulty: EasyPrep time
30
minutesCooking time
40
minutesIngredients
leftover pie dough or puff pastry, chilled
lots of granulated sugar (I used about ⅓ cup for the leftovers from one 9-inch crust)
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Sprinkle your work surface generously with sugar.
- Press the pie dough/puff pastry scraps together together and flatten into a rectangle 3.175mm (⅛ inch) thick, sprinkling more sugar on top of the dough as you are flattening.
- Sprinkle the surface of the rectangle generously with sugar.
- Roll two opposite ends of the rectangle towards the middle. You can flatten the rolls, turning them into more of a fold. You should now have a log of dough that has the classic palmier shape as the cross-section.
- Coat the outside of the log with sugar, then place in the freezer for 10-15 minutes to firm up before slicing.
- Slice the log into 3.175mm (⅛ inch) thick cookies. If your cookies are flattening, rotate the log with every slice.
- Spread the cookies out on the baking sheet and optionally sprinkle more sugar over their tops.
- Bake for 6-8 minutes or until the sugar on the top caramelizes. Flip the cookies over, rotate the baking sheet, and bake for another 6-8 minutes until the other side is caramelized as well.
- Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool to crisp up before serving. Enjoy!
