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Palmiers

Pecan and Cardamom Palmiers

The perfect buttery cookies with a coating of crispy nuts and sugar.  Not too sweet but just sweet enough with a cup of coffee.  Perfect for bringing as a hostess gift.

Course Baking
Prep Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Cook Time 12 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 27 minutes
Servings 36 cookies

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup pecan halves
  • 1/2 cup (114 g) sugar
  • 1/2 tsp (3 g) salt
  • 1/2 tsp (2 g) cardamom
  • 1/2 vanilla bean , split lengthwise, seeds scraped out and reserved
  • 1 package frozen puff pastry , thawed (I used an entire 18 oz package, see notes)

Instructions

  1. In the work bowl of a food processor, combine the pecans, sugar, salt, cardamom and vanilla seeds. Process until mixture is uniformly incorporated and the texture of fine sand.
  2. Pour about half of the sugar mixture onto a work surface.
  3. Place the puff pastry on top and sprinkle with some more of the sugar mixture.

  4. Roll out the pastry quickly, adding more sugar underneath (like bench flour) and on top until about 1/8 inch thick. You should have a large rectangle that is approximately 18 inches long.

  5. Roll up each side of the dough, jelly roll style equally, so that they meet in the middle.
  6. Place the rolled dough in the freezer for about 15 minutes to firm up.
  7. Line one or two baking sheets with parchment paper and spritz one with water.

  8. Cut the dough into 3 equal sections. Using one section at a time, cut it into 4 equal sections. Cut each of these into approx 1/4 inch slices (you will get 3 from each of these quarters, or 12 cookies from the one original section)

  9. Lay these 12 onto the parchment with spritzed water about 2 inches apart. Freeze these for about 1 hour.
  10. Cut the other two sections the same way, and lay out on to the other baking sheet for freezing.
  11. Preheat the oven to 425F
  12. Bake the first 12 palmiers for approx 12 minutes, turning half way through with a spatula. They should be golden brown and crispy on the edges. Let cool on a rack before serving.
  13. The remaining cookies in the freezer can be baked off the same way, or stored in a freezer bag till needed.

Recipe Notes

I used 1/2 teaspoon vanilla powder as I didn't have a bean on hand. Worked perfectly.

The original recipe calls for 1/2 of a 17.3 oz package of puff pastry.  I could not imagine making this recipe with less than the entire package.  It would roll out very thin, and the final cookies would be very small.  I am glad I used the whole package.  The cookies were the perfect size- small enough that you can enjoy two, but large enough that one will make you content!