Sunday 4 April 2010

Orangey Palmiers and a Note of Thanks!



Palmiers or elephant ears are crunchy and flaky French pastries. These are made of simple readymade puff pastry sheets, rolled and sprinkled with sugar and then baked after slicing them to required thickness of your choice.These are just a breeze to make and tastes simply yum. As you see, it requires just 2-3 ingredients and varies what you like to flavour it with, savoury or sweet. Recently these heart shaped cookies were cooking on few blogs when I kept an eye on it just because of its simplicity. I made an unusual twist by adding the orange rind which gave it a zesty boost. You may simply make the original version by omitting the zest and using just plain sugar. The savory ones would make a lovely appetiser for large parties since it is so easy to make and will taste good.



Other variation that you may try instead of orange zest and sugar (I haven’t tried yet though):

1. Substituting orange zest by equal amount of lemon zest.

2. Sprinkling a bit if cinnamon instead of orange zest to get a lovely cinnamon flavour

3. Sprinkling cocoa along with sugar.

4. Sprinkling 3- 4 tbsp of grated parmesan to make a savory version.

5. Sprinkling ground nuts of your choice and sugar - (This sounds quite yummy.)

6. Spreading a thin layer of nutella.

7. A light spread of pesto..etc..



I came across some of the above on many sites, so you may try your versions or leaving it simply plain, just by adding sugar alone.
Here, I have used unrolled puff pastry which you need to roll. You can use the ready rolled pastry which makes the job even more easier, i.e you don’t have to roll the pastry if you are using the ready rolled ones and you can follow the same method given here.

Ingredients:

1 block of unrolled puff pastry (375g); (I used Jus-rol Puff pastry)

4 Tbsp granulated sugar + 2 ½ Tbsp for coating

2 tbsp finely grates zest of orange (A large orange’s rind)

Preparation:

1. Thaw the puff pastry block as per the packet instruction. But make sure that the pastry is cold when you roll it; for the ease of rolling, without the pastry sticking to the rolling pin. (Mine was not really cold so i had a bit of trouble rolling the pastry.)

2. On a clean work top, sprinkle 2 tbsp of sugar. Place the block of puff pastry on the sugar. Start rolling the pastry until you get a large rectangle.

3. Sprinkle another 2 tbsp of sugar all over and rub with hand to uniformly distribute it. Sprinkle the orange rind all over.

4. Now, make a marker on the centre of the rolled pastry. A light depression with your finger or a knife will do. Start rolling the pastry from the longer side until it reaches the centre of the pastry, where you have marked it. Roll the other longer side in the same manner until it reaches the centre of the pastry where it meets the other rolled end. When both rolled ends are next to each other, bring the one rolled side over the other. (See the pictorial representation). Press gently to stick the rolls together.

5. Cut the pastry into ¾ inch pieces and chill if for ½ an hour in the refrigerator. You will get about 20 – 24 pieces. Dip each sliced pastry in sugar (It will need around 2 ½ Tbs of sugar for coating.) until it is completely coated in sugar and place the sugar coated pastry on a cookie sheet lined with grease-proof paper, cut side facing down.

6. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Bake it in the centre of oven for about 15 minutes until the bottom part is golden brown. Flip all the palmiers with a spatula, bake for another 5-7 minutes until golden. serve with tea.

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The note of thanks that I mentioned in the title was thanking my dearest friend Shabna, lovingly known as Shabbu. She also hails from the malabar region and She is one of the gifted freinds that I received through blogging. Shabbu is my regular reader, one of my strong inspirations and a sisterly friend. Shabbu is a non-blogger but She regularly tries my recipes, gives me feedback and sends me the pictures after she makes them. I have to apologize, she had sent me these pictures very long back and its a shame that it took me so long to post it up here. There were times when I just thought of dropping blogging and it was shabbu who kept encouraging me to keep going. Thank you shabbu and Sorry it took me so long to post your pics. Here are few of the foods she prepared from my blog:














Malabar Chicken curry



Thanks for Stopping by.......

33 comments:

Pavithra Srihari said...

wow amazing... I love the palmiers..

so sweet of shabbu and you ...

Ms.Chitchat said...

Pastries made me drool. Simple, yet looks so rich and tasty. Loved ur friends' platter,so many dishes presented well.

Unknown said...

Love these fluffy delights...very well made!

Nammaruchi.blogspt.com said...

very colourful delicacies,love the palmiers!i have done with cinnamon and brown sugar..Thanks for suggesting so many variations.

Ushnish Ghosh said...

Dear Shab
I always love to eat these...and never made any. Will try but must find out from where to get the unrolled puffed pastry in delhi...I could roll basic pastry decades back , but now forgotten.
An additional thanks for posting the recipes cooked by your friend..I can book mark this one and find your all recipes at one go.
Have a nice week ahead

Divya Kudua said...

I love Palmiers too.I made them a while back when my co-sis got me frozen puff pastry sheets from abroad:):).

Good to read about Shabna.She has tried out so many of your recipes..good good:):)

Vrinda said...

Quick n yummy treat..looks perfect Shab...

Pavithra Elangovan said...

I love palmieers... looks so good and perfectly done.

Pavithra Elangovan said...

Good to read about ur friend and the palmeirs clicks are awesome. By the way the new looks for the blog is fantastic too.

Simplyfood said...

Palmiers look lovely with the orange and sugar.I usually sprinkle cheese and hers for a savory variety.

Priya Suresh said...

Cute and prefect palmiers, looks awesome...Thats so nice of shabu, lovely spread..

shabbu said...

Dear Shaby,
It was an extremely pleasant surprise for me.Thanks for ur comments and posting those pics.I really enjoyed trying ur recipes..

Thanks for being such a great friend...
Shabbu

Namitha said...

Palmiers are my fav too...quick and easy snack :-)Looks awesome Shabs..That's so sweet of your friend to send in those pics..Really a big award,rt ? :-)

Maya-Lakshmi said...

Hi Shabs,
Thanks for stopping by our space. You have an amazing blog here with lots interesting recipes to try out. Love these palmiers..and great pics! Love your friend's pics too..

Parita said...

I love palmiers, and love the orange flavor in these! thats very sweet of you to post all the recipes with pic tried by shabbu, you are a true friend!
Ok now i cant resist, which is that cake in your profile pic? It looks stunning!

Meena said...

lovely palmiers...you have a great space here...will be back soon...

Shah cooks said...

lovely palmiers! to think these are so simple and i used to buy the stale tins!!

Tina said...

Sooo crispy and delicious...

Latha said...

Palmiers are so perfect and looks great....shabbu's platter is lovely as well.

Sarah Naveen said...

cute ..cute!!!
Do you know there is a biscuit called" little hearts ", back in India...reminds me of that :0..so yummy!!
lovely pics by ur friend..all looks yummy!!

Preethi Rajeev said...

Palmiers looks so tempting, i have been thinking of making this, thanks for instruction

AdukalaVishesham said...

loved your palmiers... And as Sarah said it reminded us also of little hearts...

Unknown said...

Palmiers look perfect! Sounds nice and it reminds me of Britannia little hearts back home :)

Your friend's pictures look great! I'm sure you were so thrilled to see them :)

Holly said...

Hi! I just found your blog through Barbra Bakes and I added myself to follow so I won't miss a thing:)Please feel free to come by and see us at The Peppered Pantry- http://thepepperedpantry.blogspot.com/

Barbara Bakes said...

They look so easy and flaky delicious. I don't know why I've never made them.

Shabs.. said...

Thanks to all for stopping by and pouring in sweet comments....As some said, i have read about little hearts at many blogs/.....wonder how they are...i dont remember having them or even seeing them....my hubby said they r butter cookies that looked like palmiers..

Shabs.. said...

Thanks to all for stopping by and pouring in sweet comments....As some said, i have read about little hearts at many blogs/.....wonder how they are...i dont remember having them or even seeing them....my hubby said they r butter cookies that looked like palmiers..

anudivya said...

Those puff pastry palmiers are just so pretty! I love that you suggested all those variations for the filling. Sounds yum

Miriam Korula said...

hi shabs...wat a nice post...n' u have shown everything in detail...i can never achieve that...u make the recipe look simpler and easier to follow...great job dear...thanks for dropping by on my blog...:)

My Kitchen Antics said...

Hi Shab...im so glad u left a comment on my blog...u have such a great selection of recipes...m definitely following u...nice to know a UK fellow blogger:)

Srividhya Ravikumar said...

Palmiers looks delicious.. do drop in at my site whenever.. following you

Ann said...

Palmiers are my love of baking.. anytime I would love to bake Palmiers. Great idea to add orabge in it.

Dori said...

So many delicious dishes! Palmiers look great :)

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