(Mostly) Successful Palmiers

 Maybe I'm being a little hard on myself by calling these palmiers only mostly successful...the ones that didn't burn were really good! Palmiers are a cute and fairly quick dessert to make...the heart-shaped sugar cookies are made of puff pastry, rolled and folded for a light and flaky texture.

Luckily, this recipe calls for pre-made puff pastry, so I used one roll from a Pepperidge Farm box. I let it thaw on the counter for about 40 minutes before rolling it out to as close to 55 x 22 cm as I could get. Then, I brushed it with 25 grams (1.75 tablespoons) of melted butter, cooled to room temperature, and sprinkled on 50 grams of sugar and one sachet of something called vanilla sugar...

I've never used vanilla sugar, and it's hard to find in grocery stores, so I searched for how to make it or what I could substitute for it. Technically, it's made by storing a vanilla bean in a jar full of sugar for two weeks, but a more accessible version can be made with half a teaspoon of vanilla and 2 teaspoons of white sugar.

Both kinds of sugar are sprinkled onto the dough, and then it is folded like a brochure...

Rolled out to 30 x 30 cm...

Folded into the center...

And in half for a skinny log! The space was left to avoid a lumpy side.

This is wider than it needs to be, but still perfectly fine. Next time I'll probably roll it out less in between folds since it only needs to be wide enough to accommodate more layers. The dough has been out for awhile by this point, so it's refrigerated for about half an hour to firm the butter before cutting each cookie.

The recipe recommends each slice to be 1/2 cm thick, but this made a lot of pieces and they were getting harder to fit on the pan since they expand so much in the oven. 1-2 cm works just as well, and they're easier to roll in sugar.

And yes, that means more sugar! I rolled the slices in a bowl before setting them on the pan.

In hindsight, I didn't need to be so diligent in coating them, but c'est la vie. And I definitely needed to bake them for a shorter amount of time...

Some of these got really dark, thanks to the infamous uneven oven. The ones that allowed me to pry them off of the pan were really good. They also kept a nice shape! I was hoping that they would fill out into hearts, but again, I'll roll the dough less next time.

The flaky texture was great, so I'm happy with how most of them turned out. I'm still in the habit of rotating pans halfway through baking since my oven has hotspots on the bottom and in the back, but it's a constant adjustment. They will certainly be made again though!